Protect our water and our livelihood

Walk for Water on Saturday, July 2 in Ayer parade

2011-07-01T08:48:00.003-04:00

Protest is patriotic in America. Water is essential to our survival.

Celebrate both on Saturday, July 2 at 1:45 pm at St. Mary's Church on West Main St. in Ayer. Wear white and bunny ears as a symbol of protest to protect our water.

Pan Am Railways is embarking on phase 2 -- to add 1,200 spaces to the 800 space lot built two years ago on top of our aquifer that serves 15,000 people in Ayer and Littleton.

On July 30, 2010 at a public meeting in front of the Surface Transportation Board and 200 community members, Pan Am promised to build a storm water to the GOLD STANDARD.

Pan Am then tried to back out and save money at the cost of less protection for our aquifer. We insisted and they stopped resisting.

Now, we want the same gold-standard protection for phase 2.

Pan Am told the Ayer Board of Selectmen last week that they installed the highest quality system in phase one "because it was the end of the construction season."

This means they wanted to get on with the project and around the clean water warriors who care about our aquifer.

We must gain public attention again and demand that these known polluters (see the bottom of the blog for documentation of Pan Am's heinous environmental record) keep to their word and install the gold standard storm water system.

See you tomorrow, Saturday, July 2 at St. Mary's Church in Ayer, Mass. I'll have some bunny ears for you to wear. You wear white clothes and bring US flags. Protest is as patriotic as the Fourth of July.

Corporate welfare for Pan Am Railways

2009-11-17T08:31:00.004-05:00

Pan Am Railways is going around to the boards of selectmen in area towns -- Shirley, Devens and Ayer -- to ask for support in their application for federal assistance to purchase "clean diesel" engines.

Clean diesel engines are a good idea and Pan Am Railways could certainly benefit from them, given their abyssmal track record of spilling, not reporting the spills, and skirting the fines.

It amazes me when taxpayers have to support a viable company that has the funds to hire a lawyer who specializes in white collar crime -- Dennis J. Kelly -- to come begging for corporate welfare.

We have a crazy system. Pan Am gets the best of both worlds from the government -- nearly zero regulation by the Surface Transportation Board and federal handouts.

Gold standard stormceptors

2009-11-11T15:55:00.003-05:00

This is the rule: the better the stormceptor, the better our water will be protected.

At right is a photo of construction at the lot owned and operated by Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern to unload new Ford motor vehicles.

On July 29, 2009, Pan Am Southern promised to protect our water to a GOLD STANDARD with nearly 200 concerned community members in attendance.

We are holding Pan Am Southern to this promise.

It's strange to say, but luckily Pan Am Railways has an abysmal environmental track record and was sued by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Environmental Crimes Strike Force for repeatedly spilling, not reporting the spills and either not cleaning up the spills or doing a poor cleanup job.

If Pan Am Railways had a better track record, we, the 15,000 people who count on the Spectacle Pond aquifer for clean drinking water, would have had little leverage to get them to do the right thing.

You see, Pan Am Railways is on probation for its abysmal environmental track record and must make quarterly visits to report to Judge Elizabeth Fahey in Suffolk County Superior Court. The next scheduled meeting is Dec. 1, 2009 at 2 pm.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Rainer will be at the hearing to continue to advocate for clean water in the commonwealth, even if you're a railroad that claims it only answers to the lame and lifeless federal Surface Transportation Board in Washington, DC.

Without Pan Am Railways probation, the only recourse for the Town of Ayer would have been to sue the company, again. It's a costly measure that doesn't guarantee success. The last time Ayer sued the railroad, it lost the case and some $300,000 in legal fees.

Our government has failed us in that the only leverage to protect our water is through the courts -- either a probation hearing or an expensive lawsuit.

The system is broken.

Partner for the Next 7 Generations to Protect our Water

2009-10-16T15:37:00.007-04:00

Pan Am Southern (PAS) had a love-fest with Judge Fahey at its probation hearing Oct. 15 in Suffolk Superior Court.

In March 2009, the state fined PAS $500,000 and put on probation to insure it cleans up its act after being found guilty for environmental crimes for spilling 800-plus gallons in downtown Ayer, not reporting it and covering it up. The state documented repeated instances of this behavior (see memo on sentencing at bottom of blog).

The good news: Pan Am had a spill last week in E. Deerfield, which the company reported and cleaned up. That's an improvement.

PAS lawyer Dennis J. Kelly -- a specialist in white-collar criminal defense, (according to his website) -- said to Judge Fahey, "I have good news to report."

1. PAS agreed to provide information to the Department of Environmental Protection and Town of Ayer to satisfy the Order of Conditions and a timetable to complete the work at the lot.

Our hero, Andrew Rainer of Martha Coakley's Environmental Crimes Strike Force, warned that not all of the documents have been received. "I received some of the documents late last night," said Rainer, and more are due. Mr. Rainer will continue to hold the company's feet to the heat.

2. PAS completed training of 700 employees in the office and field on its Emergency Management System (EMS). No EMS existed previously.

3. PAS Emergency Management System has three emergency coordinators trained to respond and to cover for each other, a spill plan, and a notification procedure. The company supposedly has an 800 number to report spills -- which I would like to see and post. Does anyone have it?

Kelly asked the judge to forgo the next probation meeting, which she refused, saying "It is better to schedule a meeting and cancel it than to try and schedule a hearing for four lawyers." The next hearing will be Dec. 1 at 2 pm -- if necessary.

"I will not embarrass the defendants by asking them to stand, but I want to make sure they are in the courtroom," Judge Fahey said. "We ask criminals to approach the bench."

Why should white collar criminals be treated diffently from other criminals? Pan Am's crimes are against the environment -- no better or worse than crimes against human beings and property. It was only the threat of jail that motivated PAS to comply with the environmental laws of the Commonwealth.

The lot is scheduled to begin unloading Ford motor vehicles on Jan. 1. Pan Am Southern says it will continue to provide information about lot construction. PAS doesn't like the heat of the spotlight and responded with compliance. We must insure they live up to its promises.

Without the spotlight of residents protesting and witnessing PAS (10 faithful Water Warriors attended the hearing, including Jane Morris from Rep. Bob Hargraves office), the railroad would have build a shoddy facility with minimum protection for storm water and to clean up oil spills.

We would've rather seen PAS use the other lot and avoid building over an aquifer. Fighting against big business backed up by big government is difficult. We proved that public outcry and heat from demonstrations and the media can have an impact.

Now the vigilance starts for the next seven generations -- to monitor Pan Am's operations at Spectacle Pond and Grove Pond. The company does business adjacent to 100 percent of Ayer's water.

At the hearing, I hand-delivered a letter to David Fink, president of Pan Am, signed by 25 water warriors, asking his company to be good stewards of our aquifer. We chatted and I invited him to join a service club in Ayer, such as Rotary, Lions or the Downtown Business Alliance to put a face on a company that we are trusting with our future, because if our water is contaminated, it would be a hardship for residents and businesses.

"We're trusting you with 100 percent of our water supplies," I said.

"I know. I've spent millions to protect it," Fink said, and implied someone from PAS would join a town business group. Let's hold him to it.

This makes my skin prickle

2009-10-08T09:20:00.003-04:00

This company now does business with the endorsement of Uncle Sam over 100 percent of Ayer's water supplies -- at Spectacle and Grove ponds.

Deerfield oil spill probed
By Daily Hampshire Gazette
Wednesday, October 7, 2009

DEERFIELD - The state fire marshal's office is investigating the disgorging of dozens of gallons of diesel fuel onto the ground at the East Deerfield rail yard on Friday.

According to Deerfield Police Chief Michael Wozniakewicz, the spill involved as much as 100 gallons of diesel fuel.

"That's what the railroad people told us, 100 gallons," he said.

The incident is being investigated by the state fire marshal's office because the spill constitutes a violation of the state fire prevention code, according to Jennifer Mieth, a spokeswoman for the fire marshal.

"There was a problem refueling a locomotive and fuel spilled out on the ground," she said.

According to Mieth, there will be an ongoing investigation as to the exact cause of the spill and how to prevent such incidents in the future.

"We are in discussions with the railroad yard to figure out ways of changing their refueling process to prevent a recurrence of this kind of spill," she said.

Pan Am Railways is investigating as well, a spokesman said Monday. The company will have a couple of hearings and afterward will make whatever changes seem necessary, said Cyndi Scarano, an executive vice president.

In 2005, Pan Am Railways was fined $35,000 for failing to file timely reports about cleanups being done in Deerfield, Northfield and other western Massachusetts towns.

The corporation has been under close scrutiny by the town since at least 2001 when the rail yard was found to have become contaminated in three areas from spills of petroleum-based products, mainly diesel fuel.

Welcome to town, Uncle Pan Am

2009-10-06T07:46:00.009-04:00

Pan Am Southern surrendered at the feet of the EPA and DEP on Sept. 29 and cried "Uncle!"

"What do you want us to do?" the company asked regulators, to ensure the 750-space, 20 acre parking lot (to unload Ford Motor Company vehicles) is built to the gold standard promised by the company at a public meeting July 29.

With the company's 180-degree turn-around, the attorney general's office cancelled the emergency hearing for Oct. 7 to determine if Pan Am Railways (Pan Am Railways partnered with Norfolk Southern to build the lot) violated terms of its parole handed down in March 2009.

The parole dictated that the company follow the environmental laws of the Commonwealth. This is new for Pan Am. It is accustomed to answering exclusively to the federal Surface Transportation Board in Washington, D.C. -- a passive agency structured to give railroads permission.

With lax regulation, all railroads -- including Pan Am -- are guided only by their consciences in the backwoods, backwater and the other side of the tracks where they do business.

This time, people took a stand to protect the blue gold contained in the water supply under the mammoth parking lot. More than 15,000 people in Littleton and Ayer depend on that water.

Ayer is particularly dependent on Pan Am because the railroad operates over both of the town's wells -- Spectacle Pond and Grove Pond, 2 miles down track.

We invite Pan Am Southern to become a good corporate citizen in Ayer and join a civic group, such as the Downtown Business Alliance, the Ayer-Harvard Rotary Club and the Ayer-Shirley Lions Club.

We want a face, a connection, a caring uncle to represent the institution of Pan Am Southern. We want insurance that our interests will be protected. We need Pan Am Southern to be a good corporate citizen by joining and participating in our business community.

Railroads rights vs. water rights

2009-09-29T14:55:00.006-04:00

Pan Am Southern plowed forward with paving, despite Judge Fahey's warning at a Sept. 25 hearing : "The cost of restoration can be high." Work has continued at a brisk pace without storm water receptors installed. Mary Arata of the Lowell Sun wrote a story on it.

Pan Am Southern claims:
1. It is not beholden to the terms of probation because it is a new company. Probation was for
Pan Am Railways.
2. It is not beholden to the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. It answers only to the federal Surface Transportation Board.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts claims:
1. Pan Am may have violated terms of its probation as well as the order of conditions and consent decree.
2. Pan Am is in violation of the environmental protection laws of the Commonwealth as well as the Consent Decree and Order of Conditions.

The plot thickens. The state DEP, the EPA, our federal representatives -- Kerry and Tsongas (and Kennedy's office), and our state reps - Sen. Eldridge and Rep. Hargraves, are advocating to protect our water.

It is not over. We will continue to demand that our water be protected from management by a convicted polluter that believes it is above the law.

Here's an excerpt from the March 2009 memorandum on sentencing when Pan Am was found guilty of negligence in a spill of more than 800 gallons, failure to report and a cover-up:

"In August 2007, the Maine DEP inspected Main Central's Waterville Yard and discovered evidence of multiple prohibited discharges of oil at the property, including discharges to soil and storm drains posing a threat to groundwater and to the nearby Kennebec River. The DEP's staff documented '34 prohibited oil discharge incidents' at the proporty between 1985 & 2001. The DEP determined that 'MEC failed to report the discovery of the prohibited discharges of oil described above [and] failed to immediately undertake to remove those discharges.'"

Where's the Gold Standard?

2009-09-22T09:33:00.006-04:00

State Senator Jamie Eldridge, above, addresses 100 at Sept. 17 Rally for water at Fay Park.

John Edwards, lawyer for Pan Am Southern promised 200 residents to build an auto-unloading facility to a "gold standard" to protect the aquifer beneath that supplies some of the purest water in the state to 15,000 people. Several major businesses in the area also rely on the water: Nasoya soy products, Aquafina - licensed PepsiCo bottled water, Sunny Delight - formerly VeryFine beverages, and Cains Products - mayonnaise, salad dressings and condiments.

We are counting on Pan Am Southern to build a storm water system to a gold standard to protect the livelihood of our community.

The EPA and DEP haven't yet seen the final storm water plans. Pan Am has already proposed using a lesser [cheaper] storm water system. Pan Am is planning to bring the first train in for a ceremony with Ford Motor Company on Oct. 6. The train will have a locomotive -- and the geo-thermal liner to capture any accidental spills hasn't yet been designed.

Pan Am started paving on Sept. 18. Facilities can't be built to a "gold standard" in a hurry. The company proceeded without securing a NPDES permit - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System [NPDES]. Those pages are blank - empty -nada - on their storm water plan. That is not a gold standard.

Not surprisingly, the EPA found the plan's "Best Management Practices" lacking. Many key details and a notice of intent are also missing.

Where's the Gold Standard?

Here's my blog post quote from the 2009 memorandum on sentencing by Attorney General Martha Coakley when Pan Am Railways spilled 850+ gallons in Ayer in 2006, didn't report it, covered it up and is appealing the $500,000 fine.

