Redemption Fish Closes the Loop

Local startup farm grows fish in a sustainable way

By Shelley A. Sackett, Correspondent

Colin Davis, co-founder of Salem’s Redemption Fish Company, has a history of merging his entrepreneurial spirit and interest in “sustainability” (the intersection of ecology, economics, politics and culture). The 30-year-old Trinity College graduate had already launched two start-ups when he and his roommate (and fellow Redemption Fish co-founder), Andy Davenport, decided it would be fun to raise fish in a sustainable way in the basement of their Cambridge apartment.

Davenport, 27, who met Davis through Craig’s List when seeking a roommate, has a background in biology and chemistry and worked at Biogen. By the time the eviction letter came from their landlord, their “hydrofarm” had over 10,000 trout. “I talked Andy out of his job and into starting a fish farm with me. Basically, this was a hobby that got horribly out of control,” Colin said with a chuckle as he pointed with pride to the 10,000 square feet of space that Redemption Fish Co. now occupies in Shetland Park in the space that housed another seafood farming enterprise in the 1970s.

Owner Andy Davenport goes fishing for some rainbow trout in one of the holding tanks at Redemption Fish Co. at Shetland Park in Salem. Wicked Local Staff Photo / Kirk R. Williamson

Davis and Davenport’s goal is to run their plant like an ecosystem, using the least number of inputs for the maximal output. There is no compost waste. There is little fish waste, and there is little water waste. “We try to close the loop on everything we do,” Davis said.

The basic principle behind what they’re doing is called “aquaponics”, the marriage of aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponics (growing plants in water). Davis’ enthusiasm is palpable as he explains the process in a nutshell:

First, they feed the fish. The fish fertilize the water. That fertilized water gets pumped up to a grow bed of clay balls that biologically filtrate the wastewater through a nitrification process. Then, they grow plants in the grow bed.

Redemption Fish Co. owner Andy Davenport looks over a verbina plant and an orange tree that are being grown hydroponically. Wicked Local Staff Photo / Kirk R. Williamson

Aquaculture currently occupies the majority of floor space. Although there are huge vats growing tilapia, bass, brown trout and experimenting with Atlantic salmon, rainbow trout are the only fish they are currently commercially producing. In the wild, it takes 18 months to two years for a rainbow trout egg to reach “market weight” of one pound. Davis grows them in about 12 months.

A couple of months ago, Redemption Fish Co. started harvesting a few hundred of its first trout eggs and selling them to a handful of restaurants and through Farmers Markets.

The goal is to be producing 1,000 pounds of rainbow trout per week by the end of the summer and to distribute them locally.

“Not shipping them across the country is the way this is better than mass produced trout from one of the three mega farms in this country. We leave a smaller [carbon] footprint,” Davis said.

Owner Andy Davenport holds up a tilapia at Redemption Fish Co. in Salem. Wicked Local Staff Photo / Kirk R. Williamson

Hydroponics, the other part of the aquaponics equation, uses 5% of the amount of water growing plants in soil would, and the plants grow faster. “Growing plants this way actually saves waste water we’d otherwise have to dispose of,” Davis pointed out.

On the day of this visit, one grow bed had a three foot orange tree, tomatoes, lemon verbena and ghost peppers. They just harvested 20 pounds of basil, which Jean Louis Faber, owner of the Jean Louis Pasta Shop on Derby Street, took and turned into pesto. He also bought some of Fish Co.’s rainbow trout to use in his smoked trout ravioli.

“That’s the fun part about local small business. I can just wander in places and say, ‘I think what you’re doing is cool. Can we work together?’” said Davis. “There’s something really neat about being able to grow basil two blocks from where it’s turned into pesto, and the consumer can walk to the store. That doesn’t exist in urban areas in the United States anymore.”

Within five years, Davis estimates Redemption Fish Co. will produce 250,000 pounds of fish and the better part of one million pounds of produce yearly. Future expansion plans include large-scale hydroponic production; he also wants the company to help others start small hydroponic gardens for their own consumption.

Davis points out that it takes three gallons of water to produce one pound of trout and five pounds of vegetables. In dirt, one pound of broccoli alone uses 75 gallons of water, according to Davis. “Nature doesn’t have a concept of waste. We invented waste. Up until man, there was no such thing,” Davis said. “Resources in, resources out, this [aquaponics] is probably the single most efficient way you can possibly grow food for human consumption.”

Davis and Davenport closed their own loop on making their dream a reality through a fluke. Davis’ mother was telling her optometrist about her son’s interest in starting a fish farm. As luck would have it, her optometrist knew Peter Lappin (whose family owns Shetland Park), who had started Sea Plantations in the 1970s to raise fish and seafood for research and commercial consumption. The space was empty and still housed Sea Plantations’ equipment.

Davis got on the phone and called Lappin, who “forced me to read his book (‘Live Holding Systems’)” which chronicles Sea Plantations. Ultimately, Davis and Davenport were able to lease part of the 50,000 former Sea Plantations space from Bruce Poole, one of Lappin’s original partners who runs his environmental services firm in space adjacent to Redemption Fish Co.

“There are not a lot of people trying to start urban fish farms, and not a lot of other convenient things this space could be used for, so we were pretty lucky to run into this,” Davis said.

When Mayor Kim Driscoll (whose favorite fish dish is grilled salmon) recently welcomed Redemption Fish Co. to the Salem business community at a ribbon-cutting ceremony, she emphasized how excited she was that the company uses innovative and sustainable technologies to grow food. “This company’s products will offer a healthy and local option to Salem and the region’s restaurants and food suppliers, providing one more terrific ‘farm to table’ opportunity for customers and diners,” she told the Salem Gazette.

Although finding funding for a sustainable urban farm in a finite space remains Davis’ biggest challenge, he is as optimistic about the company’s future as Mayor Driscoll. “If we worked with every restaurant in Salem, we could feed thousands of people out of a tiny basement a quarter of a mile away,” he mused.

For more information, visit Redemption Fish Company’s facebook site or redemptionfish.com or email info@redemptionfish.com.

Northeast Animal Shelter rescues out-of-state cats and dogs

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

By Shelley A. Sackett

Last week, Old Fella Animal Rescue in Burke County, Georgia sent 39 dogs and eight cats to the Northeastern Animal Shelter on Highland Avenue in Salem. It was their fifth transfer in 2016.

