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SENATE DOCKET, NO. 435 FILED ON: 1/15/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 467
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Julian Cyr
_________________
To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:
The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:
An Act to overcome coastal and environmental acidification and nutrient pollution.
_______________
PETITION OF:
NAME:DISTRICT/ADDRESS :Julian CyrCape and IslandsAngelo J. Puppolo, Jr.12th Hampden2/7/2023Marc R. PachecoThird Bristol and Plymouth2/7/2023Jack Patrick Lewis7th Middlesex2/7/2023Michael O. MooreSecond Worcester2/7/2023Mathew J. Muratore1st Plymouth2/22/2023James B. EldridgeMiddlesex and Worcester3/7/2023 1 of 6
SENATE DOCKET, NO. 435 FILED ON: 1/15/2023
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 467
By Mr. Cyr, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 467) of Julian Cyr, Angelo J. Puppolo,
Jr., Marc R. Pacheco, Jack Patrick Lewis and other members of the General Court for legislation
to overcome coastal and environmental acidification and nutrient pollution. Environment and
Natural Resources.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 4596 OF 2021-2022.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Third General Court
(2023-2024)
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An Act to overcome coastal and environmental acidification and nutrient pollution.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:
1 SECTION 1. Chapter 6 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding after Section
215IIIIII the following section:-
3 Section 15JJJJJJ. The governor shall annually issue a proclamation setting apart the third
4full week in August as Ocean Acidification Awareness Week and recommending that the day be
5observed in an appropriate manner by the people, promoting citizen science initiatives and action
6by the general public not only to preserve the health of the coastline but also to generate valuable
7scientific data for the Commonwealth. 2 of 6
8 SECTION 2. Section 1 of Chapter 21N of the General Laws is hereby amended by
9inserting each of the following definitions within the proper place to maintain descending
10alphabetical order:-
11 (i) “ocean acidification”, the acidification of the greater Atlantic driven by atmospheric
12carbon deposition independent of Massachusetts coastal stressors.
13 (ii) “coastal acidification”, the acidification of Massachusetts coastal waters driven by
14background ocean acidification, eutrophication, freshwater inputs, atmospheric deposition, and
15any other natural or anthropogenic stressor.
16 (iii) “coastal stressors”, eutrophication, nutrient pollution, freshwater inputs, and
17atmospheric deposition from the coast acidifying coastal waters.
18 (iv) “coastal waters”, any waters and associated submerged lands of the ocean, including
19the seabed and subsoil, lying between the coast and the seaward boundary of the commonwealth,
20as defined in 43 U.S.C. § 1312.
21 (v) “coastal watershed”, merrimack, parker, ipswich, north coastal, mystic, Neponset,
22charles, south coastal, cape cod, islands, buzzards bay, taunton, and narragansett waters.
23 (vi) “eutrophication”, a condition of coastal or freshwaters of having elevated nutrient
24concentrations. Eutrophication caused by human development is the primary cause of excessive
25algal growth and deoxygenation of coastal waters.
26 SECTION 3. Section 10 of Chapter 21N of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
27Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the phrase, “sea level rise and increased
28storm surge”, the following words: , ocean and coastal acidification. 3 of 6
29 SECTION 4. Chapter 21N of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding after
30section 11, the following section:-
31 Section 12
32 (a) The secretary of energy and environmental affairs shall establish and chair the Ocean
33Acidification Council. Members shall include the directors or respective designees of the office
34of coastal zone management, the department of environmental protection, the environmental
35policy act office, the department of marine fisheries, the division of ecological restoration, and
36the department of agricultural resources. The council shall include public members appointed by
37the governor, including a member of a private monitoring organization in the state, a member of
38the state shellfishing industry, a scientist specializing in coastal conservation, a member of the
39Massachusetts municipal association.