"In Nov. 2007, the Maine DEP received an anonymous report of a prohibited discharge of oil along the railroad tracks in Orono, Maine that stretched for approximately 8 miles, and the department issued a Notice of Violation to defendants Pan Am Railways, Inc. and Maine Central Railroad (affiliates) for failing to report the spill."

By the way, the "anonymous reporters" are typically railroad employees who have been silenced by management.

Clean water warriors needed everywhere

2009-09-15T13:41:00.005-04:00

Photo at right is from From the New York Times: Ryan Massey, 7, shows his caps. Dentists near Charleston, W.Va., say pollutants in drinking water have damaged residents’ teeth. Nationwide, polluters have violated the Clean Water Act more than 500,000 times.

A half-million violations of the Clean Water Act. That's horrendous. Click on the link to find troubled water spots in your community. Clean water is a problem all over the USA, and it will only become a bigger problem.

On the Ayer-Littleton line at Spectacle Pond, we have the 500,001st violation waiting to happen. Only fools would allow a repeat-polluter -- Pan Am Railways -- to pave a 12-acre, 750 space parking lot over an aquifer within a critical area for a Water Supply Protection District as defined by the Mass. Department of Environmental Protection. New Ford motor cars will be unloaded at the facility.

Ryan's teeth are pretty bad. He is a symptom of a system gone bad. A bad law allows a bad polluter to build a bad project that may make our water bad. It's very bad.

We have one option left in the fight to protect our water against big government and big business -- the power of the people, flexed in political willpower and consumer buying power.

Come to the Rally for Water on Thursday, Sept. 17, 6-7 pm at Fay Park in Littleton. Turn at the yellow brick historical building on Route 110/2A. Go past the police station and the park is on the immediate left. Rain or shine. Indoor location is church at 19 Foster St.

Featured speakers include State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, State Reps. James Arciero and Bob Hargraves -- two Democrats and one Republican. Clean water has no political affiliation. Clean water and a clean environment are basic human rights.

Ford Motor Company describes sustainability as "respecting the rights of people living in the communities around our facilities, and those of our suppliers, who may be affected by these operations." source

Tune into Littleton and Ayer cable TV

2009-09-10T17:12:00.004-04:00

Bob Spinozzi, host of "A Small Town" on Littleton Cable TV Channel 8, interviews Rob Hartz, lef and Susan Tordella. Check local cable listings in Ayer & Littleton to view the show.

Rob & I gave a good overview of the situation with Pan Am Railways, Ford Motor Company and Norfolk Southern railroad. Bob Spinozzi did an excellent job of doing his homework on this complicated issue and gave a great interview. Thanks Bob!

We plugged the Rally for Water on Thursday, Sept. 17, 6-7 pm at Fay Park -- 22 Foster St., -- in Littleton.

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge, State Reps. Jim Aciero and Bob Hargraves will speak on the importance of aquifer protection. Join us!

Watch the show on Littleton Cable TV channel 8 (Comcast) and channel 38 (Verizon) Sept. 11-13, 8 pm- 10 pm. The show is only a half-hour long. Tell your friends!

Ford -- corporate and local

2009-09-07T08:42:00.007-04:00

Coincidentally, the small town of Ayer has a single car dealer -- Gervais Ford -- a mile or two from a 750-space lot under construction by Pan Am Southern to unload new Fords from trains, park them and load them onto 18-wheelers for distribution to New England Ford dealers.

Steve, Mike and John Gervais are good corporates citizen of Ayer. Two generations of Gervais belong to the Ayer-Harvard Rotary Club. Gervais generously supports the community. The provide reliable and convenient service -- where I've taken our Ford van. Gervais has been doing business in Ayer for a long time. I'm sure they want what is best for our town.

If Gervais Ford was poised to threaten our town's water supply, we would all sit down at the selectmen's meeting room and talk. We would listen to each other and find out the concerns, benefits and risks of the plan. Other community members and town officials would weigh in on the plan. The company would be required to obtain the appropriate permitting and abide by town regulations -- in place for the common good.

I'm confident that the town's water supply would be protected for the next seven generations and because Gervais cares about Ayer and wants to continue doing business here for the next seven generations.

Not so with its corporate parent Ford Motor Company, headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan. The "suits" in the boardroom don't have the same care about our town's future. They see the big picture, and our town's water is just a drop in the bucket.

Ford corporate partnered with a convicted environmental criminal to build an 750-space lot over an aquifer that serves 15,000 people in Ayer and Littleton. Pan Am Railways track record is so bad they have a probation officer to ensure the company changes the way it does business -- with little environmental regard.

This quote is is from the memorandum on sentencing for Pan Am Railways in March 2009.

"Similarly, the defendant Boston & Maine Corp. [aka Pan Am Railways] agreed in 2002, but then failed, to develop a comprehensive Environmental Management System [EMS]. As of May 4, 2007 -- five years later -- the company still had not developed an acceptable EMS. When, thereafter, it submitted an EMS in Feb. 2008, DEP still found it wanting. For example, the EMS contained a long list of Standard Operating Procedures, pollution prevention plans and guidance documents for many environmentally-related compliance activities. However, of the 50 listed documents, 35 [70%] had projected completion dates in the future."

We cannot continue to allow companies to do business over our aquifer, in our community, in our world -- with no environmental management system. It is not acceptable.

Tsongas & Kerry -- protect our aquifer

2009-09-02T09:09:00.010-04:00

Tsongas, Kerry and the late Ted Kennedy's staffs have been diligent and proactive to protect our aquifer --and we still need your help. Please don't give up on us.

Already, Pan Am Southern changed the storm water system to something less comprehensive than the "gold standard" it promised.
Already, the DEP & EPA asked for further documentation and received a run-around.
Already, Pan Am Southern proved it SAYS one thing and DOES another. We are trusting this company with the future of our towns because we are depending on it to protect our water supply.

Tsongas, Kerry and Kennedy's staff -- THANKS for everything you have done to this point. The July 29th meeting was helpful.

Would you please take it one step further and use your power and influence to take any of these three actions.

1. Call CSX and ask for their price to break the contract on the "other lot" one-quarter mile away. It's only common sense to use a lot further from the aquifer.

2. Dig up $10K or $20K to help pay for an expert consultant to guarantee Pan Am does what they promised. Pan Am already has a probation officer because they've demonstrated TIME AND AGAIN (see memorandum from Martha Coakley's Environmental Crimes Strike Force below) they don't implement environmental precautions.

3. Introduce a federal law (Ted Kennedy introduced more than 2,500 pieces of legislation) to plug the regulatory gap that allows railroads to enjoy freedom to build and pollute wherever they want. Railroads in the country basically answer to no one.

Our community has fought this project for 10 years with lawsuits, protests, letters, congressional intervention, meetings, begging and pleading. We still want to protect our aquifer from the incompetence of a known polluter -- Pan Am Railways, and its client Ford Motor Company.

Staffers of Tsongas, Kerry & Kennedy -- please keep fighting with us to protect our water. We need your expertise and involvement.

Ford and the art of Greenwashing

2009-09-01T15:47:00.013-04:00

Like many big companies, Ford Motor Company is full of green talk.
This quote is from Ford's website, brimming with greenwash:

"Human rights refers to basic standards of treatment to which all people are entitled. It is a broad concept, with economic, social, cultural, political and civil dimensions. For Ford, this means ensuring that our products, no matter where they are made, are manufactured under conditions that demonstrate respect for the people who make them. "It also means respecting the rights of people living in the communities around our facilities, and those of our suppliers, who may be affected by these operations."

Hmm, I'm pretty sure 15,000 people in Ayer and Littleton will be affected by the construction of a 12-acre parking lot over our aquifer, to unload Ford vehicles. The site is built and operated by a known, repeated and convicted polluter.

Pan Am Railways (partnering with Norfolk Southern) has polluted often enough in Massachusetts and Maine to have been prosecuted by Martha Coakley's Environmental Crimes Strike Force. (See full text at bottom of blog.)

That bit of news doesn't seem to perturb Ford. Nor does the objections of the community that depends on the Spectacle Pond Aquifer. Big business marches to the tune of the almighty green dollar.

Ford goes on to describe their commitment to the UN's Global Compact Human Rights
"Principle 1: Businesses should support and respect the protection of internationally proclaimed human rights."

The UN has declared universal right to clean water a basic human right.

"Environment
Principle 7: Businesses should support a precautionary approach to environmental challenges; Principle 8: undertake initiatives to promote greater environmental responsibility; and
"Principle 9: encourage the development and diffusion of environmentally friendly technologies." Source.

It's all beautiful in theory. In practice, I'm worried for my water supply, for vitality and future of my community, the value of my home, and how our water supply will be protected for our descendants.

Ford-- we want more than greenwash. We want to wash the next seven generations of Littleton and Ayer babies in water from the aquifer you're threatening.

Our three federal legislators have washed their hands of this problem.

We have not given up on Ford -- there is still time to follow your corporate policies.

Here's my quote from Martha Coakley's Environmental Strike Force Memorandum on Sentencing when Pan Am was fined $500,000 for spilling 800+ gallons of oil in Ayer in 2006, not reporting it, covering it up and objecting to paying the fine.

"In Dec. 2007, the Mass. DEP issued a Notice of Noncompliance to the Defendant Boston & Maine Corporation (Pan Am subsidiary) for failing to timely perform an Immediate Response Action for a spill of oil that had been discovered at the defendant's East Deerfield Rail Yard. The spill, from abandoned tanks and drums, had been reported to the DEP by a passer-by (not the defendant) in Aug. 2007.

I wish Ted were here

2009-08-28T15:10:00.008-04:00

The stories coming out about Ted Kennedy's caring are absolutely incredible. He was so humble. He was asked in an interview, "How do you want to be remembered?"

"That I made a difference," Ted said.

Ted - we still need you to make a difference. You had the influence to make a single phone call to slice through bureaucracy with the magic of Harry Potter.

Our federal representatives -- who have the most potential to negotiate a common sense solution to use the other lot -- could still take action.

Tsongas, Kerry and Kennedy's staff could dig up a few thousand dollars help fund a position to monitor the construction of the lot over our aquifer.

The Spectacle Pond Aquifer is in my backyard. This place matters to me. My drinking water matters to me. The future of my town matters to me.

We have the best possibility of influencing events that are close to home, among people we know.

I stand by the legions of ordinary people who have taken on big business, big government and impossible odds -- and won. Think American patriots in the 1700s and Viet Cong in the 1960s who both went up against the most powerful military in the world at the time.

They protected the resources in their own backyard. Their lives depended on it in the same way the livelihood of Ayer depends on clean drinking water.

Here's my daily quote from Attorney General Martha Coakley's environmental crimes strikeforce in sentencing Pan Am Railways for spilling 800+ gallons, not reporting it and attempting to cover it up in 2006. {full text at bottom of blog}

"In 2007, the defendants Boston and Maine Corporation and Pan Am Railways were fined $59,747 for failing to properly dispose of railroad ties that were leaching hazardous materials into the environment in Deerfield, Carlbmont and near the Wachusetts Reservoir. The defendants then appealed the fine.

Permit mania -- except for Pan Am Railways

2009-08-21T14:13:00.007-04:00

When I wanted to keep chickens in my backyard, I had to apply to the Town of Ayer for two permits -- from the Board of Health and Conservation Commission. I had to go through considerable review and approval by town officials for the sake of a dozen birds living on my little piece of Ayer.

We're planning a Rally for the Water at Fay Park in Littleton. To obtain a permit, I have to get permission by a signature on the application from the police chief, fire chief and highway department chief. And the Recreation Department has to approve it.

For the sake of a one-hour rally, I have to go to considerable review and approval by town officials.

I don't fault either town. They want to control what goes on in their borders. They have systems. They don't want a huge event in the park that gets too rowdy or can't accommodate fire trucks in case of an emergency. Ayer doesn't want the public water supply to get contaminated by chicken manure.

It's all in the public interest.

Then there's the case of a 12-acre parking lot to hold 750 Ford vehicles while in transit between Pan Am Southern and tractor trailers to move them to Ford Motor Company dealerships in New England.

The parking lot is directly over an underground source of water for 15,000 people in both towns. Pan Am Railways has an abysmal environmental track record. It's the kind of track record that would give Rachel Carson a heart attack. Pan Am Railways treatment of the land under and around its tracks is like Bernie Madoff and his investors: Bernie just wanted to make money any way he could and didn't care about the carnage he left behind.

Like Madoff, Pan Am plays the game well. It has the endorsement of the federal government, which supersedes any local control by Littleton or Ayer.

My track record is way better than Pan Am Railways. Chickens and a rally hardly threaten the environment in the same way that a known polluter does. Yet I have to get town approval for my activities and Pan Am Southern (Pan Am - Norfolk Southern joint venture) doesn't. If it has its way, Pan Am Southern will soon be unloading vehicles fresh off the assembly line at Ford Motor Company.

Here's my daily quote from the memorandum on sentencing for Pan Am Railways for the unreported and covered up spill of 2006 in downtown Ayer, written by the Massachusetts Environmental Crime Strikeforce.

"In August 2006, the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection issued to the defendant Boston & Maine Corporation [Pan Am subsidiary] a Notice of Noncompliance for failing to timely complete remediation activities with respect to releases of oil at the company's Rail Yard in East Deerfield, Mass."

Clean water is fundamental

2009-08-18T14:38:00.005-04:00

People in Milford have to boil their water for 10 minutes before drinking it because of the eColi threat. Ayer and Littleton could face a similar threat.

Our community is already feeling the impact of the threat to our aquifer.

A home buyer looking at houses in Littleton has been deterred by the construction of a 12-acre parking lot by a known polluter over an aquifer that supplies 15,000 people.

