Kate Harson, EJ Liaison
Slide One
Hi everyone, I'm excited to welcome you to this video all about how you can participate in the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act, or “MEPA”, review process.
In this video, I'm going to spend about 10 minutes walking you through the tried-and-true ways you can have your voice heard during the “MEPA” process.
If you want to learn more about when “MEPA” review is required and what happens during “MEPA” review, I'm going to direct you to another video resource, which is going to be linked on the screen right now that provides an overview of “MEPA” prepared by the Director of “MEPA”, Tori Kim and is also interpreted in the language you are hearing now.
Slide Two
This presentation was originally given by Kate Harson, the Environmental Justice Liaison for the “MEPA” office. This interpreted video was prepared to provide access to this education content from the “MEPA” office for people with language access needs.
The “MEPA” office is thrilled you're interested in learning about how to participate in “MEPA” because one of the key purposes of “MEPA” review is to provide meaningful opportunities for people like you to participate in the government decisions that might impact the environment and might impact your community.
Slide Three
We're going to talk about 6 great ways to participate in the review today.
We'll be going through each of these items in detail, but these strategies might be more or less useful for you depending on what stage a project is in during “MEPA” review, or depending on whether you're trying to gain information, ask questions, or share recommendations or concerns about a project.
I welcome you to revisit this resource multiple times and skip to the strategy overview that is most useful for you in that moment.
Let's start from the top and talk about checking the Environmental Monitor for “MEPA” project filings.
Slide Four
The Environmental Monitor is an online publication and online project repository that is published by “MEPA”.
All projects submitting Environmental Notification Forms and Environmental Impact Reports or other “MEPA” filings are published to the Environmental Monitor and can be viewed on the Environmental Monitor website.
The Monitor website is provided on the screen now.
“MEPA” publishes the Environmental Monitor twice a month, typically around the 10th and the 20th of the month. When a project is published and “MEPA” analyst is assigned to review that project, the comment period will begin for that particular filing.
If you want to learn more about the typical “MEPA” filings and the duration of comment periods for those filings, I welcome you to watch that other video, the Overview of “MEPA”, which provides more information on both of these topics.
Lastly, anyone can sign up to be notified each time the Environmental Monitor is published. All you need to do is send a blank e-mail to the address that's listed on the screen to be added to the distribution list. You should get an e-mail twice a month with a link to the most current monitor publication.
Slide Five
We're going to walk through what the Environmental Monitor looks like together so you can get a feel for what's available in this resource.
You will visit the Environmental Monitor website on your computer or on your phone, and the page will automatically load to the most recent monitor issue. But you can also view previous issues as well.
Slide Six
Once you Scroll down, you'll see the projects that submitted “MEPA” filings in the most recent monitor. As you can see, there are tabs with different types of information on the top of the monitor.
The New Projects tab provides a list of projects that were published in the most recent Environmental Monitor issue.
And then the Projects under Review tab provides a longer list of projects that are open for public comment or awaiting a “MEPA” decision.
You can see specific types of “MEPA” filings, including the two most common “MEPA” filings and Environmental Notification Form and Environmental Impact Report.
And in addition, there's some key information provided on projects, including what municipality a project is proposed in, so you can quickly see if a project is being proposed in or nearby your town or city. And you can also quickly check when the comment period ends for a project filing.
Finally, there's a button with a little paper clip on it, and that lets you view and download the entire project filing for your review.
Slide Seven
Next we're going to talk about the “MEPA” site visit and remote consultation sessions.
We're going to discuss how to find out when and where these meetings occur and how you can get important information about projects from these meetings.
Slide Eight
Every time a new project is filed with “MEPA”, a consultation session is held, which is essentially a public meeting in which the people planning the project will present a summary of the project and then agencies and the public have the opportunity to ask questions or share thoughts on the project.
Usually these consultation sessions are held remotely over video call and generally whenever a project is proposed within an Environmental Justice neighborhood, that consultation session will be scheduled for the evening.
That said, if there is a daytime consultation session, you can often request for an additional consultation session to be held in the evening or as an alternative to a daytime consultation session. For some of the largest projects that “MEPA” reviews, that consultation session will also have an in-person component.
The environmental monitor contains the dates and times of all consultation sessions and will also contain information on the format of those consultation sessions.
In addition, “MEPA” sometimes holds in-person site visits for large scale projects that exceed “EIR” thresholds and this provides an opportunity to actually go visit the location where the project is being proposed and see how that projects would be project would be situated in your neighborhood.
Lastly, if you'd like to attend either of these meetings but you don't feel comfortable participating in English, the notice for the consultation session and the site visit will have information on how to request oral interpretation services and in some cases, interpreters will be present at these meetings without the need for advance request.
Slide Nine
As I mentioned, the Environmental Monitor has information on site visits or consultation sessions that have been scheduled and you can find that information in the Site Visits tab, which is in between that New Projects tab and the Projects under Review tab.
Here you can find logistics of those meetings, including the date and time of those meetings as well as the format for those meetings.
As you can see, the first meeting on the screen is for a remote consultation session and there's information provided on how to get access to the video meeting link. Below that, there's an in-person site visit with the physical address of where to meet for that site visit.
And then lastly, below that, there's a hybrid consultation session with the physical address to go to if you want to attend the meeting in-person, as well as information to access a video link or a phone number to participate in that meeting virtually.
