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Spill bill sent to guv; Plymouth takes the stage; Last hurdle for Kline property; NOAA: expect more hurricanes in 2008

Oil spill bill sent to governor for approval

Bill result of the Bouchard No. 120 oil spill in Buzzards Bay five years ago

FAIRHAVEN — Five years ago, the tank barge Bouchard No. 120 spilled 98,000 gallons of fuel oil that washed up on 90 miles of coastline in Buzzards Bay. In response, the 2004 Oil Spill Prevention law was enacted by Massachusetts legislation and almost immediately challenged in federal courts. Four years later, on July 28, new legislation in the form of Senate Bill 2374, "An Act Further Preventing Oil Spills in Buzzards Bay" was unanimously approved and sent to the governor's desk for approval.

The new bill tightens regulations on oil tankers traveling through Buzzards Bay, including regulations on tugboat escorts and an increase in the assessment fees.

More Major Storms Forecast for Intense Atlantic Hurricane Season

NOAA ups chance of above-normal season

MARYLAND - Government weather forecasters said today that they expect two more named storms and hurricanes to form in the Atlantic Basin this year than they predicted in May, and warned of an increased likelihood that 2008 will be an above-normal hurricane season.
  In its August update to the Atlantic hurricane season outlook, released today, NOAA's Climate Prediction Center projects an 85 percent probability of an above-normal season - up from 65 percent in May.
  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, issues its August outlook at the start of the peak months of the Atlantic hurricane season - August through October - and includes activity over the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. ... Environmental News Service

"In five years of work on this issue, this is probably the most important vote the legislature has ever taken," said Mark Rasmussen, President of the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, in a press release. "We are grateful to our local representatives and senators for their continued leadership in protecting Buzzards Bay from future oil spills." ... SouthCoastToday.com

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Plymouth takes the stage

Emerging arts and entertainment scene is turning the town into a cultural destination

PLYMOUTH — It’s a warm summer night, a cool breeze is sweeping across the waterfront, and Al and Pati Cautillo are among several hundred people gathered on lawn chairs and blankets, taking in some live blues.

The Cautillos, who live in Bridgewater, find themselves in Plymouth every couple of weeks for the latest arts festival or blues concert – or simply to take a stroll along the water and have dinner at one of the newer restaurants downtown.

...Denis Hanks, town economic development director and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce president, said he doesn’t believe the town has quite made it to the level of a Newburyport or Provincetown just yet, “but those are towns we have looked at as models,” he said. “In a few years, it absolutely could be like those places here.” ... Patriot Ledger

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Last-ditch Hopper landscape appeal focuses on frontage

Is road long and wide enough to allow new construction?

TRURO - The 6,500-square-foot single-family house proposed by Donald and Andrea Kline for their property off Stephen’s Way in Truro, in the so-called Hopper landscape, is facing what may be the last hurdle along its long road through the regulatory process: the question of whether the road it is on is indeed long and wide enough to allow new construction.

The Truro Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a hearing beginning at 7:15 p.m. Monday night in Town Hall in response to a petition from neighbors that the board overturn Building Commissioner Tom Wingard’s issuance of a building permit. The appeal is based on what petitioners say is a lack of legal frontage and asks that the foundation permit issued to the Klines in late May be revoked and the area that was cleared for the state’s archaeological investigation of the site be restored.

Attorney Bennet Heart is representing petitioners John VanKirk, Alan Solomont, Susan Lewis Solomont, Shambles Realty Trust (Nancy F. Callender, trustee), J. Anton and Laurence Schiffenhaus and Natalie Ferrier. Each are abutters, or abutters to abutters, within 300 feet of the Kline property. ... The Banner