seen reams of testimony about the importance of saving old-growth 

 forest habitats for the spotted owl. We have heard about the impor- 

 tance of protecting predators like wolves, which serve to keep other 

 species in balance. Next month we will be holding a hearing on the 

 medicinal uses of endangered plants, including the potential that 

 these plants have to cure diseases such as AIDS and cancer. 



What we have not heard much about is the difficulty inherent in 

 trying to protect the fragile habitats of endangered marine spe- 

 cies — a difficulty that arises from the unfortunate fact that we 

 know so little about the capacity of the sea to absorb human waste, 

 from fertilizer runoff to sewage effluent. I hope, for all of our 

 sakes, and the sake of those endangered species that call Massa- 

 chusetts and Cape Cod Bays home, that we will learn something 

 more about that today. 



As everyone in this room knows, balancing the various views on 

 this project has been difficult for everyone. The people of Quincy 

 and Weymouth, and all of greater Boston want a cleaner, healthier 

 harbor. They should have it. I believe the MWRA is headed in the 

 right direction to accomplish that. The people of all the ratepayer 

 communities do not want to be bankrupted in order to pay for this 

 project. Families should absolutely not bear this burden. That is 

 why we are fighting for Federal funding. That is why I have intro- 

 duced legislation to allow families to deduct their water and sewer 

 bills from their taxable income, and that is why we will continue to 

 work with the Administration to get relief. 



Finally, the people of the South Shore, Cape Cod and the Islands, 

 and all who rely on these bays for a living, or those who simply 

 love the fragile beauty of this State's coast, deserve to be assured 

 that the cumulative impacts of this project and others like it will 

 not cause long-term degradation of the marine environment. We 

 must be assured that endangered species like the North Atlantic 

 right whale, which today teeters on the brink of extinction, are not 

 pushed slowly over the edge by our lack of knowledge about the 

 complex workings of our coastal waters. 



This biological opinion we are looking at today has probably re- 

 ceived more detailed scrutiny than almost any other public docu- 

 ment in recent Massachusetts history. It has answered some of the 

 questions that I, as well as the people of Cape Cod, have been 

 asking, but it has raised questions as well. I hope to have those 

 questions debated or answered here this morning. I suspect that 

 some of you leaving this room today will feel assured that every 

 safeguard has been taken to protect these waters and the whales 

 that inhabit them. Given the controversy over the project, however, 

 it is inevitable that there will be a diversity of opinion over the 

 conclusions, and that others will leave here feeling that the risks of 

 this project are simply not worth the benefits. 



It will benefit us all to hear how the National Marine Fisheries 

 Service arrived at its conclusions and the reactions of various ex- 

 perts to those conclusions. For more than two years, it has been my 

 firm position that, at the very least, this outfall should not be used 

 until full secondary treatment is in place; a monitoring plan is un- 

 derway which is tied to specific management actions; and a work- 

 able contingency plan has been designed that can be quickly trig- 

 gered should things go awry. I am very pleased to note that the 



