Committee reports from last night's Green Acton meeting
Jim Snyder-Grant
Announced GLB Working Group formed, which frees up time for Energy Committee to take up other projects
Reviewed school projects:
Resource Force resolution passed
Received grant $ to purchase 3-4 electric buses
Application to MA School Building Assoc for 40% funding to replace/renovate Conant
Top project may be electrifying HS because boiler has approx 10 years left
Boardwalk solar/battery project paused
Discussed impact of new climate law on Acton, especially charging EVs for condos
Discussed ideas for 2025 focus
Richard wants to continue solar rooftop and canopy follow up
Probably won’t work on anti-idling campaign
Possibly more “state of the grid” work
Decided we needed more discussion with more people
We named our campaign “A Quieter, Cleaner Acton” and we have a website, www.quietercleaneracton.org in process. Jim used the “Don’t Blow It Melrose” website as the basis. It’s a fairly simple website and we are all editing it.
The themes for the website and email campaign include:
Noise and public health threat
Particulates, respiratory issues
Environmental/climate change
Social justice for operators
Landscaper objections and rebuttals
We are using the MailChimp program for emails. We got very techy with a ChatGPT for our outreach email to get people signed up for the campaign. We’ll start using it when the website is past the editing stage.
We assigned groups for contacting:
Carolyn - MOF, Good Shepherd Church (w/Carolyn Platt), Stoneymeade neighborhood (w/Chelsea), Indian Village (w/ Debby Andell), Acton Democratic Town Committee (w/Jane Moosbruker)
Debra - League of Women Voters
Alan - Garden Club, Flag Hill
Paul - Beth Elohim climate group; Elders Climate Action
Jim - Acton Climate Coalition
Chris - Nagog Condos
TBD - Acton Republican Town Committee; Senior Center; Indivisible Acton Area; Acton Conservation Trust, Green Acton, Resource Force
With Jim’s help, we are tracking the Select Board bylaw progress. First draft had a 2031 full implementation date, second one is earlier but needs to be reviewed by Dean. Town counsel is reviewing. Probably won’t have another listening session but SB always open to suggestions
The Green Acton Water Committee met on Feb 9, in hybrid format, with 13 people in attendance, an all-time high.
We welcomed Peter Severance of River Merrimack who presented results from his specific conductance survey of the Merrimack River and its major tributaries, including the Concord River (which drains the SuAsCo river system, including Acton). Elevated specific conductance in New England waterways is usually attributed to road salt. Conductance was lowest in the lightly-populated headwaters of the watershed and increased downstream, with subwatersheds that have higher density of roads having generally higher conductance levels. Of all the tributaries he sampled, the Concord River had the highest specific conductance, which is likely due to input from densely-settled areas around Lowell.
Acton Boxborough Regional High School volunteer Kyran Vig presented photos of a crayfish that he had spotted in Nagog Brook when he went there to do the weekly stream monitoring. After consultation with several biologists, this is thought to be a virile crayfish (Faxonius virilis). One of Kyran's photos was featured on the front page of the Acton Exchange as the lead story in the Nature Watch column (newly established by Green Acton member Rob Gogan). In the event of future such sightings, we discussed how to catch, hold, and photograph a crayfish so that an accurate species identification can be made.
Brewster Conant, Jr., represented Water Committee at the Jan 29 briefing for community organizations at the NMI Superfund Site. The presentation on groundwater remediation included a series of maps and one time-series graph showing 1,4-dioxane concentration decreasing near Acton's public water supply well Assabet 1A. The scheduled site walk of the NMI site was cancelled due to snow. In conversation with the EPA remediation manager, Kara Nierenberg, Brewster reiterated our request for a site walk at the WR Grace site.