“Georgia has a high kill rate in their shelters. They don’t quite get the spay and neutering part of owning a dog,” said Jane Taubenec, whose job as canine coordinator includes deciding which out of state animals are eligible for transfer to the Salem shelter.

Georgia has no leash or spay-and-neuter laws (except for stray or unwanted animals adopted from a shelter). It is the Northeast Animal Shelter’s biggest source of animals.

The three different Georgia shelters and rescue services Taubenec takes dogs from send her pictures and a short description of prospective adoptees. She then sends them the list of medical and behavioral protocols the animals must meet to be eligible. A lot of them can’t meet those requirements.

Tink, a 1-year-old cat from Georgia, is up for adoption. Wicked Local Staff Photo / Kirk R. Williamson

“We always want healthy, adoptable dogs. Being the size that we are and the number of animals we can handle, we have to be strict about what’s done prior to them coming,” she said. Under the current arrangement, Georgia performs the initial medical work and the Northeast Animal Shelter reimburses them for a portion of it.

“These private rescue groups are like us. For most of them, it’s their own money or their friends pay for it,” said Laurie McCannon, who has worked at the Salem shelter for 25 years and is now its Executive Director.

Laurie

The Salem shelter placed 4,606 dogs and cats out its current space in 2015. With no local, state or federal funding, the shelter depends on private donors who are “looking to save pets.” McCannon estimates it costs between $150 and $200 per pet to pay for a portion of Georgia’s medical expense, transportation, and then follow up medical care in Salem.

Some of the pets arrive healthy and ready to be adopted. Others end up costing the Salem shelter a lot more money. “We don’t want to send people home with problems,” McCannon stressed.

One of the biggest issues is socialization. “Pets being in a shelter — it’s tough on them. Most of them are used to having a family, somebody who’s stable in their lives. They’re natural pack animals. When they don’t have their pack, you can understand why their behavior is tough,” she added.

For example, two dogs from the recent Georgia group will require extensive training before they’re ready for adoption. “They always lived in a group of nine or ten dogs, and now they’ve been taken away from their pack. They’re scared,” she said.

McCannon’s face reflects pride and compassion as she describes the shelter’s programs for animals that need behavior modification training before they are adoptable. “That’s a pretty regular subject around here. ‘What can we do for them?’ They’re here. Let’s help them,” she said.

The Salem shelter works with Loyal Canines of Beverly, a local trainer who takes the pets for a couple of weeks to try to work on specific behaviors. “We’re constantly putting in various programs,” McCannon said. There are volunteers who work with the more difficult pets. There is even a treadmill to help the animals “work off a little steam.”

And there is a doggie bed in each office so staff can either bring their own pet to work or have a shelter pet for company. “We try to keep them social and from getting frustrated and lonely,” she added.

Despite the training and the willingness of adopting pet owners, the match is not always made in heaven and sometimes the adoption just doesn’t work out for a variety of reasons. While there is no guarantee, there are situations where the Northeast Animal Shelter will take the pets back. “Sometimes we don’t have a big history, so we don’t know every situation that an adopter is going to run into,” McCannon said.

At some point, however, McCannon has to draw a line. “When you adopt a pet, it’s your pet. That’s just kind of a reality. You have to commit to them and try to work through things,” she said, emphasizing that that was her personal opinion and not official policy.

After New England’s big push for “spay-neuter” laws in the early 1990s, the Northeast Animal Shelter experienced a diminished list of pets awaiting placement. “It’s not fool proof yet, but we started to see the effects. There are still plenty of issues here, but it isn’t what it once was,” McCannon said.

The shelter took its first out of state group of pets from Nebraska in 1994. In 1995, the first group came from Puerto Rico, “basically street dogs that were rescued by private people.” The program has gone on from there, and expects to place even more pets in 2016 than it did in 2015.

For both Taubenec and McCannon, their greatest satisfaction comes after watching a particularly difficult pet that they have worked with go home with an adoptive owner. “When they finally get adopted, everybody is crying because they’re leaving, but they’re also crying because they’re so happy,” McCannon said.

But the biggest reward? “When the adopters get back in touch with us and tell us how great they’re doing,” she said with a huge smile.

275 Years of the Black Picnic

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

Salem United will focus on voter registration at July 16 event

By Shelley A. Sackett, correspondent

Over a century before the Civil War, Salem was among a handful of Massachusetts towns that allowed enslaved and freed blacks to gather once a year and elect their own Black Governor, who spoke on behalf of all blacks and served as a judge, mediator and liaison.

That day, called “Negro Election Day” in 1741, was the first occurrence of voting rights for blacks in the United States. Now known as the Salem Willows Black Picnic, it will celebrate its 275^th anniversary on Saturday, July 16, and Doreen Wade couldn’t be prouder.

Left to right: Su Almeida, Salem United Treasurer, Doreen Wade, Salem United Founder and President, Mayor Kim Driscoll, Ann Carlson, Salem United Historian

“During this crazy election year, it is especially important to let people know the role Salem played in the black vote and to show everyone the importance of voting,” said the founder of the Salem United Organization, which hosts the event. “Our goal is to bring the day back to its origin and maintain its mission to voter registration and family unity.”

To that end, the event collaborates with the Young Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts for a get out and vote campaign statewide and a day of voter registration. The group will host a voter registration table at the event. Wade said that anyone with a driver’s license or birth certificate would be able to register on the spot at the Salem Willows Black Picnic.

Wade stresses that the day is geared to the entire community, not just its black members. “We want everyone out there to understand the importance of the vote,” she said.

2015 Salem Black Picnic-kers

“With the republicans and Democrats in such disarray, we need to have all voters registered and educated to who they are voting for and what they are voting for,” she added. Salem United will be hosting family oriented vendors, including educational and health groups, as well as speakers to highlight the historical significance of the day.

The Picnic is also a day for family-oriented fun. Since 1885, Salem Willows Park has been the Picnic’s annual location and has always included barbecues, volleyball games, dances and more. This year, the musical entertainment on the Main Stage will feature the Dave Macklin Band, Purpose Music Group, and various other performers. Children ages 5 to 14 can enjoy free face painting, arts and crafts and other hands-on activities.

And, of course, there will be food. “The day is also a day everyone came together and cooked out. There are grills galore and all you smell is barbecue,” Wade said, reminding people that is it fine for them to bring their own grills.

