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AG Reilly Fights Feds to Protect Buzzards Bay September 7, 2006 CONTACT: Meredith Baumann, AGO, 617-727-2543 Mark Rasmussen, Executive Director/Baykeeper, The Coalition for Buzzards Bay BOSTON—In a move to protect Massachusetts' precious coastline and coastal communities, Attorney General Tom Reilly today appealed the US District court decision that strikes down large portions of the state's Oil Spill Prevention Act, eliminating important safeguards and rendering Massachusetts waters vulnerable to future oil spills. "We will fight the federal government to ensure our waters and our coastlines are protected from the types of accidents that necessitated the Oil Spill Prevention Act in the first place. Because the Coast Guard failed to enact adequate protections themselves, the law set reasonable yet critical restrictions on the oil shipping industry to improve and enhance safety. We must continue fighting for these important regulations for the health and wellbeing of our environment," AG Reilly said. "Without the Massachusetts Oil Spill Prevention Act in effect, Buzzards Bay stands as vulnerable today as it was the day the Bouchard 120 barge spilled almost 100,000 gallons onto our shores." Added Mark Rasmussen, Baykeeper and Executive Director of the Coalition, "The Bay needs these protections and despite our repeated requests, the Coast Guard has failed to adopt sufficient provisions. Therefore, we will continue this legal debate before the First Circuit. Buzzards Bay is far too valuable both environmentally and economically to allow this fight to end here." The Oil Spill Prevention Act was passed in 2004 in response to the disastrous 2003 oil spill in Buzzards Bay. The Act outlines specific provisions for protecting our waters, including mandatory tugboat escorts for tank barges, crew requirements for tank vessels and tow vessels, and a $1 billion financial assurance requirement, to name a few. These measures were intended to fill a void in federal protections in Massachusetts waters. "The Coast Guard's lack of action required the state to pass its own comprehensive statute to significantly improve safety standards," Reilly added. "If the federal government remains unwilling to pass their own comprehensive regulations, they should simply allow the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to do so and not fight us in court. One way or the other, we need to make sure our waters, our communities, our coastline are protected." "The federal court decision was a blow to the responsible protection of our coastline. The law, as it was passed originally, takes a stand to protect the people and wildlife of Buzzards Bay and makes the oil industry responsible for their actions," said Senator Therese Murray (D-Plymouth), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means. "I applaud the efforts of the Coalition for Buzzards Bay for keeping this critical issue on the front burner, and I am pleased that Attorney General Reilly is continuing our fight to protect Buzzards Bay." "I commend the Attorney General for his action today. Those of us who love Buzzards Bay understand that we must do everything possible to protect this national treasure. When the Bay was defiled by Bouchard's criminal negligence, we passed a law to ensure that our coastline would be protected from those who put profits before people and our planet. We were abused by the oil industry and again by the federal government that continues to fail to protect our waters. It is outrageous that instead of working to protect the people of the Commonwealth, the federal government has spent the past three years fighting us in court," said Senator Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford, who co-chaired the Buzzards Bay Oil Spill Commission. Today's action appeals Judge Tauro=s July 24 ruling, which deemed state regulations invalid and pre-empted by federal law. —###—
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