CAPE COD COMMISSION CAUSED WASTEWATER CRISIS

CAPE COD COMMISSION CAUSED WASTEWATER CRISIS

If one briefly visits the history section of the Cape Cod Commission website, then is quickly learned the CCC emphatically claims that it is the direct successor to the Cape Cod Planning and Economic Development Council (CCPEDC). One then need only go the CCC website area pertaining to the current 208 Water Quality Plan Update process which is presently underway to learn that the CCPEDC conducted a similar update back in 1978…and…that was the last time such a process took place. The problem is that the 208 Water Quality Plan Update is mandated by federal law to be conducted every ten years, NOT every 35 years. Since the CCC itself clearly states in writing that it is the direct successor agency to the CCPEDC, then it was of course the unquestionable legal responsibility of the Cape Cod Commission to conduct a 208 Water Quality Plan Update (as required by federal law) every ten years, which at a minimum means it should at least have been carried out by the CCC in both 1998 and 2008 .
 
The Cape Cod Commission did NOT adhere to its direct responsibility as required by federal regulations. The CCC dropped the ball, and failed us, the residents of Cape Cod. Moreover, because it did not conduct the legally required 208 Water Quality Plan Update during all of those years, then the nitrogen loading problem and wastewater crisis on Cape Cod grew significantly worse. This can lead to only one logical conclusion, the Cape Cod Commission itself is at least partially responsible for creating the dire ecological crisis which we now find ourselves.

The end result of all this is that last year the CCC was awarded a $3.35 million state grant to finally conduct a 208 Water Quality Management Plan Update that they had dragged their feet on for decades. They got millions of dollars for studying and addressing ways to help mitigate the Cape Cod wastewater pollution problem that they are to a large extent directly responsible for causing in the first place! It is nothing short of unbelievable that we are trusting our environmental future to such an irresponsible and perhaps even negligent county government agency like the Cape Cod Commission!