Deval Patrick Archives - Saving Seafood

Massachusetts: Bill would deliver $100M tax credits to port businesses

May 3, 2018 — A bipartisan band of state legislators has filed a bill that could award up to $100 million a year in tax credits to businesses operating within the state’s 10 Designated Port Areas — including Gloucester, Salem and Lynn on the North Shore.

The bill, with state Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr and state Rep. Ann-Margaret Ferrante among the sponsors, would enable the state secretary of Housing and Economic Development to provide up to $100 million annually in targeted tax credits to retail and wholesale “water-dependent businesses” located and operating within DPAs.

Eligible industries include seafood processors, aquaculture, water-dependent science, seafood storage and entities immersed in marine research and innovation.

The bill must pass both houses of the Legislature and be signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker, which could be a tall order in the state’s current budgetary climate.

Baker, as Deval Patrick before him, previously had the power to free up about $7 million from an environmental bond bill to address Gloucester’s crumbling shoreside infrastructure and assist at least 26 businesses in modernizing their facilities by renovating piers, floats and docks.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

Massachusetts: Gov. Charlie Baker approves $30 million for SMAST expansion in New Bedford

October 15, 2015 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Gov. Charlie Baker approved $30 million in state funding Thursday for the long-planned SMAST expansion at the UMass Dartmouth campus in the South End, clearing the way for a groundbreaking ceremony Oct. 23 and spurring excitement from politicians and UMass administrators.

“I’m ecstatic about this,” said state Sen. Mark Montigny, D-New Bedford. “This project is one that, in the past few weeks, I thought we were going to lose.”

Baker’s administration has been scrutinizing proposed bond projects across the state since he took office in January. The administration put a hold about two months ago, Montigny said, on SMAST expansion funding that had been ostensibly secured through a prior agreement with former Gov. Deval Patrick.

Montigny and New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell both said Thursday that they had been pushing hard for several weeks to secure the funding under the Baker administration.

“I’m thrilled that this project is at last going forward,” Mitchell said. “SMAST will continue to be a major counterpoint to federal government-sponsored fisheries research. And in that way, SMAST will continue to help level the playing field for our fishing fleet.

Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times

$113m New Bedford, Mass. marine terminal sits largely idle

August 30, 2015 — The new waterfront terminal in New Bedford was supposed to be teeming with activity by now, a staging ground for a massive wind farm in Nantucket Sound.

But with a cancellation of a lease by Cape Wind, the 28-acre site has instead remained largely idle this summer. Efforts by the quasi-public Massachusetts Clean Energy Center to hire a company to position the property for cargo shipping are also taking longer than anticipated.

The $113 million terminal was built primarily with state bond money under Deval Patrick’s administration as a staging ground to ship and repair heavy offshore wind turbines. The idea, in part, was to enable New Bedford’s struggling economy to capitalize on an emerging industry by creating more clean energy jobs. But without Cape Wind as an anchor, there is no offshore wind work in sight.

To supporters, the terminal is still viewed as a potentially viable, vibrant piece of the city’s waterfront. To critics, the terminal is seen as an unnecessary expense of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds.

For Matthew Beaton, Charlie Baker’s energy and environmental affairs secretary, the real question is how the state can recoup its hefty investment in a mostly dormant terminal.

Read the full story from The Boston Globe