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 Conservation Law Foundation 



We urg« that another etudy be conductad prior to discharge 

 of primary-only effluent. The MWRA should study the operational 

 possibilities of a range of options from full use of the new 

 outfall as soon as the new primary plant is completed to no use 

 of the new outfall until full secondary treatment is possible. 

 The inshore and offshore water quality impacts of this range of 

 options should be assessed by EPA before permitting discharge of 

 effluent receiving only primary treatment. 



We agree with the final two recommended studies. A- 7 and A- 

 8, although we question the likely usefulness of A-8 (b) . 



Monitoring 



We support all of the monitoring recommendations in the 

 biological opinion. 



Permit Conditions 



We support recommendations P-1, p-2, and P-3 as conditions 

 for EPA CO include in the NPDES permit for the new outfall . We 

 believe that these requirements are better handled through 

 conditions for the new permit than through changes in the court 

 order. 



In addition, we believe that the court order should be 

 amended so that, as soon as the new primary plant is in 

 operation, the interim, treatment standards .are increased by 

 reduc:Lng the interim limitatxons on biological oxygen demand and 

 total suspended solids. The rationale for this change is that 

 the MWRA is meeting the current interim limitations most or all 

 of the time, and the new primary plant is expected to function 

 ■better_ than the existing ones. Therefore the MWRA should be held 

 to higher standards of treatment as soon as it is capable of 

 meeting them. We invite EPA to ^oin us in seeking this change in 

 the court order . 



Implementation of the Riqhc Whale Recovery Plan 



There is a final point that we would like to make. 



The consultation that has prompted this hearing was 

 initiated because of concerns about endangered animals, 

 especially endangered whales. The whale of greatest concern in 

 Massachusetts Bay is the right whale, which is in fact the most 

 highly endangered large whale in the world. With probably fewer 

 than 3 50 animals remaining in the entire North Atlantic Ocean, 



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