Wade, who is Publisher and CEO of New England Informer dba N.E. Informer Newsmagazine, founded Salem United in 2015 to preserve and restore the Salem Willows Black Picnic. “As we celebrate its history and its 275^th year anniversary, we felt it would be easier if we were a formal organization,” she said.

Organizing the 2016 event, she was impressed with the support from the City of Salem, from Mayor Kim Driscoll’s office to the City officials (many of whom are marching in the parade) and licensing departments. She is disappointed that Massachusetts didn’t embrace and support the July 16 event, but hopes the 2017 Black Picnic may receive more state recognition.

Nonetheless, Wade is upbeat and enthusiastic and steadfast in her commitment to the Black Picnic’s mission. “I hope people take away from this event that their voices are important. A day of unity is healthy and necessary. We can come together as a community,” she said.

CAPTION FOR PHOTO AT TOP: The Black Picnic, which started as “Negro Election Day” in 1741, at its first celebration at Salem Willows in 1885.

For more information, visit http://www.neinformer.net/BlackPicnic.html.

Let the Gaming Begin!

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

Bit Bar Salem: where two bits still buys what it did in 1980

By Shelley A. Sackett, correspondent

You don’t have to have a Ph.D. in economics to realize that 25 cents doesn’t buy what it used to. Armed with a single quarter, you would have to time travel to 1945 to use it to buy a pound of hamburger; to 1960 to buy a gallon of gas; and to 1970 to buy a loaf of bread.

Or, you could just walk into the new Bit Bar Salem arcade-restaurant-bar hybrid at the intersection of St. Peter Street and Bridge Street, plunk your quarter into a vintage Ms. PacMan or Donkey Kong arcade machine, and pretend it was still 1980.

“Yes, it really is a quarter for a game. We say inflation be damned!” Rob Hall, one of the five co-owners said with a chuckle.

Bit Bar co-owner Rob Hall plays his favorite video game, Mortal Kombat. Wicked Local Staff Photo / Kirk R. Williamson

The genesis of Bit Bar was Hall’s interest in classic arcade games (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, etc.) The North Shore native, who graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a concentration in programming and media, set up a Facebook page for people who lived in the Boston area and enjoyed talking about these classic games. He met Joshua Allen, a technician by trade whose hobby is collecting and restoring arcade games, through his page. Andrew Wylie, a vintage shop owner who is plugged into the creative and music community in Greater Boston, joined the group. So did Max Clark, the restaurant manager at Trident Booksellers in Boston. Last, Allen brought in a friend of his, Gideon Coltof, who had just earned an M.B.A. at Babson College and was looking for an interesting project.

The group tossed around the idea of doing “Bit Fests”, pop up arcade events that would take place mostly at breweries. The idea was successful in other areas, but untested locally. “We were always interested in having a permanent location, but even before that, we were thinking it would be fun to do a classic themes festival,” said Hall, who admitted that the idea of moving these 300-lb. machines to temporary locations for a day or two was “a totally crazy idea. Totally insane.”

Coltof thought it was a textbook way to get a feel for the market before taking the brick-and-mortar plunge. “It’s not often you come upon a completely unguarded market like this. There was nothing in the Boston area,” he said, referring to the Bit Fests as “three tons of fun”.

In December 2014, the group did its first pop up event. Over the course of a year, Boston Bit Fest had ten events, but as early as last summer, they started looking to make the brick and mortar a reality. Originally they looked in Cambridge, Somerville, Malden and Boston, but it was hard to find interesting, good space.

One day, Coltof saw a listing for the old Salem jail space that had been home to The Great Escape and most recently, A&B Burgers. Hall had been mentioning Salem as a possible location, but this was the first time a potential listing had caught his eye. “Gideon thought it was funny, like ‘Ha, ha, ha. Look at this, an old jail!’, but I live on the North Shore and had eaten here when it was A&B. I told him it was a great space,” said Hall.

Coltof came to Salem and was blown away. “I tried to get a sense of what Salem was like and I thought, ‘This is really cool. We can really make this work.” They signed the lease and began working on Bit Bar Salem in January.

The 3,000 square foot space features two rooms of classic arcade and pinball machines with total capacity of 106, including seating for 70. The outdoor patio accommodates an additional 60 people. There are 30 machines in the bar area and another 30 in a warehouse in Everett, which they rotate for variety. These are the original games, painstakingly restored, refurbished and spit shined to their original glory. Some of the most popular games are Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and pinball machines Cue Ball Wizard, Hook and Cyclone.

Under Executive Chef Eric Hammer, formerly of Tavern in the Square, the attention-grabbing menu features Walking Tacos (“a tasty, traveling taco minus the mess”), snacks, sandwiches, entrees and sweets. Specialty cocktails are whimsically named “Pooka”, “Dankey Kang” and ”Pinky & Clyde”, among others. Local breweries are featured and Maine Root supplies Fair Trade Certified organically sweetened sodas

Most important to Hall and Coltof is that Bit Bar Salem be as green as possible, leaving the smallest carbon footprint and supporting the local community. “We pay living wages. We recycle our cooking oil into biodiesel fuel. Our meat is from Walden Meats (‘happy cows and chickens’). I want to be sure we are building something we can be proud of,” Coltof said.

Mayor Kim Driscoll is excited to welcome Bit Bar to Salem and to stake her personal arcade turf. “This creative business will add to our downtown’s growing reputation as a hip, vibrant and diverse dining destination. Beyond just the new jobs and economic activity this restaurant will bring, its innovative theme will make a real unique experience, not simply in Salem but for the whole greater Boston area,” she said, adding,” I look forward to setting their high score in Galaga.”

After a “soft opening” in June, the group is looking to tweak a few things before hosting its grand opening. Their biggest issue is managing all three things that Bit Bar Salem is: a classic arcade, a bar and a restaurant. During the day, it is more like a restaurant; at night, it feels like a busy bar. And then there are the 30 arcade games. “Our biggest challenge is how much floor space to devote to tables and how much to games. We are loath to give up a single game in our floor-plan, but if a bussing station has to go somewhere, or a server station is needed to make the flow of the place work ten times better, then we have to do it,” Hall said.

Like Mayor Driscoll, Coltof and Hall each have favorite games. For Coltof, it’s Rolling Thunder, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the pinball game Cyclone. For Hall, it’s more personal.

“Altered Beast”, a fun classic Sega game, is not necessarily the best game ever made, according to Hall. But for him, it is especially fun to play because it is one he helped fix and restore. “Just seeing that come back to life after you think it’s dead and gone is something,” he said.