"When I saw this project -- [I thought] what sense is there in using this [lot] when there is a space nearby? And what possible sense is there in allowing such a thing there? I am becoming an increasingly rabid environmentalist. Actually, I happened upon this [issue] when searching for what I thought would be confirmation that this area would be protected!"

If Pan Am continues in its track record and paves and uses the lot to unload Ford vehicles, our aquifer will be in jeopardy. Our towns' futures will be at risk. Without a reliable source of clean water, we are doomed.

Pan Am, CSX and Ford can still do the right thing and figure out a way to use the other lot and protect our water for generations to come.

The community is against the project

2009-08-14T10:18:00.004-04:00

It was a standing-room-only crowd when we gathered to protest Ford Motor Company partnering with Pan Am Southern Railroad to pave 12 acres directly above underground wells that supply drinking water to 15,000 people in Littleton and Ayer, Mass.

The corporation didn't care. It refused to consider delaying the project.

It refused to re-open the negotiations to use the other lot -- identical, nearby, and vacant -- because it's leased to competitor CSX until 2016.

It's like we live in a third-world country and cannot control our local resources.

The bureaucrats sitting up front beside the corporation explained why they are all helpless to stop the project.

We have contacted our state, local and federal politicians -- who are also helpless because Congress granted railroads the legal right to interstate commerce in the 1860s. Because of a regulatory gap, similar to the gap that caused this recession -- they can ignore the 200 people in that meeting hall.

We cannot trust 60 percent of our water supply to a known and reckless polluter -- Pan Am Railways. Ford Motor Company is partnering with this company over our aquifer.

Here's my daily excerpt from the environmental strike force upon sentencing Pan Am Railways to 3 years probation for a spill of more than 800 gallons in Ayer in 2006, covering it up and not reporting it [business as usual].

"The defendants' compliance history with both the Commonwealth and the State of Maine is remarkable not only for the defendants' repeated failures to report spills of oil and hazardous materials, but also for their failure to adopt or implement required spills of oil and hazardous materials but also for their failure to adopt or implement required spill response plans or an overall environmental management system to prevent future spills."

Ford -- motivate us to buy your product

2009-08-13T14:49:00.003-04:00

Here's a story from fellow water-warrior Bev Schultz whose neighbor was leaning toward buying a Ford hybrid Fusion -- and changed her mind because Ford is partnering with a known polluter to jeopardize the source of 60% of Ayer's water.

Her neighbor said:

"Last Wednesday my husband and I traded in our Ford Explorer for a non-Ford. We have been a 2-Ford-car-car-family for many years, and for 15 years, there's been a Ford in our garage with a license cover from our dealer on the Ayer Rotary. We love their service, and have been using the Ford dealer for all of the years we've been in Ayer, and we bought our last car from them. As of Tuesday, there's no Ford in the left side of our garage."

Ford doesn't like to hear this. We must let Ford know we will buy Fords when they do the right thing and motivate Pan Am Southern to USE THE OTHER LOT.

Please contact Ford Corporate Environmental directly and ask your friends and neighbors to do the same.

You can cut and paste this statement if desired: "Ford -- because you are partnering with a known polluter to unload Fords over an aquifer that serves 15,000 people, my next vehicle will not be a Ford. Please do the right thing and withdraw as a client from Pan Am Southern over the aquifer. Ask Pan Am to USE THE OTHER LOT."

Here's my daily quote from Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley's Environmental Crime Strikeforce memorandum on sentencing when Pan Am Railways spilled 800-plus gallons in 2006, covered it up and is still trying to skirt the fine.

"The present case is a criminal case in which the Commonwealth introduced evidence that the defendants did not merely fail to report the release of diesel fuel, but took steps to deliberately cover up the spill.

"For example, the Commonwealth introduced evidence that, on the night of the spill, the defendants ordered workers to dig holes that would enable pooled oil to sink below the ground surface. The next day, the defendants directed their workers to remove the most heavily stained soil and ballast on the surface and put in fresh ballast, even though stained and fuel-soaked soil remained below (and their continued to be an overwhelming smell of diesel fuel).

"Moreover, as soon as the defendants learned that government authorities had been alerted to the spill, the first thing they did was to try to remove from the scene scene the locomotive that had spilled the fuel at a time when the locomotive still showed evidence of the size of the spill.

It hasn't happened YET -- let's keep it that way

2009-08-10T10:01:00.008-04:00

The hardest part about this fight to protect our water from careless spills by Pan Am Railways and Norfolk Southern Railroads is that it hasn't happened yet -- over our aquifer.

All evidence points to the likelihood that locomotives will eventually spill diesel oil and contaminate our aquifer. Once an aquifer is polluted, it rarely recovers. That's 60 percent of Ayer's water supply. Spectacle Pond supplies water for 15,000 people in Ayer and Littleton.

Big and little spills have happened often in the past 30 years on Pan Am Railways' tracks. Many have gone unreported. Until the spill of 800-plus gallons in Ayer in 2006, spilling oil haphazardly, not reporting it, not cleaning it up and starting over somewhere else -- was business as usual for Pan Am Railways.

Until Attorney General Martha Coakley's Environmental Crime Strike Force caught up with Pan Am Railways and documented 30 years of envrionmentally reprehensible behavior.

Federal law protects the railroads from lack of oversight BY ANY GOVERNMENT BODY, and has done since the 1800s. They behave irresponsibly because they can and always have. That's their business model, with the endorsement of federal government.

This will not happen over my town's water supply, not on my watch, not with Attorney General Martha Coakley's Environmental Crime Strike Force watching.

Perhaps Ford Motor Company approves of Pan Am Railways' reprehensible behavior. Ford is Pan Am Southern's main client for the 12-acre parking lot being built to unload new cars, when a similar empty lot sits a quarter-mile away, leased to competitor CSX. WHY? This makes no sense.

Here's my daily excerpt from Martha Coakley's memorandum on sentencing for Pan Am Railways for the 2006 spill.

"In April 2005, the defendant [Pan Am Railways] was also fined $9,250 for failing to properly dispose of oil and hazardous materials from its Rail Yard in East Deerfield, Mass."

Victory is inevitable

2009-08-07T12:21:00.006-04:00

K.C. Golden reminds us complacency is our greatest enemy.

"We're sort of relieved to find out something is inevitable, even if it's not necessarily something we like. It clarifies things. It's more pragmatic to be resigned to the inevitable than to chart a new course through the chaos. So the myth of inevitability spreads and the prophecy fulfills itself. If the proponents of a particular course can get a critical mass of folks to believe that it's foregone conclusion, pretty soon it will be."
--From "The Inevitability Trap" by K.C. Golden in "The Impossible will Take A Little While" edited by Paul Rogat Loeb.

It is NOT inevitable that our aquifer will be paved over -- by early September. It is NOT a foregone conclusion that we will allow a know polluter to jeopardize our water supply.

We must maintain hope and take action towards our goal: to protect the water supply for 15,000 people.

A small sign "Protect our Water" held at a town meeting in Groton hosted by Gov. Deval Patrick on Aug. 4 captured the governor's attention. This is his kind of issue -- that requires political maneuvering between business-community-& government. It's high-profile and time sensitive -- an immediate solution is required to preserve our water for the next seven generations.

Ask Gov. Patrick to intervene immediately: call 888-870-7770 or by email contact form.

Contact Ford Motor Company to let them know we will not buy a Ford because Ford is allied with a known polluter in an environmentally irresponsible project. Click hereto tell Ford directly.

It is NOT inevitable that Pan Am Railways & Norfolk Southern build over our aquifer and threaten our livelihood for the sake of unloading Ford vehicles. There's another empty and unused lot 1/4 mile away. USE IT!

U.S. Rep. Nikki Tsongas, Sens. Kerry & Kennedy can negotiate with CSX and Pan Am Southern to USE THE OTHER LOT.

Here's the quote of the day from Martha Coakley's memorandum on sentencing Pan Am Railways in March 2009 for the largest civil criminal penalty ever imposed on a company.

"Perhaps the most relevant history is Pan Am's history of unreported oil spills in the State of Maine, which goes back over 20 years. ...The Maine Department of Environmental Protection ordered the defendants in 1986 to promptly report any "discharges of petroleum," but they have consistently and repeatedly failed to do so."

Why should we expect any different behavior when Pan Am Southern is doing business, unloading Ford cars and trucks with Norfolk Southern, over wells that supply 60 percent of Ayer's water?

We must continue to fight back

2009-08-03T19:07:00.005-04:00

At the July 29 pow-wow, the bureaucrats and politicians said they couldn’t stop the 12-acre parking lot from being built and operated by a known and reckless polluter – Pan Am Railways -- over our aquifer, where Ford Motor Company is the main client.

The hired henchman from Norfolk Southern Railroad [Pan Am’s partner] told the 200-plus residents that his company wouldn’t stop construction, but he would take messages back to the company – Pan Am Southern.

The people unanimously wanted the lot to be STOPPED. That we want our water protected for next seven generations – and beyond – which doesn’t include jeopardizing it by having locomotives with a propensity for spilling diesel fuel operating with their 33,000 gallon tanks within feet of our water supply.

The lot isn’t built yet. There’s still time for our congressional delegation – Rep. Tsongas and Sens. Kerry and Kennedy – to get CSX to the table to protect our community’s water supply NOW. CSX holds the lease to the other lot. The simplest solution would be for that lease to be re-negotiated so Pan Am Southern could take it over.

The next best solution would be for a land swap so the lot could be built elsewhere, and protect our aquifer. The July 29 meeting at Ayer Town Hall brought many, but not all, of the players to the table to come to a common-sense solution to a decade-long fight to prevent a disaster from happening over our water supply.

Pan Am Southern made the lame offer that the town could hire a monitor to babysit them. The trouble is that a babysitter can’t prevent the drunk from stealing liquor from the closet. By the time a monitor realizes there’s a spill, it’s already a disaster for our water supply – and our community.

It’s absurd that the railroad has the legal right and might to move forward with a project opposed by our community because it puts our towns' futures at risk. Without water, we're worthless. It’s like we live in a third-world country where outsiders control and exploit our resources for their profit. Making money off our resources comes before protecting the future of our community.

Bill Daniels referenced “water buffaloes,” huge tanks of water that delivered water to Acton residents at K-Mart in the 1980s because of polluted water. Women in African countries walk miles to collect water. Is that what we would be reduced to when and if our aquifer gets polluted?

Here’s a quote from Martha Coakley’s memorandum on sentencing Pan Am Railways on March 30, 2009, that demonstrates the kind of company that the legal watchdog of our water supply. In March, Pan Am was fined $500k, the largest criminal environmental fine in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

“The defendants’ long history of failure to report releases of oil and hazardous substances and failure to adopt responsible environmental compliance practices strongly supports the imposition of the sentence recommended by the Commonwealth.”

Pan Am Railways now reports to a probation officer – an independent monitor to ensure it abides by its obligation to operate in with environmental responsibility

David vs. Goliath on Wednesday, July 29

2009-07-28T10:48:00.006-04:00

Outside forces in the third-world republic of Ayer are controlling underground wells that provide 60 percent of our water supply.

Because of a federal regulatory gap, railroads are allowed to pave over our water supply or build a nuclear power plant, as Pan Am Railways once threatened in a public meeting in Littleton a few years ago.

David and Goliath will meet Wednesday, July 29 at 7 pm at Ayer Town Hall to spar. Goliath and his army (power and money represented by the federal bureaucracy and railroads) will explain why David (15,000 people in Ayer & Littlleton) must accept Goliath's power, wisdom, money, law and reason to threaten the future of Ayer and Littleton.

Our congressional delegation -- Rep. Nikki Tsongas and Senators Kennedy and Kerry -- have assured David that they have our best interests at hand and they must follow the law. Their support has been like a drink without enough booze to feel the punch. The parking lot is still being built.

On Wednesday, Rep. Tsongas' staff will moderate a community forum with the Goliaths -- the Surface Transportation Board, the EPA, DEP and hopefully, the railroad.

David's greatest power is our numbers. Community members must turn out in force to show that we care about our water supply and are not willing to be intimidated by Goliath.

Remember -- David beat Goliath.

Here's my daily quote from Pan Am Railways' past behavior towards the environment, from Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley's memorandum on sentencing 3/9/09:

"In December 2005, a portion of the penalty that had been suspended in March 2005 was imposed on the defendant because the company still had not developed remedial alternatives for the recovery of free phase oil at the Williamstown depot facility (a remedial process that remains ongoing to this day for a release that occurred in 1989)."

Water & air, the 2 essential fluids on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans.

2009-07-22T08:38:00.001-04:00

Jacques Cousteau said our water and air have become global garbage cans.

That's scary. The quote came from the book "What we Leave Behind" by Derrick Jensen and Aric McBay, about how the USA generates the most trash of any country.

I got the book because Jensen wrote an article about how individual action won't alleviate climate change. We need to change our systems because industrialized civilization is killing the planet.

Our systems are flawed. And developing countries aspire to our systems. And why shouldn't they? We relish convenience, speed and status. We live a lavish lifestyle with cheap and abundant: running water, electricity, central heat, our own personal polluting vehicle, and food transported an average of 1500 miles. What's not to love?

It's a flawed system that allows Pan Am Railroad to build over the water supply for 15,000 people. Our legal system supports the company's right of cheap and convenient commerce to take precedence over local control to protect our water resource.

American behavior is flawed because most of us don't take advantage of our system that allows free speech. We are passive and accept that big business with big money and power will triumph.
The 12-acre lot has not yet been paved. We're hopeful a reasonable solution can be worked out -- like a land swap. The Coalition for Aquifer Protection is not against commerce. We just don't want leaky locomotives over our aquifer. We are FOR clean water for the next seven generations. We cannot risk 60 percent of Ayer's water supply to a known polluter.

