Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Environment Plastics topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Templeton advisory committee urges select board to ask legislators to consider House Bill 3701 opposing plastics recycling facility
Summary
The Templeton Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Select Board write to state legislators asking them to consider and support House Bill 3701, which local residents and town meeting speakers said would ban certain plastics manufacturing and address solid and plastic waste disposal concerns.
The Templeton Advisory Committee voted unanimously to recommend that the Select Board write to state Representative Jonathan Zlotnik and state Senator Peter Durant asking them to consider supporting House Bill 3701, a bill members said would address plastics manufacturing and solid-plastics disposal.
The recommendation follows a special town meeting attended by about 400 residents who spoke in opposition to a proposed plastics manufacturing plant planned in or near the town. Committee members said those public comments, and the volume of local concern, motivated the advisory committee’s action.
Mister Moser, a member of the Templeton Advisory Committee, moved the recommendation. “I would move that we vote to recommend to the select board that they write a letter to our representatives… expressing that it is the will of town meeting that we oppose plastics recycling facilities, and we would ask Senator Durant and Representative Zlotnik to consider House Bill 3701 and consider supporting it for passage,” he said during the meeting.
Members discussed the bill’s procedural history in the Massachusetts Legislature. Committee members noted HB3701 had been referred to a study committee during the previous legislative session and that it had picked up multiple cosponsors but not obvious support from House leadership; advisory members said that can limit a bill’s prospects. The committee did not attempt to interpret legislative motives beyond the record of referral to study.
The advisory committee’s motion asked only that the Select Board send a letter to the named legislators reflecting the will expressed at town meeting; it did not request the Select Board take any other action. The committee recorded the motion as approved unanimously.
The Select Board is the next step for the recommendation; the advisory committee does not itself send the legislative letter. The committee’s motion did not change any town policy or create binding obligations for the Select Board.
The committee discussed next steps for tracking the bill and public comment but did not vote additional follow-up actions at the meeting.
