News Briefs: Baker-Polito administration to fund bridge projects; $4.23 million allotted for infrastructure; Green Tea Party meeting; Guiel announces City Council candidacy; conservation commissions urge Baker to drop pipeline support

Baker-Polito administration awards $16 million for municipal small bridge projects

Boston — The Baker-Polito administration has awarded $16 million to 36 communities for the funding of preservation, repair or replacement of bridges with spans of 10 to 20 feet. The funding is the first round of awards through the administration’s Municipal Small Bridge Program, and was announced at a Massachusetts State House ceremony by Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito, transportation secretary and CEO Stephanie Pollack and highway administrator Thomas J. Tinlin.

The Municipal Small Bridge Program, signed into law on August 10, 2016, by Gov. Charlie Baker, is a several-year, $50 million program to aid in the replacement and preservation of municipally-owned small bridges which are not eligible for federal aid under existing bridge replacement or rehabilitation programs and are at high risk for full or partial closure in the near future due to their present conditions.

The Municipal Small Bridge program is a need- and merit-based program that seeks to fund those applications that demonstrate a critical need or substantially extend the life of an existing small bridge. Projects are evaluated according to a strict set of eligibility criteria that consider the condition, benefits, and repair status of each bridge.

Local Municipal Small Bridge Program award winners:

• Sheffield will receive $420,000 to rehabilitate a bridge on County Road over the Ironwork Brook.
• Stockbridge will receive $500,000 to replace a bridge on Route 183 over the Larrywuag Brook.
• Washington will receive $250,000 to replace a bridge on Middlefield Road over the Coles Brook.
• Windsor will receive $500,000 to rehabilitate a bridge on Flintstone Road over the Tyler Brook.
• Worthington will receive $500,000 to replace a bridge on Adams Road over the Kinne Brook.

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Pignatelli announces $4.23 million for local infrastructure

Boston — Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli, D-Lenox, joined his colleagues in the House of Representatives to pass legislation that authorizes $200 million for Chapter 90 funding to help municipalities complete road, bridge and infrastructure improvement projects. Of this funding, $4.23 million was allocated for towns in the 4th Berkshire District.

The bill also appropriates $70 million to replace the Registry of Motor Vehicles’ information technology infrastructure.

The legislation complements a 2016 transportation law focused on highways, small bridges and a municipal grant program, which authorized $750 million for both federal aid interstate and non-interstate highway projects and $50 million for a new program to repair small bridges.

The bill now will move to the Senate Committee on Bonding, Capital Expenditures and State Assets, and a vote in the Senate is anticipated in the coming weeks.

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Green Tea Party meeting to include special guests

Great Barrington — Erin Stamper, the Columbia County coordinator for NY 19 Votes, will attend the Green Tea Party meeting Sunday, April 2, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., at GTP’s headquarters at 27 Humphrey St. Dustin Reidy, NY 19 Votes’ campaign director, may also be in attendance.

NY 19 Votes contacted GTP and other local progressive groups to thank them for their aid-to-date in the effort to unseat Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, in 2018 as part of the Swing Left/Take Back the House movement. GTP welcomes NY 19 Votes’ participation in its April 2 meeting to decide on strategy. At issue at the meeting will be whether GTP will adopt a city or cities within New York District 19. Hillsdale and Copake have been discussed. The idea is to conduct in-depth canvassing in advance of a declared Democratic candidate. The canvassing goal is both to learn from constituents about their concerns and to expand voter registration.

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Dina Guiel declares candidacy for Pittsfield City Council

Pittsfield — Dina Guiel announced Tuesday, March 28, that she is running for Pittsfield City Council in a bid to represent the residents of Ward 2.

A young professional who has lived in the Berkshires for almost a decade, Guiel’s educational background includes a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and a master’s degree in public administration and policy analysis from Northeastern University. She successfully created a youth mentoring program from in Springfield and Holyoke and worked to formulate a master plan review for the town of Dedham. She is currently developing an outreach program to aid those who suffer from drug addiction.