We -- a small group of people who are committed to protect our livelihood -- refuse to stand by silently while our water supply becomes a garbage can for a railroad that can't be bothered to clean up after itself or create plans to protect the environment.

Here's my daily quote from the Memorandum on Sentencing when Pan Am Railroad was assigned a parole officer to make sure it changes its filthy ways of doing business in March 2009.
"As the EPA regional administrator state at the time (1998), "Maine Central Railroad (Pan Am affiliate) made two big mistakes here. First, it had no plan to prevent or deal with oil spills; second it discharged hundreds of gallons of oil into the Kennebec (River). It's unfortunate a spill had to occur for the company to follow the law."

Industrial civilization is killing the planet and NIMBYism

2009-07-17T14:41:00.000-04:00

Pan Am, Ford, UPS, and you and I are all part of the industrial civilization that is killing the planet. Taking shorter showers, changing to florescent light bulbs, buying a hybrid, recycling more and taking individual action are futile, according to Derrick Jensen.

The problem is bigger than us. "Industrial civilization is killing the planet" says Jensen. Protecting our water supply in Ayer and Littleton Mass. is just a drop of water in a planet headed for disaster.

Pan Am is just another assassin of the planet in our industrial civilization. The only way we can re-think, re-build and re-energize industrial civilization is when people like the Coalition for Aquifer Protection (this blog) say "ENOUGH! What we're doing isn't working. We have to do something different. Starting now."

The greed for power and money at any cost -- including the cost of clean water for 15,000 people -- is out of control.

A reporter interviewed me yesterday and said that someone at the railroad called the Coalition for Aquifer Protection "NIMBYists" -- Not In My Back Yard.

It's true. I care about this water, I'm taking a stand for this water, I'm sacrificing my time and money for this water BECAUSE IT IS IN MY BACKYARD.

It's true. If the Spectacle Pond Aquifer weren't in my backyard, I wouldn't be so passionate about protecting it.

Why should I be faulted that caring about the water supply for my town? Without water, every aspect of our livelihood is impacted. If we don't start caring about what's in our backyard, we have no hope.

It's true. If I'm a NIMBYist, the railroad and US government are greedy capitalists who killing the planet with rampant disregard for our natural resources.

I think I'd rather be a NIMBYist.

Water worries & whistle blowers

2009-07-13T11:24:00.001-04:00

Pan Am Railways' reputation frightens me.

Not only am I afraid Pan Am will pollute the source of drinking water for 15,000 people by offloading Fords at a 12-acre parking lot over underground wells, I am afraid of getting bullied for being a whistle-blower.

"Pan Am likes 'slap-suits,'" warned a regional planner and ombudsman. "They file personal injury lawsuits against residents who speak up against them in public hearings."

"They're not a nice company to deal with," warned a selectman of a nearby town.

"They play dirty. Watch your step," said an activist.

"Pan Am told the Littleton Planning Board, 'We can build a nuclear power plant on that site and you can't stop us!'" according to a friend who has been following this debacle for a decade.

It's not enough that railroads are basically un-regulated by the Surface Transportation Board ("Our role is to give permission," according to the STB.) Ironically, the STB was created as the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1897 to protect citizens against the power of the railroad. We need the STB to step up and follow its mission.

I wouldn't put it past Pan Am to build a nuclear power plan in my backyard. They can, so why shouldn't they?

Thanks to a regulatory gap -- the same kind of gap that collapsed the banking industry in 2008 -- railroads can jeopardize our underground wells by haphazardly leaking diesel , not reporting it, lying after whistle-blowers report it, not cleaning up the humongous spills, and starting all over again somewhere else.

That's how Pan Am does business. Somehow, it doesn't surprise me that Pan Am also intimidates small towns and individuals who exercise our right to free speech and democracy.

It does plant fear in my heart that they've been getting away with it.

The only thing that stops them is whistle-blowers. I'd like to hear from other whistle-blowers who have been bullied by Pan Am Railways.

When will Timothy Mellon ever learn?

2009-07-10T15:55:00.000-04:00

I would like to meet Timothy Mellon, owner of Pan Am Railways.

That's an ancestor at left -- Gov. Andrew William Mellon. Tim comes from old money. Really old, that includes entitlement along with the famous name.

Timothy Mellon wasn't in court Wednesday to meet with his parole officer over the $500,000 fine levied against his company in the largest environmental fine in the history of Massachusetts.

His henchmen lawyers were there, fumbling along, making excuses for why Pan Am Railways had not signed the agreement, or why it had not begun teaching workers where the emergency telephone numbers are located in case of spills, or how it will implement hundreds of pages of an environmental management system.

Not only is Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley after him for crimes against the environment, so is the Connecticut attorney general, for clear-cutting old-growth forest in a sensitive environmental area.

"This inexcusable clear-cutting flagrantly disregarded the state's environmental laws, spoiling precious open space and damaging the internationally acclaimed and fragile ecosystem along the Connecticut River," said Attorney General Richard Blumenthal of Conn., in 2002. "Our enforcement action sends a strong, clear message that no one is above the law. We will seek the strongest penalties possible for this blatant breaking of environmental laws and destruction of our precious natural resources."

Timothy Mellon believes he is above the law because he didn't learn from this incident.

Remember the folk tune, "Where have all the flowers gone, Long time passing?"
Our descendants will be asking, "Where have all the trees gone, Long time passing?"
and "Where has all the clean water gone, Long time passing?"

The refrain is "When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn?"

What about the 'leakers'?

2009-07-09T07:49:00.000-04:00

Like humans, machines are imperfect. Some cars leak -- even new cars. We know new humans leak, so we take precautions by using diapers. If only Pan Am and Ford would do the same.

When Fords were being offloaded in the "other lot" (that sits nearby-- vacant and available, but leased to competitor CSX) some of the Fords leaked. Workers pulled the "leakers" off to the side and allowed them to leak into the soil.

"The site was a wreck," said an abutter. Such environmental ignorance is wrong, but it's not as wrong as building a 750-space parking lot over our aquifer that supplies clean water to 15,000 people.

In an ideal world, we'd like to see our political and business leaders unite to protect our water supplies for generations to come and figure out a way to use the other lot.

In the Third World Republic of Ayer, foreigners control our resources and do not depend on our clean water for their health. Instead, they exploit it for their wealth. Our best hope is that Pan Am plans for the "leakers."

Third world countries have notoriously abyssmal environmental conditions because outsiders control the resources and don't care. Business has carte blanche to exploit local resources and leave a trail of pollution behind, unabated.

That's pretty much the situation in the Third World Republic of Ayer. A regulatory gap gives the railroads the right to build what they want over our water source. A regulatory gap allowed "leakers" to drip into the ground at the other lot.

A regulatory gap has permitted railroads to use their (poor) judgment as a guide for a century. It has resulted in Pan Am getting slapped with the highest criminal environmental fine in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - $500,000.

The fine is in escrow because Pan Am counter-sued the Commonwealth to avoid paying it. That's how Pan Am does business. Leak toxic substances in local environments with no diapers; don't report the leaks and make no plans to get diapers or toilet-train workers; appeal the fines.

What's wrong with this picture? That it's happening in the USA. That railroads all over the country have the same right, thanks to a regulatory gap -- yes the same type of regulatory gap that allowed greedy bankers to exploit the mortgage market and cause the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Here's my daily quote from Attorney General Martha Coakley's memorandum on sentencing in the case.

"In May 2007, the defendants Boston and Maine Corporation and Pan Am Railways, Inc. were fined $59,747 for failing to properly dispose of railroad ties that were leaching hazardous materials into the environmentleaching hazardous materials into the environment in Deerfield, Charlmont, and near the Wachusetts Reservoir. The defendants then appealed the fine."

Pan Am's Probation Officer and Court Date

2009-07-08T15:57:00.000-04:00

Today, July 7, 2009, Pan Am Railways visited its probation officer. No joke. Lawyers represented Pan Am, Norfolk Southern and other railroads prosecuted by Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley's office.

The judge wasn't too happy with the railroads' lack of effort since their March sentencing in the biggest criminal environmental case in the history of the Commonwealth.

"Have your clients signed the document?" Judge Joyce asked.

Answer: "No."

"What is this list of names? Are these people who have attended training?" the judge asked. Training to learn how to report spills, wetlands disturbance and pollution. "I can't tell what this list is," Judge Joyce said.

"We'll find out," the lawyer responded.

Martha Coakley's office submitted two notebooks that were each at least five inches thick, plans on how the railroads will do business with more attention to the environment.

The railroads are so far behind in environmental training and precautions that it required two thick notebooks to begin to do business differently.

"By October, you will have complied with everything except the Ayer terminal," the judge asked rhetorically.

"Yes, your honor, the lawyer responded.

Does Ford Motor Company know that the railroad that will be unloading Ford vehicles has such a polluted track record? Does Ford know that the railroads report to a parole officer? Does Ford know that the railroads have counter-sued to avoid paying the $500,000 fine, the largest criminal fine in the history of the Commonwealth? The fine is in escrow during the appeal.

I wonder how much the lawyers will charge to save the $500,000 fine. Why don't they focus on training employees on how to do business with a conscience instead of avoiding paying fines.

July 4 tribute to free speech

2009-07-03T08:30:00.000-04:00

This blog, our demonstrations at the Aquifer Bar serving Gin and Toxins, Runoff Rickey, and Diesel Daiquiris, and our public campaign to protect our aquifer are made possible by the U.S. Constitution and its guarantee of free speech.

There are scores of countries where I would be sitting in a very dark, small, dank room with a bucket for my excrement for taking such action. I would be praying that Amnesty International, the Red Cross, or God intercede on my behalf to feed me, protect me from torture, keep my hair and teeth from falling out.

I treasure the right to free speech. I wish more of my fellow Americans shared that value. Protesters are viewed a "crazy." Most people to take care of their own lives, with little regard for the planet or the 1.2 billion people in the world who don't have access to fresh running water.

We are motivated to take crazy action and sacrifice personal time because:

this water supply is in our backyard;
we hold our water source sacred and irreplaceable;
it would be catastrophic to Ayer and Littleton if this aquifer became contaminated.

One reason the Vietnamese defeated one of the greatest military powers in the world was because they were defending their home turf, for control of their lives.

We are fighting for the Spectacle Pond water source because it's in our home turf. Our lives and livelihood depend on it.

The Chinese symbol for political order is based on the symbol for water because those who control water control people.

Big business can be clean

2009-07-02T11:23:00.000-04:00

My father worked for the DuPont Company for 35 years as a laboratory scientist in Wilmington, Del., where I attended P.S. DuPont High School, and Pierre Samuel DuPont III served as governor and Member of Congress. DuPont supports my alma mater, the University of Delaware. It used to own the city's newspaper. Delaware is a company state.

We all accepted Uncle Duppie. It wasn't until I grew up that I learned about Savannah River and DuPont's trail of chemicals it left behind, similar to the way Pan Am Railways does business. Pan Am will be unloading Ford vehicles.

The difference between the two companies is that DuPont woke up and changed. The difference is that DuPont has a corporate culture of safety and prevention. The difference is that today in the new millenium, DuPont has made sustainability a priority because they care.

Pan Am Railways needs to learn the same lesson DuPont did, before it's too late for our aquifer.

My father and all of his co-workers attended monthly safety meetings as a matter of company policy to learn how to prevent accidents. DuPont diligently ingrained safe work habits in every employee, from the custodian to the "suits" downtown, who learned about the hazards of sharp pencils and tipsy file cabinets.

I admire DuPont's commitment to safety. The company's first product was dynamite and it was dangerous to handle. So the company's founders committed to teach employees safety procedures. Regular meetings and safety awards embedded safety habits in their work habits.

Pan Am Railways could benefit from procedures to ensure environmental safety. Its partner at the site over our aquifer, Ford Motor Company, has a slightly better environmental record.

Here is my daily quote from Martha Coakley's decision in sentencing Pan Am to the largest criminal environmental fine in the state of Massachusetts in March 2009, the same month Pan Am broke ground over the water supply for 15,000 people.

"The defendants have a long track record of violating the environmental laws, including a particularly long record of unreported releases of oil and other hazardous materials to the environment, and have utterly failed to develop reliable or consistent environmental management."

Pan Am -- we're expecting better of you. Don't disappoint us.

Our watershed is NOT Built Ford Tough

2009-07-02T11:05:00.000-04:00

I give Ford credit.

They didn't queue up for a handout in the bailout. They have course-corrected to invest billions to reduce emissions and increase mileage. Ford has written 10 eco-driving tips for everyone.

I have an eco-tip for Ford environmental. Don't partner with a known polluter, Pan Am Railways, to unload your cars over an aquifer that supplies clean water to 15,000 people. There's a lot across the street. Use it.

Henry Ford, the Model T and the assembly line are part of our American heritage. Many people, myself included, drive a Ford vehicle.

We want Ford to do the right thing for our community and the environment. We want Ford to care about our little Third-World Republic of Ayer, where outside power and money are controlling our precious water supply.

Ford, can you hear us? The EPA and DEP have serious concerns about unloading Ford vehicles from trains laden with hazardous substances, within range or our drinking water.

It's not a good idea. Our aquifer is not Built Ford Tough. Have some tenderness on our water supply. USE THE OTHER LOT.

Here's my daily quote from Martha Coakley's sentencing memorandum for Pan Am Railways, which as the keys to our aquifer:

"In 1995 [The Defendant] was again fined $10,500 for failing to properly store, label and inspect hazardous materials at its Waterville yard, and for again failing maintain a contingency plan for hazardous waste management."

This led to Pan Am being assessed the largest environmental fine ever in Massachusetts: $500,000, the month that Pan Am broke ground over the water supply for 60 percent of Ayer's water, and a zone 3 aquifer for Littleton.

