Dec 15, 2017
“This is quite possibly the worst decision ever made on who has access to our public tidelands and waterfront,” said CLF senior counsel Peter Shelley. “And it now sets a precedent for even worse privatization of public tidelands in the future. It comes at a time when the public is justifiably upset that wealthy developers and luxury condominiums are walling off Boston Harbor from the people who paid to clean it up and make it attractive in the first place — the people of Massachusetts.”
Aug 30, 2017
The conversation around public access and rampant development along the Boston Harbor is heating up. But some waterfront properties seem a little confused about the rules for public access – for existing establishments and for the many new projects popping up. Here’s why this matters: Much of the land in the Seaport District is subject… Continue reading Pitch-a-Blanket Day: The Story Behind the #PeoplesHarbor
Jul 14, 2017
This week, the City of Boston proclaimed its dedication to working with developers to create public spaces in the midst of its new construction boom – and ensuring that those spaces are kept public and welcoming. The next day, the Intercontinental Hotel at 500 Atlantic Avenue received a notice from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental… Continue reading Boston: When Public Spaces Aren’t Really Public
May 27, 2017
We are at the dawn of another summertime in the city, and along Boston’s sparkling waterfront, ferries dodge porpoises and sleek boats glide through sparkling water and head for moorings in a harbor that once was — quite literally — an open sewer. If he closes his eyes, Peter Shelley can easily conjure up those… Continue reading It’s a cleaner harbor, with fewer spots to enjoy it
May 08, 2017
Back in February, President Trump issued an executive order requiring government agencies to review and evaluate all existing regulations on the books. This is all in service to an earlier executive order that says federal agencies must axe two regulations for each new one they create. We have an opportunity right now to speak up… Continue reading Tell Scott Pruitt: You Can’t Repeal and Replace Clean Air and Clean Water
Feb 28, 2017
The New Frontier in the Fight to Save Boston Harbor When CLF launched its 1983 lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for dumping toxic sludge and untreated wastewater into Boston Harbor, years of neglect by the federal government, the state, the city, and polluters had turned the harbor into a shameful liability. But over time,… Continue reading Boston Harbor 2.0
Feb 21, 2017
The Conservation Law Foundation, which has fiercely opposed the development, made good on its threat to sue the state to stop developer Jon Cronin’s $260 million project if it received approval from state environmental regulators. The project, proposed on the site of Cronin’s Whiskey Priest and Atlantic Beer Garden restaurants, got the green light from… Continue reading Environmental group files suit to stop Seaport condo tower
Feb 21, 2017
“The Boston waterfront is a public treasure, an engine of tourism and a hub of economic growth, but it all collapses when we neglect our communal right to this resource,” said CLF senior counsel Peter Shelley. “The public has invested well over fifteen billion dollars in the harbor cleanup and waterfront improvements and has a protected privilege to enjoy the benefits of these investments. By approving a luxury residential scheme that essentially privatizes a public resource, the Baker Administration is corrupting a longstanding process designed to protect public interest. The minute we prioritize individual development goals over the public good, we start down a slippery slope that could spell disaster for our communities and our harbor.”
Feb 02, 2017
“The Baker Administration is now fully complicit in Mayor Walsh’s unlawful effort to enrich a favored developer using public resources,” said CLF President Bradley M. Campbell. “CLF will now turn to the courts to enforce well-established law and ask the Attorney General to fulfill her duty to protect the public trust. Meanwhile, the City’s unwillingness to stand up for the true stewards of our waterfront – the people of Massachusetts – will again delay needed improvements to this treasured public resource.”
Dec 08, 2016
The cleanup of Boston Harbor wasn’t Senior Counsel Peter Shelley’s first big case with CLF (as a third-year law student in the late 1970s, he was part of the landmark effort to stop oil and gas drilling on Georges Bank), but it has certainly been the most iconic of his long career with the organization.… Continue reading From the Trenches: Peter Shelley and Boston Harbor
