Coastal Zone Management Announces Appointment of Stephen McKenna as Assistant Regional Coordinator for Cape Cod and the Islands

February 27 , 1997
Contact: Anne Donovan
(617) 727-9530, x411

Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management (MCZM) announces the appointment of Stephen McKenna, who previously served as a Regional Planner with the Buzzards Bay Project's Toxics Use Reduction Program for three years, as MCZM's Assistant Regional Coordinator for the Cape Code & Islands Region. "Steve clearly has the initiative, interest, and environmental training to make him a tremendous addition to the MCZM team," emphasized Peg Brady, Director of MCZM. "As a Cape Cod native and a graduate of the Massachusetts Maritime Academy, he is also aware of the hot issues and will be able to hit the ground running with MCZM's Cape & Islands Regional Program."

As a Regional Planner in the Toxics Use Reduction Program at the Buzzards Bay Project, Mr. McKenna worked with local industries to reduce the quantity of toxic materials used in their production processes or released to the environment. He also wrote a newsletter and presented workshops on industrial toxics use reduction and pollution prevention. Then, immediately before coming to MCZM, Mr. McKenna worked with the Department of Environmental Protection's Toxic Use Reduction Program as a Regional Planner. He received a B.S. in Environmental Science from Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where he was enrolled in an accelerated program and took the initiative to pursue additional courses at Northeastern, the University of Massachusetts-Boston, and Woods Hole as a pioneer in this now popular program. He also has a B.S. in Business Administration from Bryant College and is currently working on a Masters of Environmental Engineering from the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth.

In addition, Mr. McKenna has a Master-Near Coastal, 500 Gross Tons merchant mariner's license and is an Oil Spill Response Qualified Individual (QI), which makes him uniquely qualified to assist MCZM in increasing and improving its participation with federal and state efforts to protect our coastal resources from oil and hazardous materials spills. As part of this effort, he will be available to help update the Cape Cod Coastal Oil Spill Contingency Plan and to help assess the oil spill response preparedness of the communities on Cape Cod and the Islands.

"Creating a balance between the increasing demands placed on the coastal resources of the Cape and Islands, and protecting these fragile resources is essential," said McKenna. "Participating in this process and working to improve it is deeply important to me."

MCZM's Cape Cod & Islands Regional Office is located at 3225 Main Street in Barnstable. It serves the 15 towns of Barnstable County, along with Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands. These communities, which are in the Cape Cod Bay, Cape Cod, and Buzzards Bay watersheds are: Barnstable, Bourne, Brewster, Chatham, Chilmark, Dennis, Eastham, Edgartown, Falmouth, Gay Head, Gosnold, Harwich, Mashpee, Nantucket, Oak Bluffs, Orleans, Provincetown, Sandwich, Tisbury, Truro, Wellfleet, West Tisbury, and Yarmouth.