House of Seven Gables Throws its Founder a 150th Birthday Party

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

New exhibit celebrates Emmerton’s life and legacy

By Shelley A. Sackett

If Caroline Osgood Emmerton, founder of The House of Seven Gables Settlement Association, were to wander into their new exhibit celebrating her 150^th birthday, Special Projects Manager Julie Arrison-Bishop is certain she would be pleased.

“We selected colors that would have been popular in the early 20th century to highlight the images and text selected to tell her story. Using what we have in our archives, we think that we give a look into Miss Emmerton’s life in a way that she would have appreciated,” Arrison-Bishop said.

Throughout 2016, The House of the Seven Gables will be honoring Emmerton, one of Salem’s most prominent citizens, and her 150^th birthday. “Our annual exhibit program is a way for the organization to consistently improve the quality of the visitor experience and to share the many little known stories we have,” she added.

“Caroline Emmerton: An Unbounded Vision,” kicked off the year of planned events on Friday, April 8. The small but splendid exhibit features artifacts from Emmerton’s life, photographs, and richly detailed, easily digested commentaries. Especially charming is a carte de visite, recently discovered among photographs and wallpaper from her Essex Street home, that is believed to portray the young Miss Emmerton and her younger sister, Annie.

Caroline Emmerton oversees a settlement class, c. 1920.

Caroline Emmerton oversees a girls’ needlework class at the Seven Gables Settlement.

It all started with John Turner, a Salem sea captain and merchant who built the house in 1636. Three generations of Turners occupied it until 1782, when Captain Samuel Ingersoll bought it. He died at sea, leaving the property to his daughter Susanna, a cousin of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, whose visits to the house are believed to have inspired the setting of his 1851 novel, “The House of the Seven Gables.”

Emmerton (1866-1942), a philanthropist and preservationist, purchased the “old Turner Mansion” in 1908 with money inherited from her grandfather, maritime trader Captain John Bertram, an immigrant from the United Kingdom. Her mission was to carry on her family’s tradition of endowing and supporting charitable good works.

In 1873, Bertram had donated $25,000 to build Salem Hospital at a time when there were fewer than 200 hospitals nationwide. His generosity eventually funded the Bertram Home for Aged Men, the Salem public library, the Seaman’s widow and Orphan Society, the Family Service Association, and the city’s Public Welfare Society.

Music books and a thimble from a settlement class.

Emmerton was also a product of her times. She lived during The Progressive Era, a period in American life marked by widespread support for social and political reform. The plight of newly arrived immigrants was one of the era’s social concerns.

With the goal of preserving the house for future generations, Emmerton worked with architect Joseph Everett Chandler to restore it to its original seven gables.

She was inspired by Jane Adam’s Hull House, which opened its doors in 1889 in the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, to recently arrived European immigrants. Emmerton wanted to assist immigrant families who were settling in Salem. She envisioned providing educational opportunities for visitors and then using the proceeds from the tours to fund her settlement programs.

Her programs served all ages and were meant to enrich the lives of Salem’s primarily Eastern European community, offering lessons in sewing, crafts, job skills and English. Over time, Emmerton continued to expand and reorganize the compound, eventually moving four colonial-era buildings to the site. To her, exposure to historic environments and stories was a perfect way for new immigrants to absorb democratic values and practices.

Caroline and her sister, Annie, Emmerton

A carte de visite believed to portray the young Caroline Emmerton and her younger sister, Annie.

To honor this legacy, The House of the Seven Gables has partnered with Salem Parks, Recreations and Community Services to offer enrichment programs on the historic museum campus throughout 2016.

Because Emmerton did not leave much behind in terms of private correspondence and photographs, shaping this exhibit was challenging. Arrison-Bishop and her committee of volunteers had to look beyond the personal items historians normally use to share a story.

“Our biographical look at Caroline Emmerton was a wonderful opportunity to work with a group of historians who were interested in telling not only the story of Caroline Emmerton, but also what influenced her. Emmerton was an early leader in the field of historic preservation, and she used her knowledge and means to save a number of Salem’s most influential buildings — some of which are on our National Historic Landmark Campus,” Arrison-Bishop said.

While there are many lessons to be learned from Emmerton’s work that shaped her community and provided educational opportunities to those who needed them most, Arrison-Bishop hopes exhibit goers will pay particular attention to the broader nuances of history.

“One of the threads that we found both in Miss Emmerton’s biography and the background of the Progressive Era was a series of language — much of it politically charged — that shows how history continues to repeat itself,” she said.

Everyone is encouraged to attend the April 23^rd “Caroline’s Community: A Celebration for All”, with $1.50 tours, cake cutting, dance performances, music and Living History Labs. Emmerton historian and Lynn resident, Irene Alexrod, will perform biographical sketches of her life throughout the day. “We hope that the public sees how Miss Emmerton used her influence and means to support her community,” Arrison-Bishop said.

For a full list of commemorative events, lectures and activities, go to 7gables.org.

RESCUES Manual for Commercial Fishing Industry Unveiled

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

Compilation of best practices for fishermen, families and communities

By Shelley A. Sackett

Over fifty people packed the standing room only Gloucester Coast Guard Station last Thursday for the unveiling of RESCUES, the long awaited first-ever comprehensive guidebook on dealing with a crisis in a fishing community.

“This is an exciting day, but it is also a sad day,” said Angela Sanfilippo, the President of both the Gloucester’s Wives Association and the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership, who also served as master of ceremonies. As a fisherman’s daughter, wife and mother, she has first hand experience of the pain and trauma suffered by families and communities when a fisherman is lost at sea.

She told the story of the night of the 1992 “perfect storm” when she and many others slept at the Gloucester Coast Guard Station. “The captain said, ‘We need to start training fishermen in how to save themselves,’” she recalled. That planted the seed that would eventually grow into the RESCUES manual.

Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken addresses the group as Angela Sanfilippo looks on.

The acronym stands for Responding to Emergencies at Sea and to Communities Under Extreme Stress.

“We all get numb to the dangers of the fishing industry, but there are widow’s walks and porches named for families who paced, hoping their men would come home,” said J.J. Bartlett, President of Fishing Partnership Support Services. He said that if public school teachers died at the same rate as fishermen on the job, over 400 teachers would die of work-related injuries each year.

