Public comments on the Green Line Extension DEIR due Friday January 8th

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Public comments on the Green Line Extension DEIR due Friday January 8th

Public comments on the Commonwealth's Green Line Extension Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) deadline are due on Friday January 8th at 5 pm. The Green Line Extension DEIR is a far-reaching document that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) was required to create and the state Secretary of Environmental Affairs must approve. If you haven't sent comments yet, please do so. This project should be one which we all can be proud of for the rest of this 21st century. Clean urban transit and associated walk/bike friendly re-development must be a cornerstone of the next 90 years if we are to reverse the environmental damage of the 20th century and nurture communities which provide economic and quality of life opportunities to all of our residents.Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership (STEP) has compiled a list of talking points, available on its website, that address some issues in the DEIR (including weaknesses and omissions):
http://www.somervillestep.org/2009/11/steps_speaking.html

Links to the actual DEIR document (a set of chapters, figures, and appendices in .pdfs) can be found here:
http://www.somervillestep.org/2009/10/state_releases_3.html

Your written comments on the DEIR are crucial, as the Secretary of Environmental Affairs has the authority to require MassDOT to complete this project in the best way for Somerville and Medford.

Send your comments (by email or snail mail) to be received by the end of the day Friday, January 8 to:

Secretary Ian Bowles
Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs
MEPA Office
Attn: Holly Johnson, MEPA Analyst
EEA #13886
100 Cambridge Street, Suite 900
Boston, MA 02114
Fax: 617-626-1181

Email: Holly.S.Johnson@state.ma.us