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Multiple times a month — potentially more often — trace amounts of diesel fuel leak out from the bilges of commercial fishing vessels into New Bedford Harbor. For years, these “mystery” oil spills were kept at bay by a state-funded mobile pump-out program that allowed vessel owners to clear out the oily water before it leaked.
But when funding ran dry, the oil still had to go somewhere.
Now, new legislation proposed by state Sen. Mark Montigny would reduce “mystery” oil spills in New Bedford Harbor by eliminating the state regulation that prevented the city from installing a bilge pump-out facility at its port. The amendment, tacked onto the state’s environmental bond bill, comes after Buzzards Bay Coalition advocated for the change to improve the region’s water quality.
Mobile pump-out trucks were not cost-effective, the environmental nonprofit argued. And because oil is classified as a hazardous waste, current state environmental regulations prevent a permanent bilge collection system from being located so close to the water. Still, ports in Rhode Island and Maine have managed to curb “mystery” spills, Buzzards Bay Coalition President Mark Rasmussen told The Light.
“Nowhere in our region is the presence of regular oil spills accepted the way that they are in New Bedford Harbor,” Rasmussen said in a statement.
Montigny called the amendment a “no-brainer.”
“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,” Montigny said in a news release announcing the legislation.
“I have never met anyone who doesn’t want a clean and healthy bay.”
— Buzzards Bay Coalition President Mark Rasmussen
Working with Buzzards Bay Coalition, Montigny also proposed a new way to fund much-needed wastewater infrastructure upgrades on the South Coast: by establishing a Wastewater Financing Commission. This commission would explore potential funding opportunities to cover the estimated $2 billion needed to address wastewater issues in the region, from increased flooding to combined sewer overflows that dump raw sewage into the harbor.
Although New Bedford alone has spent nearly half a billion dollars on wastewater upgrades since the 1990s, other regions have been more successful in creating long-term funding streams for these projects. On Cape Cod, for example, a 2.75% excise tax on short-term rentals has raised more than $300 million for the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund since it launched in 2018. Today, the fund covers 25% of the cost of the Cape’s eligible wastewater cleanup projects. (Despite the fund’s name, no island towns have opted into the program.)
The proposal for a Wastewater Financing Commission comes as New Bedford officials develop the first comprehensive wastewater infrastructure plan since 2017. The city is currently seeking public input on the new plan, which will prioritize long-term financial sustainability. The survey asks, among other things, whether residents would be willing to pay a higher sewer bill to reduce flooding.
“I have never met anyone who doesn’t want a clean and healthy bay,” Rasmussen said. “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.”
Email Brooke Kushwaha at bkushwaha@newbedfordlight.org.