How GREEN is Ford Motor Company?

2009-06-30T14:02:00.001-04:00

Ford Motor Company likes to talk big about the environment.
Ford’s partnership with Pan Am Railways to build a 12-acre parking lot over an aquifer that supplies water to 15,000 residents of Littleton and Ayer, Mass., contradicts its corporate environmental policy.

“Increasingly, we are bringing our understanding of a wide range of sustainability issues into the stages of our value chain,” says the Ford website.

Ford has jumped on the trendy Green Train of sustainability. Way to go Ford. Now walk the talk in the third-world republic of Ayer.

“Environmentally, we (Ford) are improving our manufacturing efficiency, cutting the emissions of our vehicles and increasing the recyclability of our vehicles and our use of recycled materials.”

Nice talk. Where’s the walk at the Spectacle Pond Aquifer? Ford is partnering with Pan Am Railways, which has no corporate environmental policy, except to regularly spill oil and diesel, not report it, not clean it up and not take any precautions to prevent future spills. How about if you get your buddy Pan Am to get on the same green train with you?

“Socially we (Ford) seek to strengthen the communities we’re part of, expand the connections with them and improve our relationships throughout the value chain.”

Ford, you are violating your own corporate environmental policy here in the third-world republic of Ayer where big business and big government (outside of Ayer) control our local resource: an aquifer that supplies 60 percent of our town’s water.

Ford, if you want to really strengthen our community, expand your connection with us and improve our relationship, you will partner with Pan Am and CSX railroads to use the other lot, one-quarter mile away, a similar lot that will not jeopardize our aquifer.

Here’s my daily quote from Attorney General Martha Coakley on Pan Am’s abysmal lack of environmental regard. Not only does Pan Am Railways consistently spill oil, not report it, and not clean it up, it refuses to develop plans to comply with federal environmental law.

Coakley says Pan Am Railways needs a Border Collie to make sure the fox doesn’t continue to raid the hen house:

“The documents that still had not been drafted [by the defendant] included many critical environmental compliance programs such as policies for the accumulation of hazardous wastes, management of used solvents and used oil, solid waste disposal, corporate compliance tracking, environmental training and response to non compliance.

"As noted below, the Commonwealth believes that the only way the defendants are going to develop a real environmental compliance program is if an independent, outside monitor is there to ensure they do so.”

A 6-year-old understands -- why can't Ford, Pan Am and our government get it?

2009-06-29T16:25:00.001-04:00

The little guy with the sign is Parker, age 6, who joined 35 other people at UnHappy Hour at the Aquifer Bar on Friday, June 26.

The next day, his grandmothers had a brunch and he created a petition for them to sign to keep our water safe.

Thank you Parker for being a quick study and Grandma for teaching Parker to value clean water and to exercise the right to free speech in our democratic society.

Parker gives me hope. He liked waving to the truck drivers and getting them to honk their horns. Parker and his family care about our aquifer, in our back yard.

Our aquifer is NOT in the backyard of Pan Am Railways, Ford Motor Company or our congressional delegation. Big business and the US Government are partnering to jeopardize our aquifer. I feel like I'm in a third-world country because outside influences with money and power are controlling our resources.

Parker- you can see that it's wrong to let a known polluter threaten our water supply. Why can't Pan Am, Ford and CSX use the other lot?

Here's my daily quote from Martha Coakley who researched and uncovered Pan Am's dirty track record when sentencing the company in March 2009 and assessing a $500K fine for not reporting a spill of at least 800 gallons.

"In March 2005, the defendant was fined $43,400 for three different violations—failing submit required inspection and monitoring reports for the closure of the Northfield, Massachusetts dump that had first been required in1999; failing to submit inspection and monitoring reports for a spill of oil that had occurred at the defendant’s fuel depot in Williamstown, Mass. in 1989; and failing to submit a remedy plan for multiple releases of oil that had occurred at the defendant’s Rail Yard in East Deerfield, Mass. in 1998. $8,400 of this penalty was suspended."

I'm not angry, I'm outraged.

2009-06-27T05:48:00.000-04:00

When fighting money, power and the US government to protect the water of the third-world country of Ayer, I enlisted the technical help of my son Noah, a computer engineer, on this blog.

“I added a puppy widget and removed it. Your site needs more puppies and less anger! Your tone comes off as a militant emotional protester, which isn’t always as productive,” he said.

First, Noah, thanks for your help. What the heck is a puppy widget and do I need to know?!

Second, damn right I’m angry. I’m outraged. If a puppy widget could bring some common sense to protect the water supply from a known polluter -- Pan Am Railways that will deliver Ford cars -- by all means, Noah, install the puppies. At least puppies are trained not to soil their nest.

Third, I don’t think it matters whether I’m naughty or nice. My pouting and shouting are being patronized by Sen. Kennedy and Rep. Tsongas who anticipate business as usual at the site.
What’s business as usual? Poor environmental practices: Ford cars delivered by Pan Am which never learned a vital lesson as a puppy: to clean up your own messes, and not to trash your own nest.

Noah, in your lifetime, wars will be fought over drinking water. Your generation will look back on this time as an environmental train wreck and ask, “What were they thinking?”

Here’s my quote of the day from Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley, a March 2009 sentencing memorandum when Pan Am Railways (which will deliver Ford autos) was assessed the largest fine ($400K) in a criminal environmental case in the state’s history. Puppies and mean dogs, please take note of the words “consistently” and “again.” Pan Am is a polluter that cannot be trusted with our water supply.

“In March 2006, Maine Central [owned by Pan Am] was again fined $19,000 after a concerned citizen reported that the company’s railroad ties and bridge structures were consistently dripping hazardous materials into the Royal River in Grey, Maine, and the company was again required to reimburse the Maine Dept. of Environmental Protection for costs it occurred in responding to the incident.”

A land molestor continues without probation or jail

2009-06-26T10:06:00.003-04:00

I went before my town's Conservation Commission last night to get a permit to keep 15 chickens in my yard. They wanted to know my plan to protect the pond beside my home.

My chickens aren't a huge environmental catastrophe waiting to happen. However, my humble flock is regulated by the Board of Health, ConsCom and Planning Board.

Pan Am Railways and every other American railroad ARE EXEMPT from obtaining local environmental permits because of an 1860s law DEregulating interstate commerce. They have free reign, and use it to poison the land.

Pan Am is building a 12-acre parking lot to unload Ford autos over an aquifer that supplies 15,000 people, in bold defiance of Ayer town by-laws designed to protect our drinking water. This permit, IF THEY HAD TO APPLY, would be denied and at least three counts:
1. No truck or bus terminals allowed;
2. Amount of pavement exceeds 2500 square feet; and
3. Hazardous materials - like diesel - are used in abundance – are forbidden over an aquifer.

"Railroading" means a train starts going and won't stop. That's how Pan Am does business, leaving dirty tracks behind, ignoring environmental management and avoiding fines.

Here's my daily excerpt from Pan Am's polluting history that shows Pan Am and Ford cannot be trusted to protect our water supply.

“In April 2002, the defendant Boston and Maine Corporation was fined $30,000 for failing to close a dump in Northfield, Mass. that was leaching hazardous materials into the environment. Additional penalties were suspended, based on the defendant’s agreement to develop an Environmental Management System (EMS) to govern all of its environmental compliance activities. In May 2007 – five years later -- $15,000 of the suspended penalties were imposed because the defendant still had not developed an adequate Environmental Management System, a decision which the defendant then proceeded to seek administrative review.”

Boston and Maine - owned by Pan Am and Timothy Mellon - has a habit of dumping and running -- running the railroad, because they get away with consistently leaving a dirty trail, not reporting it and not cleaning it up.They have federal law and Rep. Niki Tsongas and Sen. Ted Kennedy on their side, defending the operation of the Surface Transportation Board.

The land molester is raping our land over and over, while Mom and Dad turn the other way and take it as "business as usual."

David vs. Goliath in Chinatown-Ayer

2009-06-25T10:49:00.002-04:00

The most frustrating aspect of this movement to protect our water from forces outside of our community with money and power (Pan Am, Ford and US Gov't), is typical residents do not realize the power we have.

We'd be arrested in China for having UnHappy Hour at the Aquifer Bar Friday June 26 5-7 pm, and serving Gin and Toxics. You wouldn't be reading this blog because of Internet censorship. Our aquifer would be subjected to known polluters, controlled by the state and corporations, who ignore local objections.

HEY WAIT - what's different between China and Ayer?
There's only one: we have the right to speak out.
Like China, outside forces -- the state and corporations -- control our aquifer. Their response to outraged citizens is to "pipe down, we're building over your aquifer anyways, get used to the idea."

May I whine some more?
The Surface Transportation Board, EPA and Mass DEP and our congressional reps (Tsongas, Kennedy and Kerry) are all literally, all on board with the known-polluter-builds-over-an-aquifer plan while our community gets railroaded. Welcome to Chinatown-Ayer.

Our message is simple and clear: we will not allow our aquifer to be jeopardized by a known polluter when an identical, unused lot is one-quarter mile away. It's common sense to use the other lot.

We cannot trust Pan Am with our water. Here's my daily quote from Martha Coakley about Pan Am's dirty track record -- business as usual. There are 22 incidents over 25 years.

"Between 1978 and 2003, Maine DEP staff “documented approximately 22 prohibited oil discharge incidents” at the Rigby Rail Yard in South Portland, Maine operated by defendant Pan Am Railways, Inc. and owned by its subsidiary Portland Terminal Company, resulting in the discharge of "approximately 11,760 gallons of oil” at the property. The Maine DEP issued a Notice of Violation on August 15, 2007 after its staff found evidence of multiple prohibited discharges of oil, posing a threat to “coastal waters, groundwater, Long Creek, Calvary Pond, Barberry Creek and the Fore River” and that the discharges had never been reported. (Ex. D)"

Residents -- join our movement. It's the only way we will protect our drinking water. See you Friday, June 26 at UnHappy Hour 5-7 pm at the Aquifer Bar, serving Gin and Toxics, Diesel Daiquiris, and Runoff Rickey at the Ayer Rotary, Routes 110/2A.

Michael Moore is my hero

2009-06-24T08:17:00.000-04:00

Can anyone get me a meeting with Timothy Mellon, owner of Pan Am Railways that will be unloading Ford autos over our aquifer? I would like a face-to-face with Tim for 15 minutes. I may have to resort to Michael Moore's strategy and my Flip video camera.

I'm copying Michael Moore's strategy -- see my film below demonstrating how close the two lots are to show the idiocy of Pan Am building over our aquifer when a similar lot is one-quarter mile away.

Where does Timothy Mellon hang out? I'm guessing at airports. Not only does he run a dirty railroad, he's a union buster. From Seacost Online 2/8/05:

"Over the past several years, companies owned and managed by the Mellon Group (the name given by the pilots' association to the individuals mentioned above) have been found to have violated a number of federal laws, including the Railway Labor Act," the ALPA action filed on Dec. 29, 2004 stated. "Specifically ... companies owned and managed by the Mellon Group have repeatedly transferred work from unionized to non-union groups to avoid their collective bargaining obligations under the RLA, repeatedly discharged pilots because they were unwilling to fly in violation of FAA safety rules, repeatedly refused to comply with final and binding decisions of system boards of adjustment as required under the RLA and willfully violated environmental laws."

With money and power fueling him, Mellon's companies operate like they're above the law, especially environmental laws.

Here's an excerpt written by Mass. Attorney General Martha Coakley in fining Pan Am Railways $400K, which they have yet to pay because they're on probation. Pan Am's habit is to discharge oil, and they do so repeatedly -- AND LEAVE THE TOWNS to clean it up.

"The Maine DEP issued two additional notices of violation on September 11, 2007 and October 18, 2007 when it discovered that discharges of hundreds of gallons of waste oil from the Rigby Yard had contaminated the nearby Calvary Pond on August 6, September 12 and October 12, 2007, and that Pan Am had failed to report all three discharges and failed to undertake actions to remediate them. (Ex. E and F) Because of Pan Am’s lack of responsiveness, the State of Maine had to spend $287,385 to investigate and clean up the Calvary Pond. (Ex. G)

The federal government has given a known polluter -- Pan Am Railways -- and Ford Motor Company the keys to our water supply. The state of Maine couldn't get the polluters to clean up their own mess. Didn't they go to kindergarten and learn the basics?

Guerrilla warfare against the industrial-political machine

2009-06-23T21:45:00.003-04:00

Pan Am Railways is owned by one of the richest Americans -- Timothy Mellon, who purchased it for $25 million.

The Massachusetts congressional delegation -- Sens. Kerry and Kennedy and Rep. Niki Tsongas -- may receive campaign contributions from the Mellon machine. The trio has signed onto the Patriot Rail Corridor, which includes building a parking lot on an aquifer that supplies drinking water to 15,000 people and several companies, including VeryFine, Aquafina, Nasoya and Cains products.

Federal law, dating back to 1860, is on the side of the railroad.

Ayer and Littleton are powerless in the face of the collusion between big business and our federal government, which exists to promote commerce. This partnership works most of the time with little objection from the little people.

We little people have become like third-world residents -- with no voice, no choice over how our local resources are exploited by big business and federal government.

We little people are stubborn. We have the Internet to power our guerrilla warfare against the machine. Someone wrote a book about this: "When Corporations Rule the World." The result: the corporations don't care about our drinking water.

