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HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 567 FILED ON: 1/10/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 897
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_________________
PRESENTED BY:
Michelle L. Badger
_________________
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 :DATE ADDED:Michelle L. Badger1st Plymouth1/10/2025 1 of 7
HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 567 FILED ON: 1/10/2025
HOUSE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 897
By Representative Badger of Plymouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 897) of
Michelle L. Badger relative to coastal and environmental acidification and nutrient pollution.
Environment and Natural Resources.
[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 793 OF 2023-2024.]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
_______________
In the One Hundred and Ninety-Fourth General Court
(2025-2026)
_______________
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 inserting after Section
215LLLLLL the following section:-
3 Section 15MMMMMM. The governor shall annually issue a proclamation setting apart
4the third full week in August as Ocean Acidification Awareness Week and recommending that
5the day be observed in an appropriate manner by the people, promoting citizen science initiatives
6and action by the general public not only to preserve the health of the coastline but also to
7generate valuable scientific data for the commonwealth. 2 of 7
8 SECTION 2. Section 1 of chapter 21N of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
9Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the definition of “Carbon dioxide
10equivalent” the following 4 definitions:-
11 “Coastal acidification”, the acidification of coastal waters driven by background ocean
12acidification, eutrophication, freshwater inputs, atmospheric deposition and any other natural or
13anthropogenic stressor.
14 “Coastal stressors”, eutrophication, nutrient pollution, freshwater inputs and atmospheric
15deposition from the coast acidifying coastal waters.
16 “Coastal waters”, any waters and associated submerged lands of the ocean, including the
17seabed and subsoil, lying between the coast and the seaward boundary of the commonwealth, as
18defined in 43 U.S.C. 1312.
19 “Coastal watershed”, the Merrimack, Parker, Ipswich, North Coastal, Mystic, Neponset,
20Charles, South Coastal, Cape Cod, Islands, Buzzards Bay, Taunton and Narragansett watersheds.
21 SECTION 3. Said section 1 of said chapter 21N, as so appearing, is hereby further
22amended by inserting after the definition of “Entity” the following definition:-
23 “Eutrophication”, a condition of coastal or fresh waters having elevated nutrient
24concentrations.
25 SECTION 4. Said section 1 of said chapter 21N, as so appearing, is hereby further
26amended by inserting after the definition of “Nature-based solutions” the following definition:-
27 “Ocean acidification”, the acidification of the greater Atlantic ocean driven by
28atmospheric carbon deposition independent of coastal stressors. 3 of 7
29 SECTION 5. Section 10 of said chapter 21N, as so appearing, is hereby amended by
30inserting after the word “surge”, in line 9, the following words:- , ocean and coastal acidification.
31 SECTION 6.. Said chapter 21N is hereby amended by adding the following section:-
32 Section 12. (a) There shall be an ocean acidification council to consist of 11 members:
33the secretary of energy and environmental affairs, who shall be the chair; the director of coastal
34zone management or a designee; the commissioner of environmental protection or a designee;
35the director of the Massachusetts environmental policy act office or a designee; the director of
36marine fisheries or a designee, the director of ecological restoration or a designee; the
37commissioner of agricultural resources or a designee; and 4 public members to be appointed by
38the governor, 1 of whom shall be a member of a private monitoring organization in the state, 1
39of whom shall be a member of the state shellfishing industry, 1 of whom shall be a scientist
40specializing in coastal conservation and 1 of whom shall be a member of the Massachusetts
41Municipal Association, Inc.
42 (b) The council shall: (i) work to further understand and take action against the threat
43posed by ocean and coastal acidification; (ii) engage with and, to the extent practicable,
44coordinate public and private monitoring efforts; (iii) harmonize data gathering; (iv) provide
45monitoring hardware and technical training; (v) maintain a central repository for acidification
46data; and (vi) recommend mitigative interventions for coastal stressors or adaptive technologies
47for aquaculture, prioritizing nature-based solutions to manage stormwater and reduce nutrient
48pollution. The council may direct monies from the Ocean Acidification Fund established in
49section 2PPPPPP of chapter 29 to target existing programs and novel approaches to restore and
50buffer marine habitats and resources impacted by acidification. 4 of 7
51 (c) Within 1 year of the council’s formation, the council shall perform and publish a gap
52analysis for ocean monitoring with recommended measures for creating an appropriate spatial
53and temporal resolution to model ocean acidification in coastal waters and project acidification
54trends. The council shall convene a public workshop with local ocean monitoring groups to
55ascertain monitoring needs and inform the analysis, and hold 2 public hearings. The analysis
56shall identify appropriate monitoring technologies and select coastal waters where ocean
57acidification monitoring equipment shall be placed. The ocean acidification monitoring system
58shall enable modeling for long term pH changes in coastal waters and permit short-term
59monitoring of aragonite saturation in variable and sensitive coastal waters to protect critical
60habitat and shellfish.