“The idea is that, when a crisis occurs, folks in our fishing ports will be able to consult this manual and know right away how the Coast Guard and other authorities are responding, and where to turn for reliable help and support,” Barlett added.

Gloucester Mayor Sefatia Romeo Theken spoke of her own family tragedies over fishing accidents and their aftermath. “You can take the fisherman out of the ocean but you can’t take the ocean out of the fisherman,” she said. “We’re fortunate in Gloucester because we have a team in place to put this kind of book together so now you know where to go” for help, she added, noting that although there is no safety book that will prevent loss of life at sea, “this book can help.”

The Mayor praised the Coast Guard. “They risk their lives for the sake of the fishermen,” she said. Captain Robert Lepere, commanding officer of the Gloucester Coast Guard Station for the past three years, returned the compliment. “I’ve been in the Coast Guard for 20 years, and never have I seen a community pull together like this,” he said. Captain Claudia C. Geltzer, commanding officer of the Boston Coast Guard Station and Captain of the Port of Boston, praised RESCUES as a very important milestone. “This manual will make any fisherman who reads it better prepared at sea,” she said. “In the heat of a crisis, we all revert back to our training.”

Madeline Hall-Arber

Madeline Hall-Arber, an anthropologist at the Sea Grant College program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Ann Backus, of the Harvard University School of Public Health, were the principal investigators on the lengthy project that produced RESCUES. They interviewed fishing community leaders, Coast Guard personnel, fishing vessel safety trainers, clergy, social service agencies, fishermen and their families, business owners, insurance companies and attorneys. Kristina Pinto of the Fishing Partnership Support Services is the third co-author.

Hall-Arber described how she first became interested in undertaking the RESCUES project. “I met a fisherman who didn’t know how to swim. ‘Why prolong the agony?’” he asked. She remembered thinking it might be an interesting research project to find out what fishing industry standard best practices were before an accident, at sea and if disaster occurred. “People in the industry were astoundingly enthusiastic,” she said.

The RESCUES manual focuses on what interviewees shared as being critical to know before, during and after an incident. It contains a wealth of material, including contacts for services in Gloucester and New Bedford.

Its five main sections focus on essential information to help prepare individuals, groups and entire communities for a crisis affecting members of the commercial fishing industry, such as the sinking of a boat or the search for crew members lost overboard at sea.

I wanted people to be able to skim the manual, get useful information, and then go back,” Hall-Arber said.

For example, chapter 1, “Integrative Preparedness” (before leaving the dock) includes an easy-to-follow checklist of essential safety training and communication plans for the vessel owner, crew and families. “Emergency” explains what the Coast Guard does during an emergency and outlines communication chains of command. “The Aftermath” and “Longer-Term Outreach and Counseling” addresses situations after a loss is confirmed. Appendices incorporate maintenance checklists, Coast Guard contact information, community crisis support organizations and useful websites.

One of the surprising facts Hall-Arber learned was that many family members didn’t know which boat their loved one was on or what kind of fishing he might be doing that day. Backus, whose expertise is in occupational safety and health in the fishing industry, likewise discovered that vessel captains usually didn’t know about crewmembers’ medical histories or their contact information. She and Sanfilippo have since developed and distributed scores of refrigerator magnets for fishermen’s families to keep handy with information that the Coast Guard would need in an emergency. “Families should know where important documents are,” Backus said.

Paul Vitale, 43, a fisherman who has lived in Gloucester his whole life, thinks some of these common sense suggestions will be extremely helpful. “Lots of time people don’t know which boat they’ll be on. Not everyone owns their own boat,” he explained.

Fishermens wives Statue

Sanfilippo, who was instrumental in bringing to fruition the decades-long dream of Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association to create a Fishermen’s Wives Memorial, is equally determined to bring RESCUES beyond Boston, the South Shore and Cape Cod. “We will be bringing this up and down the entire coastline. Today we open that road,” she said to resounding applause.

Come to Salem, see the world.

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

Salem Film Fest founders celebrate film and filmmakers

What do local filmmaker, Joe Cultrera, businessman, Paul Van Ness, and Salem Chamber of Commerce Executive Director, Rinus Oosthoek have in common?

The answer goes back to 2007, when the three founded Salem Film Fest (SFF), the week-long festival that sustains cinephiles each March through the long, bleak slog of New England winter. The largest all-documentary film festival in New England, SFF 2016 will run March 3-10.

It all started in 2006, when Van Ness opened CinemaSalem. He has run Van Ness Creative, a film/video production company in Beverly for 30 years, and has always been interested in filmmaking. “That is what made running the movie theater interesting to me,” he said. (His 2012 documentary feature, “A Good Death”, won Best Documentary at the California Oceanside Film Festival.)

Rinus Oosthoek (left) and Paul Van Ness with Salem Film Fest programs and posters.

Oosthoek, who met Van Ness in 2003 when he worked with Beverly Main Streets, was one of the first to approach him with the suggestion of putting together a film festival. Van Ness was receptive. “The idea of a festival was part of what can make a cinema successful,” he said. Plus, he wanted the opportunity to bring some movies to Salem that could literally not be seen anyplace else in the world, which “helps the cinema and the local culture.”

Cultrera, a documentary filmmaker who shifts between his own productions and freelance editing work, met Van Ness when CinemaSalem hosted the New England Premiere of his film, “Hand of God”, prior to its acquisition by FRONTLINE, the PBS documentary series. He heard Van Ness and some other folks from Salem were interested in starting a film festival and he agreed to meet with them.

“I’d just come off the festival circuit [with “Hand of God”] and had some strong opinions,” he said. One of them was that SFF should be an all-documentary film fest, which Van Ness described as a “brilliant move” both because it meant SFF would be competing with fewer festivals to attract films and because documentaries are intrinsically more interesting. “You can experience the human family all over the world in a 90-minute film and you know it’s completely true,” he added.

Also, Cultrera pointed out, there were no other significant documentary film festivals in Massachusetts in 2006, so the group had the opportunity to build something unique.

With the three basics in place — venue (through Van Ness), business community involvement (through Oosthoek) and industry and programming connections (through Cultrera) —Salem Film Fest was born in 2007. “That’s about as fast as a festival can be put together once you have a venue,” Van Ness said.

The first year was more successful than anticipated, owing in part, according to Van Ness, to the fact that Cultrera, as Program Director, insisted on screening only very high quality films that were not simply advocacy pieces for the director’s point of view. “We’ve always looked for good storytelling, strong technical aspects, compelling characters and inventive techniques. We want films that present both sides of a story, particularly if it’s a political story,” Cultrera said.