This little person is disgusted, discouraged and disenchanted. It makes me more determined to launch guerrilla warfare by the Internet against the machine. That little guy in the stroller holding the sign he made asking for clean water inspires me. The outrage I feel feeds my determination

View the protest

2009-06-23T14:32:00.000-04:00

No voice, no choice in the 3rd-world country of Ayer

2009-06-23T07:58:00.000-04:00

I feel like I live in a third-world country. A local resource is in jeopardy and we have no voice, no choice. Our community does not want a known polluter -- Pan Am Railways – to build a 50+ acre facility over our water supply, yet we have no voice, no choice. A corporation and our federal government are colluding to allow them to put 60 percent of Ayer’s town water supply at risk, for the sake of UPS unloading Ford, Mazda, Subaru, Honda and Mercedes Benz autos from trains to car-carriers.

An identical lot, owned by Pan Am, is ¼ mile away and it sits, vacant and unused. Now I understand how people in third-world countries feel when profit-minded outsiders take control of their resources, their land and their lives, come in and take control. We have no voice, no choice.

The problem is the total lack of accountability. The railroad has proven it’s unreliable. There is no authority that will come in and correct a situation gone wrong.

As a resident, who do I call when something goes wrong? If I call the railroad, and it ignores the call, who is in charge and who cares? Our selectmen? Our members of congress? The state or federal environmental agencies? What is our recourse when the railroad operates ‘business as usual,’ leaving spills in its wake. Our attorney general compiled their record, and it’s not a pretty site.

Turns out that Ford will not be alone in this escapade. Mercedes Benz, Honda, Mazda and Subaru will be joining the gang of operating a very messy business above our town's water supply, along with JB Hunt and UPS coordinating logistics.

The decade-long fight is grinding to a climax. The 737-car lot has been prepped for paving. Littleton and Ayer have lost a long legal battle to protect our aquifer from a company that was found guilty in March 2009 of the biggest criminal environmental case in the history of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

UnHappy Hour at the Aquifer Bar

2009-06-12T22:05:00.000-04:00

At left are some of the 37 demonstrators who came to UnHappy Hour at the Aquifer Bar at the Ayer Rotary June 12, to protest a known polluter that is building an 800-space parking lot over an aquifer that supplies 60 percent of Ayer's water. The only option our community has left is to appeal to public opinion and the intervention of our political leaders.

Some 15 passers-by joined protesters and stopped by for a "drink" during UnHappy Hour.

Come to the next one, June 26, 5-7 pm. There's plenty of toxic cocktail for everyone.

This is a case of regulatory gaps -- similar to what caused the economic collapse we're wallowing in.

US railroads take advantage of lax regulation that allowed their development in the 1800s. Today, railroads show little respect for local communities or the environment. Pan Am is no exception. We demand that our government officials intervene to safeguard our water supply.

Ford, UPS, VeryFine, Cains, Pepsi/Aquafina and Nasoya could join us and convince Pan Am Railways to USE THE OTHER LOT that's across the street from the one they're needlessly constructing over the Spectacle Pond Aquifer. Where is corporate responsibility?

Do Ford, UPS, VeryFine, Cains, Pepsi/Aquafina and Nasoya have any environmental interest? Where are Ayer residents? If this well gets contaminated, we would lose the source of 60 percent of our water. We would face a crisis and have limited access to water. Our property values would go down. Where is the outrage? Why aren't there 400 people at UnHappy Hour?

Having a known, irresponsible company do business over a valuable aquifer is like constructing a high rise on a fault line or skiing in an avalanche zone. Something bad will inevitably happen. We're asking for trouble.

All we ask is for Pan Am, Ford Motor Company and UPS to do the reasonable thing -- stop the lot and negotiate with CSX to use the other lot -one-quarter mile away.

UnHappy Hour attracts media attention

2009-06-08T11:46:00.002-04:00

Coverage of our first UnHappy Hour at the Aquifer Bar:
1. In the Public Spirit: http://www.nashobapublishing.com/ayer_news/ci_12526831

2. In the Littleton Independent
http://www.wickedlocal.com/littleton/news/x726825586/Demonstrators-protest-railroad-construction

Pan Am convicted and fined for failing to protect environment

2009-06-02T12:42:00.000-04:00

The excerpts below are from a memorandum on sentencing written March 30, 2009 by Attorney General Martha Coakley for Pan Am Railroad after it spilled between 800 and 1700 gallons in Ayer, reported it late and as only 9 gallons. The company was fined $400,000.

Just days after their sentencing, Pan Am broke ground a few miles away to build an 800-space parking lot over the Spectacle Pond aquifer, which supplies 60 percent of Ayer's water and provides Pepsi/Aquafina, VeryFine, Nasoya and Cains food with potable water. UPS will provide logistics to the operation to unload Ford Motor Vehicles.

Read the highlights of the decision and then contact our representatives and ask them to intervene to prevent Pan Am and Norfolk Southern from operating above a crucial aquifer. See bottom of the blog for contact info. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE. Our aquifer is being bulldozed.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
v.
SPRINGFIELD TERMINAL RAILWAY COMPANY
MAINE CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY
BOSTON and MAINE CORPORATION
PAN AM RAILWAYS INCORPORATED
COMMONWEALTH’S MEMORANDUM ON SENTENCING

Each of the four defendants in this case has been convicted of two counts of Failing to
Notify the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection of a Release of Oil or
Hazardous Materials, pursuant to G.L. c. 21E, §7. The Commonwealth recommends that the
Court sentence each defendant on one count to pay the maximum penalty of $100,000 (a
combined total of $400,000), and that the Court impose the maximum penalty on each defendant on the second count, but suspend that penalty for a period of three years during which each defendant would be on probation. Because of the specialized nature of environmental violations, the Commonwealth requests that the defendants be required to pay for the cost of an independent environmental monitor who will be responsible for overseeing their probation during the three years.

The Commonwealth submits this Sentencing Memorandum in order to set out the reasons
why it is appropriate for the Court to impose the maximum monetary penalty on these
defendants, based upon their repeated prior environmental violations and one prior criminal
matter.

I. The Defendants’ Prior Violations of the Law.

The defendants have a long track record of violating the environmental laws, including a
particularly long record of unreported releases of oil and other hazardous materials to the
environment, and have utterly failed to develop reliable or consistent environmental management systems despite having been ordered to do so repeatedly.

Perhaps the most relevant history is the defendants’ history of unreported oil spills in the
State of Maine, which goes back over 20 years. As more fully set forth in the attachments to
this Memorandum, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection ordered the defendants in 1986 to promptly report any “discharges of petroleum” (Ex. A), but they have consistently and repeatedly failed to do so.

The defendants’ compliance history with both the Commonwealth and the State of Maine
is remarkable not only for the defendants’ repeated failures to report spills of oil and hazardous
materials, but also for their failure to adopt or implement required spill response plans or an
overall environmental management system sufficient to prevent future spills.

The State of Maine ordered the defendant Maine Central Railroad to adopt a spill response plan in 1990 (Ex. B) and again in 1995 (Ex. C), and yet the company still did not have one in place in February 1998 when several hundred gallons of oil leaked from a locomotive in the Waterville Rail Yard into the nearby Kennebec River. The United States Environmental Protection Agency fined Maine Central $47,300 for failing to have a spill response plan in place.

As the EPA regional administrator stated at the time, “Maine Central Railroad made two
big mistakes here. First, it had no plan to prevent or deal with oil spills; second, it discharged
hundreds of gallons of oil into the Kennebec. It’s unfortunate a spill had to occur for the
company to follow the law . . . .” (Ex. T).

THERE's MORE. See previous post for the whole text of the document or email stoppanamlot@gmail.com for a PDF of the court document.

Pan Am's shameful environmental record

2009-06-02T12:02:00.001-04:00

Blogger's note: This is not invented.

The legal document below is from Attorney General Martha Coakley, written as a sentencing memorandum after Pan Am Railroad spilled between 800 and 1700 gallons of fuel in Ayer, failed to report it, then reported it as 9 gallons. The company was fined $400,000 in this March 30, 2009 judgement.

Days later, Pan Am broke ground to build a duplicate parking lot over an aquifer that supplies 60 percent of Ayer's water. UPS [United Parcel Service] will handle logistics at the site to unload vehicles from trains built by Ford Motor Company.

Read this document and you will see why we do NOT trust Pan Am Railroad to safeguard our aquifer.

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
MIDDLESEX, ss SUPERIOR COURT
CRIMINAL NOS.
2008-395
2008-396
2008-397
2008-398
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS
v.
SPRINGFIELD TERMINAL RAILWAY COMPANY
MAINE CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY
BOSTON and MAINE CORPORATION
PAN AM RAILWAYS INCORPORATED
COMMONWEALTH’S MEMORANDUM ON SENTENCING
Each of the four defendants in this case has been convicted of two counts of Failing to
Notify the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection of a Release of Oil or
Hazardous Materials, pursuant to G.L. c. 21E, §7. The Commonwealth recommends that the
Court sentence each defendant on one count to pay the maximum penalty of $100,000 (a
combined total of $400,000), and that the Court impose the maximum penalty on each defendant
on the second count, but suspend that penalty for a period of three years during which each
defendant would be on probation. Because of the specialized nature of environmental violations,
the Commonwealth requests that the defendants be required to pay for the cost of an independent
environmental monitor who will be responsible for overseeing their probation during the three
years.
The Commonwealth submits this Sentencing Memorandum in order to set out the reasons
why it is appropriate for the Court to impose the maximum monetary penalty on these
defendants, based upon their repeated prior environmental violations and one prior criminal
matter. This history is discussed in the first section of the memorandum. The second section
lays out for the Court the history of penalties that have been imposed on other defendants for
violations of G.L. c. 21E, §7, to show that the penalties sought here are not out of proportion to
the penalties imposed in the past, even on the civil side of the docket. The third section discusses the law that supports the requirement that the defendants pay for the cost of an environmental
monitor during a period of probation.

I. The Defendants’ Prior Violations of the Law.
The defendants have a long track record of violating the environmental laws, including a
particularly long record of unreported releases of oil and other hazardous materials to the
environment, and have utterly failed to develop reliable or consistent environmental management
systems despite having been ordered to do so repeatedly.
Perhaps the most relevant history is the defendants’ history of unreported oil spills in the
State of Maine, which goes back over 20 years. As more fully set forth in the attachments to
this Memorandum, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection ordered the defendants in 1986 to promptly report any “discharges of petroleum” (Ex. A), but they have consistently and
repeatedly failed to do so:
• In 1990, the defendant Maine Central Railroad was fined $25,000 for “fail[ing] to
promptly report and remove” numerous oil discharges at its maintenance yard in
Waterville, including fuel leaking from locomotives without drip pans, fuel leaking
into a turn table pit that drained directly into the Kennebec River, and fuel
contaminating soil near the loading dock. The defendant was also fined for failing to
develop and maintain a hazardous waste contingency plan, for failing to train their
employees in hazardous materials response, and for failing to properly store or timely
dispose of hazardous waste. (Ex. B)

• In 1995, Maine Central was again fined $10,500 for failing to properly store, label
and inspect hazardous materials at its Waterville yard, and for again “failing to
develop and maintain a contingency plan for hazardous waste management.” (Ex. C)

• Between 1978 and 2003, Maine DEP staff “documented approximately 22 prohibited
oil discharge incidents” at the Rigby Rail Yard in South Portland, Maine operated by
defendant Pan Am Railways, Inc. and owned by its subsidiary Portland Terminal
Company, resulting in the discharge of “approximately 11,760 gallons of oil” at the
property. The Maine DEP issued a Notice of Violation on August 15, 2007 after its
staff found evidence of multiple prohibited discharges of oil, posing a threat to
“coastal waters, groundwater, Long Creek, Calvary Pond, Barberry Creek and the
Fore River” and that the discharges had never been reported. (Ex. D)

• The Maine DEP issued two additional notices of violation on September 11, 2007 and
October 18, 2007 when it discovered that discharges of hundreds of gallons of waste
oil from the Rigby Yard had contaminated the nearby Calvary Pond on August 6,
September 12 and October 12, 2007, and that Pan Am had failed to report all three
discharges and failed to undertake actions to remediate them. (Ex. E and F) Because
of Pan Am’s lack of responsiveness, the State of Maine had to spend $287,385 to
investigate and clean up the Calvary Pond. (Ex. G)

• In January 2006, a resident of Anson, Maine reported to the Maine DEP that the
defendants Pan Am Railways, Inc. and Maine Central Railroad had improperly
discharged oil onto the railroad tracks in that town and onto the property at 46 River
Road in Anson. The Maine DEP determined that the defendants had failed to report
the discharges and failed to undertake to clean up the discharges, and required the
defendants to reimburse it for the cost of a clean-up. (Ex. G and H)

• In March 2006, Maine Central was again fined $19,000 after a concerned citizen
reported that the company’s railroad ties and bridge structures were consistently
dripping hazardous material into the Royal River in Grey, Maine, and the company
was again required to reimburse the Maine Department of Environmental Protection
for costs it occurred in responding to the incident. (Ex. H)

• In August 2007, the Maine DEP inspected Maine Central’s Waterville Yard and
discovered evidence of multiple prohibited discharge of oil at the property, including
discharges to soil and storm drains posing a threat to groundwater and to the nearby
Kennebec River. The Department’s staff documented “34 prohibited oil discharge
incidents” at the property between 1985 and 2001. The Department determined that
“MEC failed to report the discovery of the prohibited discharges of oil described
above [and] failed to immediately undertake to remove those discharges”. (Ex. I)

• In November 2007, the Maine DEP received an anonymous report of a prohibited
discharge of oil along the railroad tracks in Orono, Maine that stretched for
approximately 8 miles, and the Department issued a Notice of Violation to defendants
Pan Am Railways, Inc. and Maine Central Railroad for failing to report the spill.
(Ex. G)

