Working in partnership with the Buzzards Bay Coalition, Massachusetts State Senator Mark C. Montigny (2nd Bristol and Plymouth) recently secured inclusion of the highest priority Buzzards Bay and New Bedford Harbor protection measures in the Massachusetts Ready Act (also known as the 2026 Environmental Bond Bill).

Following up on the Coalition’s testimony to the Joint Committee on Environment and Natural Resources last July supporting a much-needed Wastewater Financing Commission, this move will expedite its advancement through the legislature. The proposed commission will explore funding sources to address an estimated $2 billion needed to clean up South Coast wastewater pollution.

Construction underway of aeration tanks at Fairhaven wastewater treatment plant

To stem nitrogen pollution from septic systems and aging sewage treatment systems throughout the Buzzards Bay watershed, local officials need new funding sources to assist the towns of the South Coast in affording improvements. The provision also includes a $50 million starter commitment to seed the Commission’s work.

Roughly half of the need is related to much-needed sewer upgrade and expansion projects in South Coast towns to restore local harbors and coves from the Westport Rivers to Onset Bay in Wareham. The other half is needed to eliminate Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) in the City of New Bedford which are impacting water quality and the shellfish aquaculture industry from Mattapoisett to Dartmouth.

“Addressing wastewater pollution is one of the biggest and most expensive dilemmas facing New Bedford and communities throughout the region,” says Senator Mark Montigny. “We must take aggressive action now so that local taxpayers are not left with an immense financial burden.”

Other areas facing similar wastewater financing challenges—from Cape Cod to Long Island to Chesapeake Bay—have developed their own funding streams. For example, on Cape Cod, towns came together to create the Cape Cod Water Protection Fund (CCWPF) which utilizes a 2.75% excise tax on short-term rental fees. That fund has raised more than $300 million since it was devised in 2018 and today covers 25 percent of the cost of eligible wastewater cleanup projects. $105 million was awarded to Cape Cod towns in 2025 alone. It is just one of the many ideas that the Commission may explore as part of its work.

The recommendations shall identify fair and equitable means of financing wastewater infrastructure improvements to address wastewater pollution and must produce a report with recommendations for further action before July 2027.

“We are extremely grateful to Senator Montigny and Senate Ways and Means Chair Michael Rodrigues for advancing this legislation to support Bay towns in dealing with the huge wastewater treatment challenge we face. I have never met anyone who doesn’t want a clean and healthy Bay. But I have met a lot of people struggling to pay their bills and town officials struggling to make town budgets balance. Fixing our region’s wastewater infrastructure is simply a funding problem, and we need new sources if we are going to succeed at restoring our region’s beaches, shellfish beds, rivers and drinking water,” says Mark Rasmussen, President of the Buzzards Bay Coalition.

Another big legislative win: Also attached to the bill are bilge oil recovery regulation changes that will clear the way for construction of a system to prevent oil spills from commercial vessels on New Bedford Harbor. The Coalition has long supported a pumpout for the Harbor; we helped start a pilot Clean Bilge program in 2015 and we submitted comments in the City of New Bedford and the Town of Fairhaven’s review of their Municipal Harbor Plan last year.

Amendment #332 will allow for siting of a Bilge Oil Recovery System on New Bedford Harbor. Commercial fishing and other vessels in New Bedford Harbor need this to help prevent the frequent and damaging oil spills into the Harbor that are presently occurring. Such bilge oil recovery systems and feasible locations on the Harbor are available, but current Massachusetts regulations make it difficult to site one.

“Nowhere in our region is the presence of regular oil spills accepted the way that they are in New Bedford Harbor. This amendment will finally put us on a path to bringing these spills to a halt through the siting of an easy-to-use Bilge Oil Recovery System for commercial vessels to use to pump oily water out of their bilges and keep it out of the Harbor. We are grateful to Senator Montigny for his leadership in making this common-sense regulation change,” said Rasmussen.

“A dockside facility will be much more convenient for our fleet and cost less than mobile trucking solutions or waiting for oil to spill out into the water,” said Senator Montigny.