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Conservation groups and towns press for binding protections for watershed land in any sale
Summary
Save the Sound and regional councils urged explicit, recorded protections for watershed lands—asking that any class 1/2/3 parcels offered for disposal be first offered to the state, municipalities and local land trusts and that AWA maintain a multi-year conservation funding commitment.
Witnesses from Save the Sound and regional councils urged regulators to require binding protections for watershed lands and to preserve the legacy of public ownership and conservation if the Aquarion sale to a regional authority is approved.
Why it matters: Watershed lands protect drinking-water quality and are central to local conservation and recreation. Witnesses argued that prior board and rate-making discussions do not substitute for recorded protections and asked PURA to adopt measures similar to those the authority required in the NSTAR/Eversource review.
What was requested: - An explicit, recorded obligation that any class 1, class 2 or class 3 lands identified for disposal be offered first to the state, then to the municipality and then to local land trusts as a fee or with a conservation easement. - A request that AWA be directed to maintain the same order-of-priority conservation offer and to adopt a multi-year funding commitment to active conservation at a level equivalent to RWA's historical average (witness cited roughly $1.36 million per year over a prior 22-year period) as a baseline.
Witnesses noted precedent: the authority previously enforced permanent conservation via conditions in a large regional utility merger (NSTAR/Eversource), and they ask for a similar approach here to preserve long-term conservation outcomes.
Applicants and counsel did not oppose producing the authority's 2018 land-use/conservation report as a late-file exhibit; the regulator directed that report be filed and entered into the record to inform further review.
Ending: Save the Sound and municipal witnesses emphasized they are not opposed to consolidation per se, but want clear, recorded protections and funding commitments to ensure continued watershed protection and the ability of municipalities and land trusts to assume stewardship where appropriate.