• In April 2008, staff of the Madison Paper Company in Madison, Maine discovered
prohibited discharges of oil on the railroad tracks adjacent to the company’s mill.
The Maine DEP sent the defendants Pan Am Railways, Inc. and Maine Central
Railroad a Notice of Violation for failing to report or to clean up the discharges.
(Ex. G)

• In May 2008, the Maine DEP again discovered evidence of multiple prohibited
discharges of oil at the Rigby Yard operated by Pan Am Railways, Inc. that had never
been reported, including “at least thirteen (13) storm drain catch basins and man ways
at the Site that contained oil”, six of which “drain directly to the South Portland
municipal storm water system”. (Ex. J)

The defendants’ history of environmental compliance in Massachusetts is no
better:

• In April 2002, the defendant Boston and Maine Corporation was fined $30,000 for
failing to close a dump in Northfield, Massachusetts that was leaching hazardous
materials into the environment. Additional penalties were suspended, based upon the
defendant’s agreement to develop an Environmental Management System (EMS) to
govern all of its environmental compliance activities. (Ex. K) In May 2007—five
years later -- $15,000 of the suspended penalties were imposed because the defendant
still had not developed an adequate Environmental Management System, a decision
on which the defendant then proceeded to seek administrative review. (Ex. L)

• In March 2005, the defendant Boston and Maine Corporation was fined $43,400 for
three different violations—failing submit required inspection and monitoring reports
for the closure of the Northfield, Massachusetts dump that had first been required in
1999; failing to submit inspection and monitoring reports for a spill of oil that had
occurred at the defendant’s fuel depot in Williamstown, Massachusetts in 1989; and
failing to submit a remedy plan for multiple releases of oil that had occurred at the
defendant’s Rail Yard in East Deerfield, Massachusetts in 1998. $8,400 of this
penalty was suspended. (Ex. M)

• In April 2005, the defendant Boston and Maine Corporation was also fined $9,250 for
failing to properly dispose of oil and hazardous materials from its Rail Yard in East
Deerfield, Massachusetts. (Ex. N)

• In December 2005, a portion of the penalty that had been suspended in March 2005
was imposed on the defendant Boston and Maine Corporation because the company
still had not developed remedial alternatives for the recovery of free phase oil at the

Williamstown depot facility (a remedial process that remains ongoing to this day for a
release that occurred in 1989). (Ex. O)

• In August 2006, the Massachusetts DEP issued to the defendant Boston and Maine
Corporation a Notice of Noncompliance for failing to timely complete remediation
activities with respect to releases of oil at the company’s Rail Yard in East Deerfield,
Massachusetts. (Ex. P)

• In May 2007, the defendants Boston and Maine Corporation and Pan Am Railways,
Inc. were fined $59,747 for failing to properly dispose of railroad ties that were
leaching hazardous materials into the environment in Deerfield, Charlmont, and near
the Wachusetts Reservoir. (Ex. Q) The defendants then appealed the fine.

• In December 2007, the Massachusetts DEP issued a Notice of Noncompliance to the
defendant Boston and Maine Corporation for failing to timely perform an Immediate
Response Action for a spill of oil that had been discovered at the defendant’s East
Deerfield Rail Yard. The spill, from abandoned tanks and drums, had been reported
to the DEP by a passer-by (not by the defendant) in August 2007. (Ex. R) The
Department also issued a Notice of Noncompliance to defendant Pan Am Railways,
Inc. in December 2007 for accumulating excess quantities of waste oil at the East
Deerfield Rail Yard and failing to properly store the oil. (Ex. S)

The defendants’ compliance history with both the Commonwealth and the State of Maine
is remarkable not only for the defendants’ repeated failures to report spills of oil and hazardous
materials, but also for their failure to adopt or implement required spill response plans or an
overall environmental management system sufficient to prevent future spills. The State of Maine ordered the defendant Maine Central Railroad to adopt a spill response plan in 1990 (Ex. B) and again in 1995 (Ex. C), and yet the company still did not have one in place in February 1998 when several hundred gallons of oil leaked from a locomotive in the Waterville Rail Yard into the nearby Kennebec River. The United States Environmental Protection Agency fined Maine Central $47,300 for failing to have a spill response plan in place.

As the EPA regional administrator stated at the time, “Maine Central Railroad made two
big mistakes here. First, it had no plan to prevent or deal with oil spills; second, it discharged
hundreds of gallons of oil into the Kennebec. It’s unfortunate a spill had to occur for the
company to follow the law . . . .” (Ex. T).1

Similarly, the defendant Boston and Maine Corporation agreed in 2002, but then failed,
to develop a comprehensive Environmental Management System. As of May 4, 2007 – five
years later – the company still had not developed an acceptable EMS. When, thereafter, it
submitted an EMS in February 2008, DEP still found it wanting. For example, the EMS
contained a long list of Standard Operating Procedures, pollution prevention plans, and guidance
documents for many environmentally related compliance activities.

However, of the 50 listed
documents, 35 (or 70%) had projected completion dates in the future. The documents that still
had not been drafted included many critical environmental compliance programs such as policies
for the accumulation of hazardous wastes, management of used solvents and used oil, solid waste
disposal, corporate compliance tracking, environmental training, and response to noncompliance.
As noted below, the Commonwealth believes that the only way the defendants are
going to develop a real environmental compliance program is if an independent, outside monitor
is there to ensure they do so.
The defendants’ long history of failure to report releases of oil and hazardous substances
and failure to adopt responsible environmental compliance practices strongly supports the
imposition of the sentence recommended by the Commonwealth.
Finally, the Commonwealth believes it appropriate to bring to the Court’s attention one
criminal matter involving Boston and Maine Airways (BMAC), an affiliate of defendant Pan Am
1 In July 2007, the defendant Springfield Terminal Railway was also fined by EPA for
failing to fully implement a spill control plan for its facility in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Railways, Inc. that is owned and controlled by the same individuals as Pan Am Railways, Inc. In
the case of United States v. John Nadolny, Docket No. 07-CR-26 (D.N.H.), John Nadolny, then
the Secretary and General Counsel of Boston and Maine Airways, pled guilty to making false
statements in financial statements submitted to the Department of Transportation in support of
the company’s application for an air carrier certificate. In sentencing Nadolny, Judge Barbadoro
of the United States District Court in New Hampshire observed that Nadolny’s actions “were
undertaken on behalf of BMAC. He was an officer of the company. His actions would be
chargeable or taken – undertaken ostensibly to benefit the company, and it would seem that the
company is criminally culpable here.” (Ex. U, at 4) Indeed, when Mr. Nadolny’s misstatements
were brought to the attention of the Department of Transportation, the Department revoked
BMAC’s air carrier certificate:

Specifically, we find that BMAC’s authority to operate large aircraft was based on false
financial information submitted to the department, without which the air carrier would
not have been found fit to hold such authority, when it first sought to expand . . . . We
find further that BMAC’s management knew, or should have known, about the false
financial information and it therefore . . . lacks the competence necessary to oversee the
air transportation authorized in the air carrier’s certificate.
Application of Boston-Maine Airways Corp., Docket OST-00-7668, Order of Department of
Transportation, Feb. 1, 2008, at 15. (Ex. V).
II. The History of Penalties Under G.L. c. 21E, §7.

Unlike all other violations of chapter 21E, which are punishable by a fine of no more than
$50,000 and a house of correction sentence, violations of the reporting requirement of section 7
are punishable by a fine of up to $100,000 and imprisonment in state prison. There is a reason
why the Legislature adopted this enhanced punishment for failures to notify DEP. As Nicholas
Child testified at the trial in this case, notification is the linchpin of DEP’s ability to respond to
environmental emergencies. Notification is what enables DEP’s Emergency Response Unit to
coordinate with local authorities, such as police, fire and water authorities. Notification enables
the Emergency Response Unit to determine whether a threat is posed to human health or the
environment, and enables the Emergency Response Unit to determine whether it needs to go to
the site and take proactive steps for protection.

Because notification is so critical to the DEP process, the Commonwealth has repeatedly
sought substantial fines for failure to report. The size of the fines that the Commonwealth is
requesting in this case is consistent with numerous civil penalties that have been imposed for
failure to report:

• In the 2002 case of Signature Flight Support Group, the company paid a penalty of
$250,000 and agreed to perform a Supplemental Environmental Project valued at
$200,000 for failure to report a jet fuel spill at Logan Airport.
• In the 1997 case of Zeneca Plastics Company, the company paid a civil penalty of
$400,000 for failure to report a release of toxic vapors to the air of a Wilmington
neighborhood.

• In the 1991 case of Monsanto Corporation, the company paid a penalty of $1 million
for releasing of sulfuric acid into the Mystic River and failing to report the spill in a
timely and complete manner.

• In the 2001 case of MRP Site Development Inc. aka MRP Testa, the company paid a
$1 million criminal fine and was placed on probation for four years for violating the
state’s 21E §7 notification requirement and using PAH contaminated recycled
demolition debris for use as a road base product.

• In the 2007 case of Boot Hydropower, the company paid a fine of $125,000
for failing to report a spill of hydraulic oil into the Merrimac River.

• In the 2008 case of Mantrose-Haeuser Co. and Zinsser Co., the defendants paid a civil
penalty of $2 million and agreed to perform a Supplemental Environmental Project
valued at $300,000 for a series of violations, two of which entailed the failure to
report spills of sulfuric acid into the Ten Mile River.

The present case is a criminal case in which the Commonwealth introduced evidence that
the defendants did not merely fail to report the release of diesel fuel, but took steps to
deliberately cover up the spill. For example, the Commonwealth introduced evidence that, on
the night of the spill, the defendants ordered workers to dig holes that would enable pooled oil to
sink below the ground surface. The next day, the defendants directed their workers to remove
the most heavily stained soil and ballast on the surface, and put in fresh ballast, even though
stained and fuel-soaked soil remained below (and there continued to be an overwhelming smell
of diesel fuel). Moreover, as soon as the defendants learned that government authorities had
been alerted to the spill, the first thing they did was to try to remove from the scene the
locomotive that had spilled the fuel at a time when the locomotive still showed evidence of the
size of the spill.

When the Court considers the purposes of the notification requirement, the size of prior
fines for failure to notify, and the defendants’ deliberate effort to cover up, the fines sought by
the Commonwealth are amply justified.
III. Authority for Imposition of an Environmental Monitor
The superior court has the inherent power to suspend a sentence and impose a term of
probation with conditions. E.g., Commonwealth v. Pinnick, 52 Mass. App. Ct. 1104 (2001)
(defendant sentenced to a term of 8 – 10 years in State prison, suspended for 5 years, with
probation.); Commonwealth v. Delise, 440 Mass 137 (2003) (defendant sentenced for violating
an abuse prevention order and assault and battery; to12 to 15 years in state prison, suspended for a four year period of probation to commence on release from house of corrections);
Commonwealth v. Speight, 59 Mass. App.Ct. 28 (2003) (defendant sentenced by Superior Court
10 to 2 ½ years in a house of correction, committed, followed by a suspended 8 – 10 year
sentence.)2

In this case, the Commonwealth asks the Court to impose a maximum monetary fine of
$100,000 on each defendant on the first count on which it has been convicted and asks that
another $100,000 fine be suspended on the second count and that each defendant be placed on
probation for a period of three years with conditions. When sentencing a defendant, all of the
goals of punishment are to be considered: deterrence, rehabilitation, moral reinforcement,
punishment. Commonwealth v. Williams, 60 Mass.App.Ct. 331 (2004); Cepulonis v.
Commonwealth, 384 Mass. 495 (1981); Commonwealth v. Goodwin, 414 Mass. 88 (1993). A
monetary fine will serve as a punishment to the defendants, but something more is needed here.

The defendants in this case are profitable multi-million dollar corporations. The defendants have
an extensive history of environmental violations and a history of paying fines, and therefore
payment of a fine alone will not serve to fulfill the multifaceted goals of sentencing and may not
fully deter the defendants from future violations. There needs to be a component of the sentence
that addresses the rehabilitation and moral reinforcement necessary in order for the corporate
entities as a whole to come into compliance with the environmental laws of the Commonwealth.
A judge has wide latitude to consider a variety of factors when imposing a sentence.

Commonwealth v. Ferguson, 30 Mass.App.Ct. 580 (1991). A condition of probation is
enforceable, even if infringes on a constitutionally protected or preferred right, as long as the
condition is reasonably related to the goals of probation. Commonwealth v. Power, 420 Mass.
2 It should also be noted that G.L. 21E, §11, the provision that sets forth the punishments that
may be imposed under the Oil & Hazardous Material Release Prevention Act, specifically states
that “The superior court department of the trial court shall have jurisdiction to …grant such
additional relief as it deems necessary or appropriate to secure compliance with, the provisions
of this chapter, or any order or regulation issued or adopted there under upon the petition of the
attorney general or the commissioner. G.L. 21E §11.410 (1995); Commonwealth v. Lapointe, 435 Mass. 455 (2001). The propriety of a probation
condition depends upon the facts of the case. Commonwealth v. Lapointe, 435 Mass. 455
(2001).

In this case, the Commonwealth asks the Court to order the Defendants to retain an
independent environmental compliance monitor for the duration of the three year probationary
period. The imposition of a monitor is directly relevant to the non-compliance with
environmental laws at issue in this case. Moreover, the defendants’ enforcement history shows
that the defendants cannot be relied upon to address environmental matters in an adequate
manner on their own. There must be an independent monitor to ensure compliance by the
defendants and to directly report incidents of non-compliance should it become necessary.
There is an established history in the federal courts of ordering independent monitors
to be put in place when conditions of probations are imposed on corporate defendants.
Among other cases, monitors were ordered in:

• U.S. v. Lucas Aerospace Communications & Electronics, Inc., (94 Cr 493, E.D. N.Y.)
(in cases of false claims violations, was to recommend to company additional disciplinary
actions, personnel/policy/procedural changes, or other remedial actions to ensure against
similar misconduct).

