MASSDEP TEMPORARILY SUSPENDS WETLANDS REGULATIONS TO ALLOW BLIZZARD CLEANUP
Thanks to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection, there is one less obstacle in the way of Commonwealth businesses
and residents faced with a massive snow removal and cleanup effort in the wake
of the January 2015 Blizzard. On January 26, MassDEP issued an Emergency
Declaration that suspends the standard permitting and emergency certification
provisions of the Massachusetts Wetlands Regulations in order to allow certain
post-storm recovery activities to proceed unimpeded.
To take advantage
of the Emergency Declaration, MassDEP is requiring written notification of the
proposed post-storm recovery activities to the appropriate conservation
commission and regional MassDEP office on or before Monday, February 2.
MassDEP did set certain conditions on the activities that
business and property owners may undertake without filing a Notice of Intent or
requesting an Emergency Certification, including that:
·
The activity must be necessary to protect public
health and safety from damage caused by the January 2015 Blizzard on or about
January 27, 2015.
·
Any wetland resource area altered by the
activity must be restored to its pre-storm conditions.
·
Written notification must be provided to the
appropriate conservation commission and regional MassDEP office on or before
Monday, February 2. This notification must provide a detailed description
of the post-storm activities performed or to be performed, and must certify
that these activities are limited to those necessary to restore conditions
existing on January 26, 2015 and protect public health or safety from damage
caused by the Blizzard.
·
The activity must be completed by February 27,
2015. Any activities not completed by that date will require a written
Emergency Certification under 310 CMR 10.06 or a Negative Determination of
Applicability or Order of Conditions allowing the activity before continuing.
Post-storm restoration activities allowed under the
Emergency Declaration include:
·
Removal of debris blocking culverts, bridges,
streams or river channels to restore conditions existing on or prior to January
26, 2015 (although stream restoration, including channel or bank stabilization,
is not permitted).
·
Repair, stabilizing and shoring up, but not the
expansion, of any building or other structure where (1) the work is limited to
the footprint of the structure that existed on January 26, 2015 and (2) the
cost of restoring the building or structure to its pre-storm condition does not
exceed 50% of the market value of the building or structure immediately prior
to the storm damage.
·
Repair, but not the expansion or realignment, of
any culvert through which a stream or river flows.
·
Repair, but not the expansion, of manmade
stormwater management structures such as catch basins, drainage pipes, swales,
detention basins, and spillways.
·
Discharge of water pumped from flooded buildings
to wetland resource areas, provided the discharge is not contaminated with oil
or other toxic or hazardous material.
MassDEP notes that any activities undertaken beyond the
scope of the Emergency Declaration constitute a violation of the Wetlands
Protections Act and could subject the person conducting or directing such
activities to enforcement action.
For more information, please contact
metroforensics@gmail.com