61 (d) The council shall coordinate implementation of the ocean acidification monitoring
62system, implementing the system within 3 years of the effective date of this section. The council
63shall ensure that data derived from the monitoring system is publicly accessible in a standardized
64format useful for public and private research.
65 (e) The council may commission independent studies and agency reports to fill
66acidification knowledge gaps. The council shall commission the studies and reports as soon as
67practicable, beginning at a later date if dependent on data derived from the ocean acidification
68monitoring system described in subsection (d). The council shall avoid duplicating regional
69efforts, incorporating best available science with data from the ocean acidification monitoring
70system established in subsection (d) and data from local and private monitoring efforts where
71available. These efforts shall include, but shall not be limited to: 5 of 7
72 (i) modeling ocean and coastal acidification trends in coastal waters and project
73acidification trends;
74 (ii) studying the effects of acidification on marine species that are ecologically or
75economically important or understudied. The study shall examine the impact of multimodal
76stress and shall include, at minimum, a study of acidification effects on the American lobster,
77Eastern oyster, sea scallops, quahogs and fin fish;
78 (iii) clarifying the causal relationship between nutrient pollution, eutrophication and
79coastal acidification in coastal waters;
80 (iv) determining how different coastal stressors contribute to coastal acidification;
81 (v) estimating the economic impacts of modeled and projected acidification on the
82commonwealth’s economy;
83 (vi) determining if current total maximum daily loads under the Massachusetts estuaries
84project are sufficient to keep acidity in Massachusetts embayments within the ranges required by
85314 CMR 4.05 through 2050 and proposing changes to 314 CMR §§ 4 and 5 and total maximum
86daily loads if needed, taking into account ocean and coastal acidification as particularized
87stressors;
88 (vii) performing cost-benefit analyses of intervention strategies to determine where
89pollution reductions will most efficiently resilience acidification; and
90 (viii) developing best adaptive practices for the shellfishing industry to use to adapt to
91acidification. 6 of 7
92 (f) If the council determines that eutrophication has more than a de minimis impact on
93coastal acidification in any given embayment or coastal zone, the council may implement
94necessary improvements in the most efficient manner to reduce eutrophication. The council may
95target funds from the Ocean Acidification Fund established in section 2PPPPPP of chapter 29 to
96existing state programs or proposed municipal projects for the purposes of:
97 (i) financing necessary upgrades to publicly owned treatment works located in coastal
98watersheds to achieve enhanced nutrient removal;
99 (ii) replacing septic systems in nutrient sensitive coastal watersheds with connections to
100new or existing publicly owned treatment works, or upgrading existing systems to nitrogen-
101reducing systems; and
102 (iii) implementing other appropriate measures, including but not limited to installing
103permeable reactive barriers and funding salt marsh restoration.
104 SECTION 7. Chapter 29 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after
105section 2OOOOOO, as inserted by section 13 of chapter 358 of the acts of 2020, the following
106section:-
107 Section 2PPPPPP. (a) There shall be established and set upon the books of the
108commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the Ocean Acidification Fund. The ocean
109acidification council shall administer the fund. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the
110contrary, there shall be credited to the fund any revenue subject to appropriations or other money
111authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund and any
112gifts, grants, private contributions, investment income earned by the fund's assets and any
113designated funds from other sources. No expenditures from the fund shall cause the fund to be in 7 of 7
114deficiency at the close of the fiscal year. Any money in the fund at the end of the fiscal year shall
115not revert to the General Fund, shall be available for expenditure in the subsequent year and shall
116not be subject to section 5C.
117 (b) Amounts credited to the fund shall be expended, without further appropriation, for the
118purposes of restoring and buffering marine habitats and resources impacted by acidification and
119financing infrastructure improvements to reduce eutrophication as provided in section 12 of
120chapter 21N.
121 SECTION 8. Section 61 of chapter 30 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2020
122Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the word “rise”, in line 16, the following
123words:- and coastal ocean acidification.