• U.S. v. International Longshoremen’s Association, 518 F.Supp.2d 422 (2007): (monitor
put in to oversee labor union, in case involving violations of RICO, pattern of
racketeering)

• Claudio v. U.S. Department of Labor, 137 F.Supp. 2d 405 (2001)(again, monitor installed
to oversee operations of a union)

• U.S. v. Mahwah Homes, Inc. (S.D.N.Y.)(monitor installed in case involving falsifying
tax returns)

• U.S. v. BP Products North America (S.D.Tex 2009) 2009 WL 677653 (monitor installed
to guard against future OSHA safety violations)

See W. Swenson, Compliance Programs and Corporate Sentencing Guidelines §4:18 (2008).
A relevant precedent in the environmental context is the case of United States v.
Consolidated Edison Co. of New York, Docket No. 93-CR-1063 (S.D.N.Y.), in which the court
ordered the imposition of an environmental monitor on Consolidated Edison Co. of New York,
over the company’s objection, after the company failed to give notice of the dispersal of asbestos
from a manhole explosion. Prosecutors in the case argued that a fine alone would mean little to a
company with substantial revenues, and the court agreed that a monitor was needed in order to
change a corporate culture in employees felt intimidated not to speak out against illegal
practices. (Ex. W and X).

The Judge appointed a monitor from a pool of applicants submitted
by each side and costs of the monitor were paid by the defendant. As in the Con Edison case,
there is evidence in this case that the corporate culture of these defendants does not place an
emphasis on environmental compliance. During the trial of this case, evidence was presented
that showed that managerial level individuals knew there was a significant spill of diesel fuel in
the rail yard, but instead of notifying the DEP, the defendants had their employees undertake
steps to cover up the incident.

Although obviously not binding in this case, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines in §8D1.1
provide factors for courts to consider when imposing conditions of probation on a corporate
entity “(3) if, at the time of sentencing, (A) the organization (i) has 50 or more employees, or (ii)
was otherwise required under law to have an effective compliance and ethics program; and (B)
the organization does not have such a program; (4) if the organization within five years prior to
sentencing engaged in similar misconduct, as determined by a prior criminal adjudication, and
any part of the misconduct underlying the instant offense occurred after that adjudication; (5) if
an individual within high-level personnel of the organization or the unit of the organization
within which the instant offense was committed participated in the misconduct underlying the
instant offense and that individual within five years prior to sentencing engaged in similar
misconduct, as determined by a prior criminal adjudication, and any part of the misconduct
underlying the instant offense occurred after that adjudication; (6) if such sentence is necessary
to ensure that changes are made within the organization to reduce the likelihood of future
criminal conduct.” See United States Sentencing Guidelines §8D1.1 (setting forth eight
situations in which organizational probation is appropriate.) Virtually all of these factors are
present in this case

Moreover, it is in the interest of the Court to order an independent environmental
compliance monitor to oversee the Defendants’ probationary period because corporate
environmental compliance is a specialized area of the law that is not ordinarily handled by the
Court’s probation department. It would be critical to the oversight of probation here to have a
specialized individual involved.

As proposed by the Commonwealth, the monitor would be selected by DEP and paid by
the defendants. The monitor would report to the DEP Environmental Strike Force Director on a
regular basis regarding the environmental activities of the defendants. The initial task of the
monitor will be to assist the defendants in finalizing an Environmental Management System
(EMS) that is acceptable to the DEP and applicable to each of the defendants. DEP ordered the
Boston & Maine Corporation to create such an EMS in 2002 but that project, 7 years later,
remains uncompleted. (See Ex. L) Additional responsibilities of the monitor would include:

a. The monitor would assist the defendants in developing internal environmental
compliance controls and procedures to prevent future violations of the law and monitor
the effectiveness of the procedures implemented;

b. The monitor would submit quarterly reports to DEP, with copies to the defendants,
regarding the defendants’ compliance and cooperation regarding environmental matters;

c. The monitor would immediately communicate any compliance issues to DEP so that DEP
can provide appropriate guidance or take any necessary corrective action;

d. The monitor and the defendants would review and inventory all of oil and hazardous
material in the defendants’ control including both their use and their transport, and
oversee deadlines for remediation of hazardous waste sites already in the compliance
process;

e. The monitor would ensure that the defendants have trained all personnel in the area of
spill reporting and response procedures, including ensuring that new employees get
trained and how annual refreshers are handled;

f. The monitor would establish an independent data collection point where all releases of oil
and hazardous material by the defendants is called in and logged at this independent
entity to show that they are reporting as required.

Conclusion
For all these reasons, the Commonwealth respectfully requests that this Honorable Court
sentence each defendant on one count to pay the maximum penalty of $100,000 (a combined
total of $400,000), and that the Court impose the maximum penalty on each defendant on the
second count, but suspend that penalty for a period of three years during which each defendant
would be on probation with the condition that the defendants be required to pay for the cost of an independent environmental monitor who will be responsible for overseeing their probation
during the three years.

Respectfully Submitted,
MARTHA COAKLEY
ATTORNEY GENERAL
By: ___________________________________
Andrew Rainer, Chief (BBO # 542067)
Wendoly Ortiz Langlois, AAG (BBO # 654442)
Environmental Crimes Strike Force
Office of the Attorney General
One Ashburton Place, 19th Floor
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-2200
Date: March 30, 2009

ACTION you can take

2009-06-02T12:00:00.000-04:00

1. COME TO the Aquifer Bar for UnHappy Hour at the Ayer Rotary June 12 and 26, 5-7 pm for Runoff Rickeys, Gin and Toxics, and Diesel Daiquiris. We anticipate 100 people will attend. Please join us and invite your friends and neighbors.

2. Pledge to write to five leaders – Gov. Patrick, Sens. Kerry and Kennedy, Rep. Niki Tsongas and DEP Secretary Ian Bowles. Communicate by fax, email, or USPS. The impact is the same. Sample letters are below. You can use one.
ADDRESSES Are posted at the bottom of the blog.

3. Call by telephone -- 10 friends -- and ask them to do the same immediately.

4. Ask some of your friends to commit to telephoning 10 friends to take action. They don't have to live in the aquifer area. The arcane 1860s law that allows the railroads carte blanche can be applied in any American community.

5. Keep a list of who you contact and invite them to UnHappy Hour at the Aquifer Bar. Because of the critical nature of this threat, get on the phone and follow up with an email of the information. It is too easy to ignore an email! UnHappy Hour at the Aquifer Bar is fun and intergenerational. See you there. Rain or Shine.

Spilled oil and our water DON'T MIX

2009-06-02T11:49:00.000-04:00

The Spectacle Pond Aquifer supplies 60 percent of the water to the Town of Ayer and is a zone 3 aquifer for Littleton (MA). Westford is downstream. Each town draws up to 2 million gallons daily from wells near Spectacle Pond – some of the best water in the state, evidenced by the number of water-based businesses nearby -- Nasoya, Very Fine, Caines and Aquifina/Pepsi.

The railroads -- Pan Am and Norfolk Southern -- have begun construction on an 800-car auto-unloading facility in over this irreplaceable resource. United Parcel Service [UPS] will handle logistics for the Ford Motor Company.

Most folks expected that either EPA or Mass. Department of Environmental Protection would enforce strict standards for drinking water protection. For several reasons, these agencies have not acted to ensure there is sufficient monitoring and state and federal laws are enforced.

Across the road from the construction site is an unused auto unloading facility owned by Pan AM and leased to a competitor, CSX, until 2017. Creative thinking from political leaders could make this lot available to avoid jeopardizing the water source of three Massachusetts towns.

The best chance of protecting the water and ensuring that paving Massachusetts aquifers does not become a precedent is for residents of the Commonwealth to hold political leaders accountable for basic protections, especially the right to clean, uncontaminated drinking water.

While the railroads claim they will follow “best industry practices,” they have failed to share site-specific plans that indicate that they are adhering to basic standards.

Ford and UPS -- clients of PanAm/Norfolk Southern -- have repeatedly claimed that EPA sees “no threat to the water.”

On the contrary, EPA has presented a long list of concerns about paving the aquifer. EPA “support” is a fiction. UPS handles the logistics for Ford. Both companies are implicated in the project.

The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office found Pan Am guilty of criminal negligence and fined it $400,000 for failing to report a significant spill of fuel oil (more than 900 gallons) in March 2009. This is the biggest environmental criminal case in the history of the Commonwealth.

Mass DEP has few legal safeguards to protect the aquifer because of an obsolete 1860s law granting the railroads carte blanche.

There is a lack of accountability.

If neither EPA nor Mass. DEP set and enforce standards, and the towns are restricted from enforcement, we have created a scantly-regulated-monster that will do whatever is in its best interest -- regardless of what’s best for the residents, communities and businesses.

U R G E N T A c t i o n
Ayer, Littleton and Westford residents are directly impacted by the quality of water in the aquifer. Please take a few minutes to write Gov. Patrick and Sens. Kerry and Kennedy and Rep. Tsongas. Ask them immediately to let common sense prevail and stop this project before construction proceeds any further.

If you live outside these towns in Massachusetts, you are indirectly affected by the railroads exercising unchecked power that can be applied elsewhere.

Speak up now to ensure that our state can be counted on to preserve our right to clean water!
If you are considering purchasing a car, think twice before buying a Ford. Their words about being an environmental steward do not match their deed of supporting this ill conceived project.

Send a letter (or e-mail) today! Sample letters and addresses can be found on the next postingf. Make sure your voice is heard, and is heard in concert with hundreds of others writing letters.
Please forward this to your friends and neighbors.

A C T I O N P L A N

The bulldozers have started moving earth at the site.
We anticipate paving will start in weeks.

Our goal is to prevent paving of the aquifer. Immediate action is crucial.

The strategy is to deluge the four leaders with a request from residents of the Commonwealth.

This issue is bigger than Littleton, Ayer and Westford.

P l e a s e A C T now. Time is running out.

COME TO the Aquifer Bar for UnHappy Hour at the Ayer Rotary June 12 and 26, 5-7 pm for Runoff Rickeys, Gin and Toxics, and Diesel Daiquiris. We anticipate 100 people will attend. Please join us and invite your friends and neighbors.
For information, contact stoppanamlot@gmail.com.

Don't give Ford, Pan Am and UPS keys to our aquifer

2009-06-02T11:11:00.001-04:00

More than 40 people from five towns came to UnHappy Hour in Ayer, MA on Friday, May 29 to protest a known polluter -- Pan Am Railroad --from paving over an aquifer that supplies 60 percent of the Town of Ayer's water.

The Ayer Rotary is not far from the site of the Spectacle Pond aquifer where Pan Am and Norfolk Southern Railroads are preparing to pave 12 acres to bulid an 750-space lot to unload Ford vehicles from trains to trucks. UPS will handle logistics at the site.

Bartenders served cocktails tainted with automotive fluids. There was a display of local products made with water from the aquifer -- including VeryFine, Cains, Nasoya and Pepsi/Aquafina.

State Sen. Jamie Eldridge [D-Ayer/Littleton] said, “I am deeply concerned about PanAm and Norfolk Southern Railroads’ proposed car unloading facility being placed so close to an aquifer. A spill at the site would be devastating to our local communities, deeply compromising the safety of the water we drink. We have the responsibility to protect our supply for current residents and generations to come.”

It’s not a matter of if there will be spills, but when.

According to Attorney General Martha Coakley, the railroads have “a long track record of violating the environmental laws, including a particularly long record of unreported releases of oil and other hazardous materials to the environment, and have utterly failed to develop reliable or consistent environmental management systems despite having been ordered to do so repeatedly,” in the Commonwealth’s Memorandum on Sentencing of Pan Am and imposition of a $500,000 fine on March 30, 2009.

Pan Am was fined for failing to report and for under-reporting a spill of between 900 and 1700 gallons of diesel fuel a few miles down the track in Ayer two years ago. Initially, the company filed a tardy report of a spill of less than 9 gallons. A similar spill at the Willow Road aquifer would contaminate the well and render it undrinkable.

We have no confidence that the railroads will prevent and report spills at the Ayer site, which Coakley also addressed in the sentencing memorandum: “The defendants’ compliance history with both the Commonwealth and the State of Maine is remarkable not only for the defendants’ repeated failures to report spills of oil and hazardous materials, but also for their failure to adopt or implement required spill response plans or an overall environmental management system sufficient to prevent future spills.”

We refuse to stand by idly while the keys to our aquifer are being handed over to Ford, UPS and Pan Am/Norfolk Southern. It is paramount to building a skyscraper over a fault zone or skiing in an avalanche zone. The risk for disaster is high.

The Town of Ayer lost a 10-year legal battle to block the project. The railroads based their defense an arcane 1860 law that guarantees railroads the right to interstate commerce -- written more than a century before the conception of environmental protection.

We appeal to Gov. Patrick and Senators Kennedy and Kerry and Rep. Niki Tsongas to intercede and grant the aquifer a stay of execution.

With all legal solutions expired, our only option is public outcry and generating the political will to stop construction now and use a similar lot, across the street, owned by Pan Am and leased to to a competitor -- CSX -- until 2017. The nearby lot sits empty and unused while an aquifer is being bulldozed and threatened by a known polluter.

Our politicians and business leaders of Ford Motor Company, UPS, PanAm, Norfolk Southern, CSX, Cains, Pepsi/Aquafina, Nasoya and VeryFine can negotiate a solution that will work for everyone. The lot across the street is empty, acceptable and available.