March 20, 2014 — The Massachusetts Senate's 2015 budget does not include an amendment similar to one slipped into the House of Representatives' version that would kill a proposed oyster farm in Popponesset Bay.
The deadline for amendments to the Senate budget was 3 p.m. Friday.
Mashpee shellfisherman Richard Cook has been locked in a three-year legal battle with nearby homeowners who have called his plans a nuisance and potential safety hazard. Cook has won local and state regulatory approval for his proposed 1.9-acre farm but has been stymied by lawsuits filed by homeowners. At least two suits are pending in the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
Sen. Therese Murray's office confirmed that neither the initial budget nor any of the amendments filed by the deadline would create the "special coastal resource sanctuary" referred to in the House amendment filed by Rep. Michael Costello, a Newburyport Democrat whose district is 100 miles from Mashpee.