What I’m Thinking

Stop me if you have heard this one before, but the Massachusetts National Guard has, again, failed to produce public records requested by APCC on a timely basis as required by Massachusetts law. Since failure to produce legally compliant responses to records requests...

Spring town meeting season is upon us. Over the next six weeks or so, all the big decisions will be made about what land is purchased and preserved, which clean water projects are funded, and how well environmental departments are funded. All these important decisions...

I am not widely considered Mr. Sunshine, but I am happy to report some good news. Readers of this space may recall a discussion about the projected shortfall in funds from the Cape Cod and Islands Water Protection Fund that reduces town borrowing costs by 25 percent....

Waiting in the cashier line at the local hardware store the other day, I overheard the conversation between a customer and a store clerk. The customer wanted a lawn fertilizer to get an application down right away. In addition to failing to mention to the customer...

I have been hearing a lot of new voices speaking passionately about the need to protect Cape’s groundwater and the integrity of the natural resources of Nantucket Sound. On the surface that’s great, as we need more people to speak up for the environment. That said, I...

With the modest and fairly typical nor’easter last week, many of us spent part of the day without utility power. Power outages were widely distributed across the region. Unless you were elderly, ill or reliant on home medical equipment, the outages were brief enough...

Holtec International, the company entrusted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to safely decommission the old Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, advertises itself as the go-to company to build a next gen nuclear plant near you: read here. Maybe, but before running out...

Every other month, on the fourth Monday of the month, I trudge up to Plymouth to take my seat as a gubernatorial appointee on the Nuclear Decommissioning Citizens Advisory Panel (NDCAP). The idea behind NDCAP, providing the public some insight into the decommissioning...

The Cape Cod Commission has released a draft regional housing strategy and has invited the public to submit written comments on the plan by Monday, January 29th. The draft plan can be viewed at https://www.capecodcommission.org/our-work/regional-housing-strategy/....

Our fifth annual State of the Waters: Cape Cod report went live this morning. Check it out at CapeCodWaters.org and see what the latest data tells us about water quality. Cape Cod continues to experience a significant number of coastal embayments and freshwater ponds...