40 (b) The council is established to further understand and take action against the threat
41posed by ocean and coastal acidification. The council shall engage with and, to the extent
42practicable, coordinate, public and private monitoring efforts, harmonize data gathering, provide
43monitoring hardware and technical training, maintain a central repository for acidification data,
44and commission The council shall recommend mitigative interventions for coastal stressors or
45adaptive technologies for aquaculture, prioritizing nature-based solutions to manage stormwater
46and reduce nutrient pollution. Funds may target existing programs and novel approaches to
47restore and buffer marine habitats and resources impacted by acidification, provided that, funds
48contributed from commercial license fees shall only be used for shellfishing adaptation efforts
49under this section. 4 of 6
50 (c) Within one year of this the council’s formation, the council shall have performed and
51published a gap analysis for ocean monitoring, recommending measures creating an appropriate
52spatial and temporal resolution to model ocean acidification in coastal waters and project
53acidification trends. The council shall convene a public workshop with local ocean monitoring
54groups to ascertain monitoring needs and inform the analysis, and hold two public hearings. The
55analysis shall identify appropriate monitoring technologies, and select coastal waters where
56ocean acidification monitoring equipment shall be placed. The monitoring system should not
57only enable modeling for long term pH changes in coastal waters, but permit short-term
58monitoring of aragonite saturation in variable and sensitive coastal waters to protect critical
59habitat and shellfish.
60 (d) The council shall coordinate implementation of the monitoring system, implementing
61the system within three years from this act’s passage. The council shall ensure that data derived
62from the monitoring system is publicly accessible in a standardized format useful for public and
63private research.
64 (e) The council may commission independent studies and agency reports to fill
65acidification knowledge gaps. The council shall commission such studies and reports as soon as
66practicable, beginning at a later date if dependent on the monitoring data derived under
67subsection (d) . The council shall avoid duplicating regional efforts, incorporating best available
68science with data from the state monitoring system established by 12(d) and data from local and
69private monitoring efforts, where available. These efforts should, but are not limited to:
70 (i) model ocean and coastal acidification trends in coastal waters and project acidification
71trends; 5 of 6
72 (ii) study the effects of acidification on marine species that are ecologically or
73economically important, or understudied. The study should examine the impact of multimodal
74stress, and should include, at minimum, a study of acidification effects on american lobster,
75eastern oyster, sea scallops, quahogs, and fin fish;
76 (iii) clarify the causal relationship between nutrient pollution, eutrophication, and coastal
77acidification in coastal waters;
78 (iv) determine how different coastal stressors contribute to coastal acidification
79 (v) estimate the economic impacts of modeled and projected acidification on the
80Massachusetts economy;
81 (vi) determine if current total maximum daily loads under the Massachusetts estuaries
82project are sufficient to keep acidity in Massachusetts embayments within the range required by
83314 CMR 4.05 through 2050, and propose changes to 314 CMR §§ 4, 5 and total maximum daily
84loads if needed, taking into account ocean and coastal acidification as particularized stressors.
85 (vii) perform a cost benefit analyses of intervention strategies to determine where
86pollution reductions will most efficiently resilience acidification;
87 (viii) develop best adaptive practices for the shellfishing industry to use to adapt to
88acidification.
89 (f) If the council determines that eutrophication has more than a de minimis impact on
90coastal acidification in any given embayment or coastal zone, the council may implement
91necessary improvements in the most efficient manner to reduce eutrophication. The council may 6 of 6
92target funds to existing state programs or proposed municipal projects for the following
93purposes;
94 (i) financing necessary upgrades to publicly owned treatment works located in coastal
95watersheds to achieve enhanced nutrient removal;
96 (ii) replacing septic systems in nutrient sensitive coastal watersheds with connections to
97new or existing publicly owned treatment works, or upgrading existing systems to nitrogen-
98reducing systems;
99 (iii) implementing other appropriate measures including but not limited to, installing
100permeable reactive barriers and funding salt marsh restoration.
101 SECTION 5. Section 61 of Chapter 30 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
102Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the phrase “predicted sea level rise”, the
103following words: and coastal ocean acidification.