As an “invitation only” festival, the Screening Committee invites filmmakers to submit their films for consideration. Jeff Schmidt, who took over as Program Director in 2013, started searching for films last June. For 2016, the committee invited about 200 filmmakers to submit their work for consideration and collectively considered over 150 films. After a democratic process where members discussed and then voted on each film, the committee selected this year’s line-up of 35 feature documentaries representing 25 countries.

From the get-go, SFF distinguished itself as unique in its focus on the filmmaker. “To us, the filmmakers are the heroes in the industry. They come up with the story,” Van Ness said.

“We get over half the filmmakers to come to Salem, which is another thing that makes this festival so special,” said Oosthoek, noting that this tradition developed accidentally the first year, when most of the filmmakers who attended were local. This year, over two-thirds of the filmmakers will attend, thanks to SFF volunteers who help with traveling logistics and business sponsors’ donations.

Post-screening Q&A sessions make the festival experience richer for filmgoers and filmmakers alike. Van Ness notes that a filmmaker whose film is both good and topical may be invited to 20 festivals. “What people say is that the Q&A afterwards tends to be the same except in Salem, where the sophistication of the audience leads the questions in much more interesting directions than you typically hear,” he said.

Since 2007, SFF has grown from the “little festival that can” in Salem to a major regional documentary festival. Oosthoek points to three reasons why, first and most important being the quality of the films. “There is a ‘Salem identity’. The filmmakers love coming here,” he said. The festival’s reputation has grown beyond the North Shore, attracting fans from Newburyport, Gloucester, Ipswich and as far away as South Carolina and Minnesota.

Second is the educational component, including partnerships with local high schools, colleges and universities, and the opportunity for student and local filmmakers to showcase their documentary short and experimental films in festival programming such as the Five-Minute Student Documentary Contest and the Mass Reality Check. Also, a selected group of local documentarians receive project assistance when they present their in-progress works to industry representatives at the Doc-a-chusetts Pitch session, with the winner receiving a $5,000 production grant for finishing services provided by The OutPost at WGBH.

Last but hardly least, Oosthoek credits the local business community for its commitment and involvement. “They understand it’s good for their regional market,” he said. Where most festivals charge filmmakers a non-refundable fee to submit their work (with no guarantee of acceptance), SFF actually offers every filmmaker a screening fee, free lodging and, in some cases, a travel stipend thanks to local and regional community sponsors and supporters.

Over the years, SFF has also strengthened and expanded its relationship with the Peabody Essex Museum, adding more screenings and connected programming there. “This has really brought an extra dimension to the event and allowed us to show more work,” Cultrera said. Another SFF venue, the Salem National Park Service Visitor Center, will host four screenings this year.

In addition to its liaison with broadcasters like FRONTLINE, SFF has tried to “add new wrinkles each year to keep things fresh,” Cultrera noted, adding that having live music on stage between films is a good way to add a little life to the moments before a screening and expose the audience to local musicians. Another “wrinkle” is “Salem Sketches”, a handful of locally shot two-minute documentaries Cultrera creates with fellow filmmaker Perry Hallinan. “We’re one of the few festivals that can claim to have our own original programming,” Cultrera said.

“Come to Salem, see the world” has been the SFF catch phrase since its inception, both as an homage to the old Salem merchant ships that established trade with the rest of the world and in tribute to the films from dozens of countries the festival has screened over the past nine years. “The festival’s strength has always been its programming and community feel, but the scope of our programming reaches far beyond the local,” Cultrera said.

For more information, visit salemfilmfest.com

Scores Brave the Storm to “Ask a Muslim Anything”

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

Heavy rains and winds did not douse the interest of over 125 people who braved the elements last Sunday for the opportunity to ask Arab-American Muslim Robert Azzi, a longtime photojournalist, newspaper columnist and former Middle East advisor to Phillips Exeter Academy, “anything.”

The event, hosted by the First Church in Salem, a Unitarian Universalist church, is the kickoff in a series of events the church is sponsoring to foster interfaith dialogue and engagement.

“We are at a crucial time in modern U.S. history as far as understanding other faiths — especially Islam,” said Rev. Jeffrey Barz-Snell, a pastor at the church. “It is crucial that we develop some rudimentary understanding about different faiths.”

Barz-Snell admitted that the title of the question and answer session — “Ask A Muslim Anything” — was deliberately provocative to “invite questions and produce dialogue.” And for over an hour and a half, the crowd of mostly non-church members complied, asking about everything from why women wear hijabs (head scarves) to the origin of violent jihad.

Two young Muslim women, Zoha Qumar, a Columbia University student and Phillips Exeter graduate, and Tan Nazer, a Saudi Arabian senior at Phillips Exeter, accompanied Azzi and were available to answer questions. Neither wore a hijab.

Phillips Exeter senior Tan Nazer (left) and Columbia University student Zoha Qumar answered questions from the audience.

The first question, asking about the distinctions between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, drew a chuckle from Azzi, who joked, “I love it when we start a forum with a softball.”

Salem resident, Jeff Cohen, asked Azzi whether it is difficult to encourage children to continue to wear traditional clothing in the current American climate of Islamaphobia. “It should break our collective heart that women are shedding the head scarf because of intimidation.” Azzi said.

He later noted, however, that a lot of women here and abroad are covered not by preference, but because their families and, in the case of patriarchal Saudi Arabia, where men are in control, their governments impose it. “This is wrong. It should be a personal choice,” he said, adding that the definition of modesty in Saudi Arabia has changed in an oppressive way that burdens women.

The questions turned to contemporary American life when Nat Carpenter of Beverly asked how an observant Muslim, who desires to pray to Mecca during the day, can also work in an environment that might not accommodate that desire, as recently happened to a group of Somali workers who wanted to convene for prayer during their work shift in Colorado.

“I don’t see a reason why employers couldn’t make accommodations for workers to exercise religious rights and freedoms during lunch or coffee breaks as they would for any other American,” Azzi said.

Over 125 people showed up last Sunday at First Church in Salem to ask Arab American Muslim Robert Azzi “anything.”

Perhaps the most pointed question of the forum, and the one on many people’s minds judging from the nodding heads in the audience, was asked by Paul Marquis of Salem.