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Conservation commissions call on Baker to stop gas pipelines

Boston — Seventy-four city and town conservation commissions across Massachusetts Thursday urged Gov. Charlie Baker to drop his support for fracked gas pipelines.

In a joint letter, the conservation commissions stated that new pipelines impede the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals in the Global Warming Solutions Act and Baker’s Integrated Climate Change Strategy. Citing the large and geographically diverse number of signatories concerned about the future costs of climate change from rising sea levels, extreme storms, heat waves and more, Massachusetts Association of Conservation Commissions executive director Eugene Benson called upon the governor to invest more rapidly in renewable energy and energy efficiency.

A recent study by Synapse Energy Economics projects a major drop in natural gas use in New England under renewable energy policies already in place and predicts that the proposed Access Northeast pipeline will actually cost $6.6 billion instead of its advertised $3.2 billion.

The letter states, in part: “Communities along our beautiful coastlines are making plans to defend themselves against sea level rise. Inland communities must protect against costly river flooding that washes out roads and buildings and ruins peoples’ lives. New fossil fuel pipelines are part of the problem, not part of the solution.“

The full text of the letter is as follows:

March 2017

Honorable Charles Baker
Governor
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
State House, Room 280
Boston, MA 02133

Dear Governor Baker:

Sixty years ago, residents of Ipswich, concerned about the proposed destruction of a productive wetland in their town, found a way to protect that natural resource. Their success led to the passage of the Massachusetts Conservation Commission Act of 1957. Since then, conservation commissions across the state have been advocates for and protectors of the natural environment: developing open space and conservation plans, managing conservation lands, and protecting wetlands, waterways, and biodiversity.

With that mandate in mind, we are writing to ask you to end your support for new interstate gas pipelines. We think that would be an important next step after your notable Executive Order 569: Establishing an Integrated Climate Change Strategy for the Commonwealth.

We need safe, reliable, and affordable energy for our residents, businesses, and municipalities. Our state can – and must – achieve those goals by investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency, rather than in more fossil fuel use that is warming our planet and creating significant problems for our cities and towns.

New interstate pipelines create permanent cuts in the landscape, traversing conservation lands, crossing wetlands, despoiling vistas and forests, and disrupting farms, residential properties, and communities with little regard for community plans or needs. With federal preemption they even override conservation land protections set forth in Article 97 of our state constitution. And the gas they transport adds significant amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, exacerbating climate change.

With climate change, our cities and towns will be facing more violent storms, more extreme precipitation, and longer periods of unremitting heat in the summer months. Communities along our beautiful coastline are making plans to defend themselves against sea level rise. Inland communities must protect against costly river flooding that washes out roads and buildings and ruins people’s lives. Climate change will disrupt our state’s natural ecosystems and built infrastructure.

We in Massachusetts are able to experience the four seasons here at home. Our state is richly endowed with the bounties of nature. A major challenge of our time is to mitigate climate change and preserve what we have inherited and worked to achieve for current and future generations. New fossil fuel pipelines are part of the problem, not part of the solution. We urge you to oppose them.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

The conservation commissions of Amherst, Andover, Arlington, Ashburnham, Ashby, Ashfield, Ayer, Becket, Brimfield, Boxford, Brookline, Buckland, Burlington, Carlisle, Charlemont, Chesterfield, Dover, Framingham, Franklin, Great Barrington, Hanson, Harvard, Haverhill, Hull, Ipswich, Lancaster, Leverett, Leyden, Lynn, Manchester, Marblehead, Melrose, Middleborough, Natick, New Marlborough, Newton, Northampton, Northfield, Oak Bluffs, Palmer, Petersham, Plainfield, Plymouth, Provincetown, Richmond, Rockport, Royalston, Salisbury, Saugus, Shirley, Somerville, Southbridge, Stoneham, Sturbridge, Topsfield, Tyringham, Wales, Warwick, Wayland, Webster, Wellfleet, West Bridgewater, West Stockbridge, Weston, Weymouth, Whately, Williamsburg, Wilmington, Winchendon, Winthrop, Woburn, Worcester and Wrentham and the Wellesley Natural Resources Commission