Thursday, August 22, 2024

Tarr In the News 8.21.24


Tarr In the News | 8.21.24

State Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, explained that the purpose of the meeting was to work with the Department of Conservation and Recreation on a Salisbury Beach Management plan.

“The goal of the management plan is to set out the sort of the regulatory infrastructure so that the kinds of things we’re doing now are routine and not addressed in an episodic kind of a way,” Tarr said.

One of his biggest priorities has been ensuring that town officials have a seat at the table when developing a plan.

“The meeting yesterday was for the subcommittee to discuss the elements we think are critical to being in the plan. And then the town officials are going to have a conversation with DCR about making sure those elements are included,” Tarr said.

Tarr said that meeting will be scheduled once he finishes crafting a guiding document based of the MRBA subcommittee meeting to be sent to Town Manager Neil Harrington.

“Now, all of that sounds like it would take a long time, but it can’t. So we’re operating on a very fast timeframe here. So I would assume that meeting will happen within the next two or three weeks,” Tarr said.

He shared two of the key elements they hope to see in a future beach management plan.

“One is making sure that the plan includes provision for a stockpile of sand that can be deployed in emergencies. The second piece is trying to develop a streamlined permitting process for routine projects like beach nourishment,” Tarr said.

There are also three considerations he said they are hoping to see addressed.

“What they are is making sure that we think about protecting Route 1A because it’s an important state roadway and it’s also an evacuation route for the Seabrook nuclear power plant,” Tarr said.

The second is to protect the marsh on the other side of Route 1A.

“It is an important thing for carbon sequestration and also natural storm defense,” Tarr said. Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, according to usgs.gov. It is one method of reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere with the goal of reducing global climate change.

The third consideration is applying innovative technology to solve an age-old problem. “We are working with several institutions of higher learning institutions to come up with technologies that may not exist anywhere in the world yet that we want to pilot at Salisbury,” Tarr said.

To read the full article by Matt Petry of the Newburyport Daily news, visit:

📰 https://www.newburyportnews.com/.../article_50fba204-5f2b... 📰

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