Slide 10
Next, we're going to talk about one of the most traditional ways that you can participate in “MEPA” review, which is by submitting a written comment letter on a project filing.
Slide 11
During a project filing's comment period, you can submit written comments two different ways.
First, you can simply e-mail your comment to the “MEPA” analyst assigned to the project, or you can submit a comment using the online public comment portal. The online comment portal is linked on the screen, and we'll take a closer look at this tool in just a minute.
Generally, your comment letter should focus on one or more of the following three aspects of a project.First, the environmental impacts of the project proposed and any suggestions you might have to address or mitigate those impacts. Second, you should feel free to provide general suggestions on how the project could be improved. You know your community better than anyone, and “MEPA” believes that a project only gets better when it incorporates suggestions and input from community members. And then finally, you should let us know whether the project has conducted sufficient outreach in your area. This is very important because for projects that are located within or nearby environmental justice populations, “MEPA” requires that those projects make enhanced effort to meaningfully engage with those communities. If you believe that a project team has not made sufficient efforts to reach out to people in your area, the “MEPA” office wants to know about that.
One last note about submitting public comments is if you provide your e-mail address with a written comment on the initial filing for a project, which is called the Environmental Notification Form, or the “ENF”, you'll be notified when the next project filing is submitted. So essentially, commenting on a project can be a great way to stay informed about when a project enters the next stage of “MEPA” review.
Slide 12
As I mentioned, I'm going to walk you through the online public comment portal to show you exactly how to submit your public comments there.
You'll visit the public comment portal website on your computer or on your phone and then click on “search for projects open for comment”. This will take you to a list of all projects with open comment periods.
Once you find the project that you'd like to comment on, you can click on “Submit a public comment” and it'll take you to this page with a variety of different fields.
Slide 13
The first thing I want to note is that only the fields with a little star or asterisks next to them are required for you to fill out in order to submit a comment.
If we look at the form, that means that the requirements are to give your comment a title and to provide the actual comment text. If you want to keep your comment fully anonymous, you can absolutely do so. However, I'll note that if you want to be emailed when a new “MEPA” filing is submitted on a project, then you'll have to put in your e-mail address as well to be added to that distribution list.
Also, you should feel free to submit a public comment in the language you're most comfortable using. If “MEPA” receives a comment that isn't in English, we'll translate that comment and attach both the non-English and the translated English version of the comment to the “MEPA” certificate.
Slide 14
The 4th and 5th way to participate in “MEPA” review involved reaching out to the assigned “MEPA” analysts on the project or reaching out to the people planning the project, called them the project proponents. The contact information for both parties is provided on the Environmental Monitor.
Slide 15
So here's that same screenshot of the environmental monitor as I showed you before. And as you can see, there's a column for the “MEPA” analyst who's assigned to review the project.
A “MEPA” Analyst is an employee of the “MEPA” office who is an environmental professional with experience reviewing projects and assessing their potential for environmental impacts and the adequacy of their mitigation measures.
Next to the “MEPA” Analyst column, there's information for the project proponent contact. You can reach out to either of these resources to ask questions, to ask for updates, or to provide input on projects.
Slide 16
The 6th and final way to participate in “MEPA” review is to reach out to local organizations active in your area.
Slide 17
The reason why local community-based organizations can be good resources to learn more about “MEPA” projects is because projects that are proposed within or nearby environmental justice populations must send what's called an Advanced Notification of the project to an Environmental Justice Reference List, or an “EJ” Reference List, that is compiled and maintained by the “MEPA” Office and the Office of Environmental Justice and Equity.
The “EJ” Reference List contains contacts for statewide community-based organizations, Indigenous organizations, federal tribe contacts, and local community-based organizations across Massachusetts.
These groups are sent advanced notification of projects before they file with “MEPA”, so this is a great way to learn about projects really early in the regulatory review stage.
Projects submit an Environmental Justice Screening Form to the “EJ” Reference List Contacts, which is a document that's around 2 to 3 pages that provides a brief summary of the project and also is translated in the languages that are spoken by a significant portion of residents around where the project is being proposed.
All projects that send advanced notifications and Environmental Justice Screening Forms can be viewed on “MEPA” website, which is linked on the screen.
Slide 18
If you follow that link, you'll find a table listing all projects submitting advanced notifications on “MEPA” website.
That table contains information on what town or city the project is being proposed in and what type of project it is – for instance a project for residential development or a project for a dam removal. This table also contains a link to the Environmental Justice screening form for each project, which will provide even more detail on that project.
If you click on the Environmental Justice Screening Form link, a PDF will pop up providing even more project details, including any translated versions of the form and who to contact on the project team to ask questions about a project or to request a public meeting.
Slide 19
And with that, we've gone over six of the key ways you can participate in the “MEPA” for process.
I hope this has been helpful and informative to you, and that inspires you to learn more about projects in your area and to your use your voice to improve those projects.
If you have any questions, concerns, or recommendations, please feel free to contact the “MEPA” Environmental Justice Liaison directly at kate.harson@mass.gov.
Also on the screen are some additional “MEPA” for contacts and information, including a link to the “MEPA” website.
To learn more about “MEPA” and how you can get involved, I encourage you to visit the How to Participate in “MEPA” Review web page, which is linked on the screen right now.
Thank you again for your time and be well.