“Does the Quran (the principal religious text of Islam) advocate violent jihad?” he asked.

“There are a lot of Muslims who misunderstand jihad,” Azzi said. “Those who believe in violent jihad have not read the Quran with an open heart.”

Azzi suggested several times throughout the Q&A session that poor, illiterate Muslims are recruited by political factions, like ISIS and the Taliban, that distort religion in order to gain a military and economic foothold. “Who is it that profits from this kind of rhetoric? We can’t yield the playing field,” he warned.

On the domestic front, Azzi described recent one-on-one conversations he had with several Republican presidential candidates, including Jeb Bush, who has advocated bombing and putting American boots on the ground to defeat ISIS. Azzi said the American obsession with ISIS could be traced to the fact that we did not get the success we wanted after 9/11 when we invaded Iraq.

“ISIS is a cancer. We have elevated them way out of proportion in terms of their capability, threat and theology. We love to have villains,” he said, adding, “We have never come to terms with having Muslims in our midst in this country.”

Azzi’s comments about mainstream American press and the role it plays fanning the flames of anti-Muslim rhetoric met with loud applause. “Radical Islamic terrorism sells,” he said. He then challenged the audience to turn away from Yahoo, the New York Times, NPR and other Western media sources and read the English Al Jazeera instead. “Take a look at the world the way the rest of the world sees it.”

He believes that it is possible to put a “stake through the heart” of the religious debate that polarizes people in this country.

“There is common ground. The question is how many people are willing to challenge the orthodoxies of their religion to get back to the scripture and look at the similarities in messages among all religions,” Azzi said, citing the prophetic traditions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, which all have a version of the “golden rule.”

Asked what questions he wishes he had been asked, Azzi said that he would have liked to talk more about the connections between faith traditions and also the history of Islam in America going back to the days of slavery. Nonetheless, he was pleasantly surprised by how knowledgeable and interested the questioners were — and how respectful everyone was.

“I believe that as long as people keep talking to each other — to host forums where opinions and information can be exchanged with respect for each other — then there is hope,” he said.

Pictured at top: Robert Azzi, an Arab-American Muslim, answered questions at the First Church in Salem’s forum, “Ask a Muslim Anything.”

For more information about future programs, go to firstchurchinsalem.org or call 978-744-1551.

Math Common Core : Friend or Foe?

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

Although Common Core State Standards were adopted in Massachusetts in 2010, the topic is still a lightening rod for impassioned critique and opinion. There is even an initiative, “End Common Core MA”, to place the increasingly controversial academic benchmarks on the 2016 state ballot, the first time voters would decide whether to keep the K-12 math and reading standards.

But for the parents of a young child who is learning math in a way that bears little resemblance to the way they were taught, there is a pressing issue that is more personal than political: how do I help my child with his math homework when I don’t understand it myself?

What exactly are math teachers teaching these children and how is it so different from how their parents were taught the same subject in the past?

In a nutshell, Common Core Standards for Mathematics emphasize the importance of building conceptual understanding before requiring students to memorize facts. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for parents is the fact that Common Core Standards have also replaced much of the language they learned to describe mathematical functions with new words. Instead of “reducing” fractions, students now “simplify.” Instead of “borrowing” or “carrying”, students now “regroup” or “trade.” Doing calculations in one’s head is encouraged; spitting out the right answer without being to explain how you got it is not.

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Pamela Halpern, Associate Professor at Salem State University in the Education Department, teaches math methods courses to students who will become elementary and middle school teachers. In the past, students learned in a directed, structured, “here’s what you do, here’s how you do it, here’s an example, now go do it” way. “We weren’t ever taught why we were doing what we were doing and what it meant,” Halpern said, adding, “Neither teacher nor student knew or cared what it meant as long as we got the right answer.”

While she is a proponent of Common Core Standards, she emphasizes to her classes that it is part of their ongoing responsibility to help parents understand how the standards translate into the day to day math work their children do at school.

“We in education do a disservice to parents and to ourselves by not letting parents in and educating them as to what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and then actually having them do some of the work that their children are doing in class. We need to explain why we’re teaching what we’re teaching,” she said.

These days, there is a lot more talking during math classes because Common Core emphasizes that students actually understand the problem and persevere in solving it. They are encouraged to be curious, to have a variety of ways to solve each problem, and to be able to justify their arguments and critique the reasoning of others. “Math is about more than calculating. There are so many different ways to solve a problem and think about it, and so when students share their thinking, it opens up new ways of thinking for all students,” Halpern said.

Arthur Unobskey, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction for Gloucester Public Schools, believes that Common Core math standards are a step in the right direction. “We need to teach differently in order to build an understanding of relationships that force students to connect different ideas they have learned, rather than just solve the problem. Our kids have not been able to compete with kids from other parts of the world because we don’t understand what is going on in a mathematics problem; we don’t understand how to apply our skills to new situations,” he said.

Unobskey admits it is an ongoing challenge to help parents understand the new ways math is being taught. Principals and teachers take time to explain the curriculum at school functions, such as Meet the Teacher nights, and teachers discuss it in newsletters, parent conferences and letters sent home. Marguerite Ruiz, Superintendent of Salem Public Schools, said that her district focuses its efforts at the school level through Math Nights and Open Houses. Salem has also invested in Math Coaches, teachers who have expertise and often certification in math, to plan these events and to serve as leaders and coaches of teachers at schools.

According to Halpern, this may not be enough. She tells her students that parent math nights are essential and should be held at least once every quarter. “Parents don’t know. I think if we clued them in, they’d be on board with the way we’re teaching things. We can’t expect them to know how to do it if they’ve never seen it before,” she said.

Bookcover

Christen Nine, a Gordon College alumna and high school math teacher, believes all parents want to and should feel confident in their ability to interact with elementary children’s homework. While there are plenty of resources for teachers, she felt they lacked the clear, practical examples that parents care about. To fill their need for a politically neutral, educationally practical guide, she recently published a book titled, “A Parent’s Survival Guide to Common Core Math: Grades K-5”.

“The goal of this project was to provide a resource that would bridge the gap between the older teaching methodologies and the newer ones. That gap is much easier to fill than parents might think, and just as a good math teacher aims to reduce math anxiety in their students to promote quality learning, this book aims to alleviate confusion and frustration related to Common Core Standards in order to build up parents’ confidence to be informed advocates in their child’s math education,” Nine said.

