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Information on the Buzzards Bay Action Committee

Overview of the BBAC

The Buzzards Bay Action Committee or "BBAC" is a not-for-profit organization, composed of municipal officials, which is involved with state, local, and federal legislative and regulatory issues. It also helps guide state and federal agencies as to the needs of Buzzards Bay municipalities in better protecting the environment. The primary goal of the BBAC, like the other two Buzzards Bay focused organizations, is the implementation of the Buzzards Bay Comprehensive Conservation and Management Plan that was approved by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the US EPA in 1991. The slogan of the BBAC is "Communities united to preserve and protect Buzzards Bay."

The BBAC is also a member of the five-member Buzzards Bay NEP Steering Committee along with the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Office (CZM), the US EPA, the Southeast Regional Planning and Economic Development District and the citizen group, the Coalition for Buzzards Bay.

BBAC origins

The Buzzards Bay NEP, which was established 1985, is a unit of the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management. In 1987, the Project became part of the US Environmental Protection Agency's National Estuary Program. At that time, the Buzzards Bay NEP had a "Citizen Advisory Committee" or CAC that was part of the program, and was helping with the evaluation of pollution and identification of management options to protect and restore Buzzards Bay.

In 1987, this CAC broke off from the Buzzards Bay NEP and eventually became two independent, not-for-profit organizations. The first organization called itself the Coalition for Buzzards Bay. It was a '501(c)3' educational and outreach a citizen-based group. The second became the Buzzards Bay Action Committee, a '501(c)3' organization composed of municipal officials.

Recent BBAC activities

The Buzzards Bay Action Committee has focused on a number of specific issues in the past few years. These activities include the development of a local municipal oil spill contingency plan for Buzzards Bay to better assist municipalities in the first response to an oil spill until federal and state agencies are able to respond. This effort has included oil spill training exercises for municipal first responders, and support for better equipping of fire departments and other town departments that respond to oil spills.

Another highly successful BBAC initiative has been the "Bilge Sock" program. The BBAC has provided free oil collecting bilge socks to recreational boat owners, in an effort to minimize the discharge of oil from boat bilges into Buzzards Bay. This effort garnered statewide and national attention, and led to similar programs throughout Massachusetts.

The Buzzards Bay Action Committee is also noted for having filed the 2000 application to EPA to designate all of Buzzards Bay as a boat waste no-discharge area.

Stormwater Mapping Collaborative for Buzzards Bay

Currently the BBAC is working with the Buzzards Bay NEP and Buzzards Bay watershed municipalities to expand the BBP's stormwater atlas initiative to map every discharge and catch basin, and their associated drainage networks throughout the Buzzards Bay watershed.

In 2005, the Buzzards Bay Action Committee received a Coastal Zone Management Non-Point Source Pollution Grant in the amount of $18,951 for its application titled Stormwater Mapping Co-operative Program with Buzzards Bay Municipalities. The Buzzards Bay NEP was a partner on this grant. Under this grant, the BBAC in partnership with the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School developed a detailed stormwater drainage network database to expand upon coastal areas mapped by the Buzzards Bay NEP described in the 2003 "Atlas of Stormwater Discharges in the Buzzards Bay Watershed." The goal of this effort was to map all stormwater drainage systems and discharges in the Buzzards Bay watershed. The information will be released in an updated stormwater atlas that will be released late in 2006.

To support the mapping effort, in 2006 the Town of Acushnet, in collaboration with the BBAC, received a $23,500 grant from the Buzzards Bay NEP, to purchase tablet PCs and GPS units for the communities of Acushnet, New Bedford, Dartmouth, Westport, Fairhaven, Rochester, Mattapoisett, Marion, Bourne, Wareham, Carver and Plymouth who are participating in the expanded stormwater mapping program. This initiative will help towns better maintain their drainage systems, identify discharges causing water quality degradation, identify discharge points of road spills, and help towns comply with state and federal requirements to better manage stormwater discharges. Training for municipal officials on the use of the GPS units and tablet PCs were conducted in the summer of 2006.

BBAC membership

The Executive Director of the BBAC is Elizabeth Leidhold.

The mailing address of the BBAC is

BUZZARDS BAY ACTION COMMITTEE
PO Box 805
Mattapoisett, MA 02739
phone: 774-930-8806
email: lizleid @ msn.com

Municipal representatives on the Buzzards Bay Action Committee, and their phone numbers are as follows:

• Acushnet: Al Coutinho, Administrator 998-0200
  
• Bourne: Brendan Mullaney,Conservation Agent 759-0615 x24
  
• Dartmouth: Mike Gagne, Administrator 910-1813
  
• Fairhaven: Jeff Osuch, Executive Secretary 979-4023
  
• Falmouth: Jennifer McKay, Conservation Administrator 495-7445
  
• Marion: Roger Blanchette, Selectman, 748-3520
  
• Mattapoisett: William Nicholson, Water/Sewer Superintendent 758-4161
  
• New Bedford*: Vincent Furtado, Wastewater Division (Chairman) 991-6158
  
• Rochester: Laurel Farinon, Conservation Agent (Vice Chairman) 763-3871 x13
  
• Wareham: Charles Gricus, Planner 295-9344
  
• Westport: Veronica Beaulieu, Selectman 636-1150

* New Bedford is a city; all other municipalities are towns

1997 Buzzards Bay MOU
1997 Memorandum of Understanding between the Buzzards Bay National Estuary Program, the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, and the Buzzards Bay Action Committee for collaboration and cooperation on Buzzards Bay issues.


2005 updated Buzzards Bay MOU
In the Spring of 2005, during their respective board meetings, both The Coalition for Buzzards Bay, and the Buzzards Bay Action Committee adopted this update of the 1997 MOU.

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