We discussed some apparent ambiguities that we have detected concerning overlap or underlap between the Conservation Commission's responsibility to consider flood control as one of seven "interests" that they protect under Acton's Wetlands Bylaw and the Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act, and the responsibility of the Department of Public Works to enforce Acton's Stormwater Bylaws X and U. Stormwater management and potential for flooding come up during deliberations at Planning, ConsCom, Select Board and ZBA, which can be confusing for applicants, committee members, and environmental advocates like ourselves when it is unclear who has jurisdiction over what. Carolyn Kiely met with Conservation Agent Olivia Barksdale and Town Engineer QinRui Pang to discuss this issue. The Conservation Agent feels that ConsCom "lacks standards" for the flood control component of their interests. The Water Resources Advisory Board (WRAC) is currently undertaking a broad review of Acton's stormwater situation, primarily around the question of how to pay for the high and increasing costs of stormwater management. Water Committee would like to bring this regulatory stormwater/flooding ambiguity to WRAC's attention and ask them to advise Town Government to clarify responsibility and sequencing of stormwater/flood-control considerations during the permitting process for developments and renovations in parallel with developing a funding mechanism for stormwater control. Retaining stormwater in wetlands is an environmentally favorable -- and relatively less expensive -- part of the solution to the increased frequency of torrential rainfalls expected under conditions of climate change.
Our next meeting is scheduled for March 9. For the agenda and zoom link for the March meeting, or for further information on any of the topics mentioned above, email water-...@greenacton.org
Follow-up to our 1-11-25 Fixit Clinic: Contributing to our 85% “Fixed” rate was one of our coach’s successful repair of two different sewing machines. Thanks to Coach T! Next Fixit Clinic at Acton Memorial Library, 5-24-25, from 10 AM - 1 PM.
Green Acton Clean-up Week: This year, ABRHS Senior Service Day is Thursday, 4-17-25, prior to Earth Week. Seniors were enthusiastic participants in the event, and GACW provides students with a hands-on way to make a quick, visible improvement to the landscape on the ABRHS campus. Consensus of Materials Committee and Sustainability Office is that GACW should run from the 17th, past Earth Day the 22nd, through the following weekend, 4-27-25, which is 11 days. We have abundant orange 33-gallon bags left from last year. Tasks: Update website Info section, make new e-poster, make new Google form with “Disclaimer” included, reach out to Library and Highway Department. Corey York has told Lauren West of Sustainability Office that his crew is prepared to offer the same pick-up service as they did last year at the 11 parks listed.
Acton Sustainability Office Environmental Analyst Lauren West will present at MassRecycle’s Annual Conference on 3-18-24 with Rob Gogan on “Climate Change and Materials Management. Lauren will talk about the process of writing Acton’s Climate Action Plan, emphasizing the Solid Waste Resources strategy. Many municipalities will be at the conference and MassRecycle wants attendees to consider the benefits of sustainable materials management and Scope 3 emissions as they create plans for mitigating or reversing their cities’ and towns’ greenhouse gas. Register for the conference here.
We are investigating how to respond to the SGAR crisis. We have identified that Acton schools’s contractors use rodenticides, but we don’t know if they are the second-generation anticoagulant rodenticides so devastating to predators. Please contact us if you are interested in learning more about Town or private contractors’ use of SGARS in Acton, and possible measures to reduce or ban their distribution.
Acton Nature Watch published its second column in the “Acton Exchange.” As Green Acton builds its Biodiversity Committee, we hope the ANW can support efforts to inventory and protect wild flora, fauna and fungi in Acton. Residents should submit any text, photo, or video observations to this email address.
Respectfully submitted,
Rob Gogan
Chair, Green Acton Materials Committee
Green Acton is on the steering committee of this coalition that has more than 50 organizational members. The revised website is here:
https://ActonClimateCoalition.org
The busiest part of the Coalition is the ongoing work with the Town under the Energize Acton umbrella. In addition to the website https://EnergizeActon.org that has material on actions people can take, there are are on ongoing series of events including climate cafes, talks, webinars, and the popular “EV Petting Zoo”