Legislation

The bill has been revised to emphasize climate change, renewable energy, water quality, coastal erosion, and ocean conservation. These policy statements put Massachusetts at the forefront of national efforts to address these pressing issues and show the Commonwealth is prepared to take creative steps to achieve urgent policy goals.

The bill directs EPA to assess and document the need to designate the Sound as an Estuary of National Significance under the Clean Water Act to bring it into the National Estuary Program (NEP). 28 bodies of water around the country (e.g., Buzzards Bay, Narragansett Bay, Long Island Sound) are already included in the NEP and benefit from federal funding. Nantucket Sound is the most significant body of water in the country that is not covered – denying the region the environmental benefits of this program.

The bill also requires the EPA to study climate change and sea level rise effects on the coastal zone of Nantucket Sound and recommend actions to enhance the resilience of the zone to these effects.

The NSNHLA not only allows wave and tidal renewable energy projects to be sited within the Sound, but it also affirmatively supports and explores that potential by requiring a study for installing such technology. The bill directs the Department of Energy, in consultation with the Commonwealth and with an opportunity for public review, to assess the feasibility of wave and tidal energy projects in Nantucket Sound.

The bill expresses that the protections afforded to Nantucket Sound qualify its waters as “conserved” consistent with the Administration’s goal of conserving 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. The status accorded to the Sound would add 750 square miles of new conservation area, making a large and important contribution to this policy initiative.

The bill’s increased protection for and recognition of Wampanoag history in the Sound is in furtherance of the strong national movement and Administration’s policy to recognize the importance of Native American heritage and protection of important areas of tribal cultural and religious significance.

The bill extends the jurisdiction of Massachusetts to Nantucket Sound for limited purposes—specifically, the Massachusetts Ocean Sanctuaries Act and the Act to Promote Energy Diversity. This has already been done for fisheries management under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act because of the unique geographic configuration of the Sound as federal water almost entirely enclosed by State waters. The bill requires federal authority to be exercised in a manner that is consistent with existing state law.