|
Look at the oil and gasoline contaminated snow that Greenfield
officials
allowed to be repeatedly dumped onto the filled area of the 10 acre
wetlands of the historic White Ash Swamp this past winter! Stand with us
to protest this further desecration at the upcoming meeting of the
Greenfield Conservation Commission Tuesday, June 14th, 7pm at the
Greenfield Police Station.
The Friends of Wissatinnewag need your support at the upcoming meeting
of the Greenfield Conservation Commission (ConCom) on Tues. June 14th,
7pm at the Greenfield Police Station. We'll be contesting the town's
refusal to stop the repeated dumping of road-scraped and blackened
contaminated snow onto the filled area of the 10 acre wetlands of the
historic White Ash Swamp this past winter. Such dumping is in violation
of the MA Dept. of Enironmental Protection's guidelines, which state
that snow contaminated with oil, gasoline and road salt should not be
deposited on wetland area because it is toxic to aquatic life and can
contaminate nearby streams and water systems.
Beyond the obvious fact that dumping such repulsive contaminants onto a
burial area furthers the desecration that the Native American human
remains suffered after being dumped and bulldozed into the swamp in
1964, it is unacceptable that our town's Conservation Commission has
stood by after the Friends of Wissatinnewag made numerous complaints
throughout the winter of 2004/2005 and allowed this dumping of
oil-blackened contaminated snow onto the 10 acres to continue unabated.
Last December, the Town of Greenfield paid for a wetland delineation
study of the 10 acres, which indicated that 80% of the area was
wetlands, and that the area that was "filled" (which is where the Native
burials were dumped, according to sworn eye-witness testimony) - a small
"island" in the center of the 10 acres - could no longer be catagorized
as wetlands. Allowing the dumping of contaminated snow on the filled
area is in total disregard of the fact that, once this blackened mass
melted, the contaminants flowed into the surrounding wetlands! Is this
what passes for "conservation" in Greenfield these days?
It has been said that the leadership of Greenfield has purged the
Conservation Commission of any members who strongly advocated for
conservation, and replaced them with a majority of pro-growth advocates
who either know or care little about actual conservation. Preliminary
reports indicate that the Commission will continue to allow dumping onto
the filled area where the Native burials were dumped.
ARE THE 10 ACRES NOW GOING TO BE A DE FACTO CONTAMINANT DUMP? Does this
reflect the promises of Greenfield officials to "protect" the 10 acres?
Please stand with the Friends of Wissatinnewag at the Conservation
Commission meeting, this Tues., June 14th, 7pm, at the Greenfield Police
Station. Call (413) 772-3743 for directions. Oliwni!
| 