Department of Environmental Protection Leaving Public with Murky Picture of Water Quality, Audit Shows

Department of Environmental Protection Leaving Public with Murky Picture of Water Quality, Audit Shows

Boston, MA – An audit released today by State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump shows the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is not providing important information to the federal government and the public about the safety and usability of Massachusetts watersheds in a timely manner. The audit examined the period of July 1, 2017 through June 30, […]

Sewage Notification Bill Moves Forward

Sewage Notification Bill Moves Forward

  By: Linda Dean Campbell – Sept. 2019 In July, the state’s Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture voted to move forward legislation I filed with Sen. Pat Jehlen and Rep. Denise Provost that would require public notification of sewage discharges into rivers like the Merrimack. This is the first step the bill must […]

One Year After the Columbia Gas Disaster ~ VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL (9-19)

One Year After the Columbia Gas Disaster ~ VALLEY PATRIOT EDITORIAL (9-19)

September, 2019 This month marks the one-year anniversary of the Columbia Gas explosions that rocked Lawrence, Andover and North Andover. For those who lived through it, it will be something we will never forget. Homes and businesses blew up, caught fire and the magnitude of the disaster eventually resulted in the evacuation of all of […]

Senator DiZoglio Fighting to Reinstate Merrimack River District Commission

Senator DiZoglio Fighting to Reinstate Merrimack River District Commission

In the Fiscal Year 2020 Senate Budget, State Senator Diana DiZoglio (D-Methuen) passed legislation to create a Merrimack River District Commission, an inclusive commission of local stakeholders — from sewage management professionals to environmentalists to elected officials — as well as representatives from state agencies, to assess the current health of the Merrimack and to […]

Moulton, Trahan Partner on Combined Sewer Overflow Alert Bill—STOP CSO Act

Moulton, Trahan Partner on Combined Sewer Overflow Alert Bill—STOP CSO Act

Bill is among the first federal steps in addressing the 770 million gallons of sewage flowing into the Merrimack River each year SALEM, MA – Representatives Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Lori Trahan (D-MA) introduced the Sewage Treatment Overflow Prevention through Community Sanitation Outreach (STOP CSO) Act of 2019, or The STOP CSO Act. The STOP CSO Act would require local governments […]

Raytheon Company Penalized $45,750 for Wetlands Violations in Andover  

Raytheon Company Penalized $45,750 for Wetlands Violations in Andover  

BOSTON – The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP) penalized Massachusetts-based Raytheon Company $45,750 for unauthorized destruction of approximately 5,000 square feet of bordering vegetated wetland during site work at the company’s 178-acre Osgood Street facility in Andover.  Raytheon had originally requested that the Andover Conservation Commission grant an emergency certification that would allow the […]

North Andover Resident Finds Columbia Gas Worker Scrawled “N” Word on Her Basement Pipes

North Andover Resident Finds Columbia Gas Worker Scrawled “N” Word on Her Basement Pipes

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHLT_0HUMnw&feature=youtu.be&h=280&w=380] By: Tom Duggan – Nov. 15, 2018 North Andover resident Rachel Moffat says she was “horrified” last month to find that workers for Columbia Gas wrote an ethnic slur (the “N” word) on one of the pipes installed in her basement. “I noticed it on October 20th” she told the Valley Patriot in an […]

Gas Contractor Feeney Brothers Caught Doing Gas Work in Lawrence, Mayor Sends Police To Have Them Removed

Gas Contractor Feeney Brothers Caught Doing Gas Work in Lawrence, Mayor Sends Police To Have Them Removed

By: Tom Duggan – Oct. 21, 2018 Just days after Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera ordered Dorchester Gas Contractor Feeney Brothers out of his city for their role in the gas explosions on September 13th, Valley Patriot news spotters sent us these photos of Feeney Brothers on Loring Street in Lawrence doing gas work Sunday. Within […]

Gas Contractor Feeney Brothers Thrown Out of Lawrence and Andover, Still Doing Gas Work in North Andover

Gas Contractor Feeney Brothers Thrown Out of Lawrence and Andover, Still Doing Gas Work in North Andover

By: Tom Duggan – Oct. 20, 2018 RIVERA THROWS FEENEY OUT OF LAWRENCE Despite denying responsibility for the gas explosions in the Greater Lawrence area on September 13th, and an NTSB preliminary report saying that sub-contractor Feeney Brothers may not have been responsible, Lawrence Mayor Dan Rivera has thrown Feeney Brothers out of Lawrence during […]

What Happens at the Dump

What Happens at the Dump

WELLESLEY’S TRASH By: Aliana Brodmann E. von Richthofen A 2016 posting in the “The Swellesley Report” lamented the moral demise at the Wellesley Dump, otherwise known as the Take & Leave area within the town’s Recycling & Disposal Facility. Apparently certain volunteers on site had turned this genteel Wellesley institution into a contentious environment by looting […]

Solar Power to Help Provide 50K Meals Annually to the Lawrence Community

Solar Power to Help Provide 50K Meals Annually to the Lawrence Community

Bread & Roses, a community kitchen in the heart of Lawrence, Massachusetts, is keeping their energy local with their new solar panels installed by ReVision Energy from North Andover. The solar array, completed this past month, is a 6.7-kilowatt system consisting of 46 rooftop panels that will generate approximately 23,000 kilowatt hours per year while […]

Clean River Project Invites Community to “Earth Day Awareness Rally” Launch of the Merrimack Riverkeepers Coalition

Clean River Project Invites Community to “Earth Day Awareness Rally”  Launch of the Merrimack Riverkeepers Coalition

RALLY TO TAKE PLACE April 22nd, 11 am to 2 pm G.A.R. Park in Haverhill, MA On Sunday, April 22nd from 11 am to 2 pm at the G.A.R Park in Haverhill, MA, the Clean River Project is laying down its Merrimack River clean up tools and invite the community to a free, positive, informative and […]