EPA voices concern over South Coast Rail

NEW BEDFORD – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it will continue to have “serious concerns” about the South Coast Rail project, SouthCoastToday.com reported Tuesday.
It is concerned that the project, extending Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority commuter rail to New Bedford and Fall River, will harm wetlands of “national importance,” including the Hockomock Swamp, a letter from the EPA’s Boston office dated June 21 said, noting that it needed additional information.
The EPA has the ability to veto the project. For now, the agency is leaving its options open by writing the letter, said Kristina Egan, manager of the South Coast Rail project, to SouthCoastToday.com.
“The proposed project will have a substantial and unacceptable impact on aquatic resources of national importance,” said Regional Administrator H. Curtis Spalding in his letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “Our reaffirmation preserves our ability to raise these unresolved issues to senior officials at both EPA and the Department of Army.”
The Corps of Engineers is finishing its review of the different alternatives. In March, it issued a draft environmental impact statement, seen favorable to a Stoughton route through the Hockomock Swamp.
State officials are working with the agency to understand its concerns and to provide additional information, said Egan.