The Common Core Standards have fans among most educators and administrators. “Anything that increases the rigor of instruction for children I am always going to be in favor of,” said Ruiz, noting that the bigger challenge in her district is building the capacity of teachers to be able to teach to that level. “Teachers need to be really knowledgeable and thoughtful about their implementation of these standards,” she said.

Unobskey, who holds a doctorate in math education, is a strong advocate for Common Core standards. “As it is implemented more and more effectively, students will uncover connections that show how math describes the world, and they will become more motivated to learn, and less afraid of math. Ultimately, our nation’s lack of comfort with math, I believe, is what holds our children back,” he said.

So why are citizen groups like “End Common Core MA” trying to do away with something that professional educators support?

“There is a lot of misinformation out there,” said Nine. “Maybe we didn’t do a good PR job for Common Core Standards.” She lamented the fact that “End Common Core MA” and groups like it either intentionally or unintentionally spread this misinformation. “It concerns me, as an educator, that decisions could be made from someone’s blog post or the most recent viral photo that’s going around Facebook,” she said.

For information about Common Core Standards, go to corestandards.org. To order Nine’s book, go to amazon.com.

Spotlight on the Massachusetts Solar Industry

Posted by Shelley A. Sackett

By Shelley A. Sackett

If it seems that solar panels are suddenly appearing in greater numbers than ever before, it’s because they are.

“We’re definitely seeing a lot more activity,” said Tom Dowd, who has owned North Shore Solar and Wind Power in Beverly for nine years, installing commercial and residential wind systems.

These immediately recognizable rooftop systems harness the sun’s energy and produce electricity. They enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating global warming, and keep fossil fuel prices lower, according to the International Energy Agency.

They also have a more immediate, less altruistic purpose: they save the average homeowner money.

“What’s really helping are the renewable energy credits,” Dowd said, noting that the average system can be paid off in five to six years. “When you look to sell your house and you have a solar system already installed, the person buying your house gets a free solar system and lower electric bills. That’s a real benefit for the homeowner.”

The typical Massachusetts household paid $875 for electricity last year, according to the Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs. EnergySage, the Massachusetts-based online marketplace, estimates that homeowners whose monthly electric bill is $100 and who purchase and install a rooftop solar system would save almost $36,000 over the next 20 years. Furthermore, the cost of installing a system, after tax credits, rebates and incentives, has dropped 30 percent since 2009.

There are three routes available to consumers wanting to go solar: purchasing panels, leasing the panels and, where available, contracting with a solar farm in your area to buy solar electricity at a discounted rate.

To buy and install the panels for a 5.13-kilowatt-per-hour system, the average household need, costs between $18,000 and $25,000 according to Vikram Aggarwal, EnergySage’s founder and chief executive. After all the current tax credits and rebates, the net cost is closer to $14,000 for a system that will last from 20 to 30 years and pay for itself in fewer than ten years.

In the alternative, for a monthly fee and agreement to a long-term contract, consumers who can’t or don’t wish to make that kind of up front financial investment can lease a solar system from a solar company that will install the panels at no cost and maintain them in return for ownership of the panels and the accompanying tax credits and rebates. The homeowner gets to use the electricity the solar panels produce.

Even apartment and condo dwellers can get in on the solar action by finding a solar electric company that participates in community solar programs. Some municipalities have programs to help their residents. The City of Salem, for example, recently selected ConEdison Solutions as the electricity supplier for its Salem PowerChoice program, its municipal electricity aggregation program that will provide Salem residents and businesses with a cost-effective, transparent electricity supply alternative to National Grid. Ipswich Electric Co., a municipal power plant, has been trying to locate a piece of property where the town could build its own community solar system. The town is also considering contracting with someone to build the solar facility and make it available to the Ipswich community, according to Donald Newell, Ipswich Electric Light Manager.

Massachusetts is a shining star in the national renewable energy arena. In 2014, the state ranked fourth of the top ten solar states in the country. There are currently more than 391 solar companies at work throughout Massachusetts, employing over 9,400 people, according to Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA). In 2014 alone, $791 million was invested on solar installations in the Commonwealth, an increase of one percent over 2013. There is currently enough solar energy installed in the state to power 140,000 homes.

So why haven’t all homeowners and all municipalities jumped on the solar bandwagon? The answer is complicated and, according to some, political.

Governmental support of solar energy started in earnest in 2005, when the United States established a 30 percent federal tax credit for residential solar-electric installation expenses. In 2008, Massachusetts enacted the Green Communities Act, a cutting-edge legislation intended to make the state a national leader in clean energy technology by boosting energy efficiency and encouraging investment in renewable energy.

Among the incentives Massachusetts mandated were solar tax credits, net metering and solar renewable energy certificates (SRECS), all meant to entice consumers and utility companies to embrace renewable energy. Net metering is the practice of selling the excess solar energy a homeowner generates back to the electric grid for credit on a future electric bill, the biggest long range financial incentive for installing residential solar panels. SRECs are certificates homeowners earn and can sell every time they generate solar energy. Because utilities are mandated to derive a percentage of their electricity from solar and other renewable sources, utilities buy SRECs to fulfill this legal requirement.

In essence, when the sun shines and your solar panels produce more electricity than you consume, you are literally able to save for a rainy (or snowy or cloudy) day.

The 2008 law set a statewide goal to generate 400MW of solar generated electricity by 2017. Massachusetts surpassed that goal four years early, in 2013 and the legislature set a new goal of 1.6GW by 2020. Because solar energy is so popular in Massachusetts, net metering caps do not align with these goals, and the legislature has had to act three more times to raise the net metering caps so that consumers can count on the utilities having to buy back their excess solar-produced electricity. In some utility areas, the 2020 caps are expected to be reached by 2015, according to SEIA.

The problem with this seemingly perfect green scenario is that the federal tax credit is set to expire December 31, 2016 and the future of the state’s net metering policy is anything but settled as the House and Senate lawmakers toil to update the state’s energy laws this session.

Last August, the House passed Governor Baker’s proposed H.B. 3724 (“An Act Relative to a Long-term, Sustainable Solar Industry”), which looks to lift and expand the cap on solar net metering and protect ratepayers, and provide long-term stability to the solar industry. The bill immediately expands the net metering cap by 40 percent for public entities and 50 percent for private entities and empowers the Department of Public Utilities to further raise the cap “when it is in the public interest to do so.”

The biggest boon for those trying to plan for long range projects is the grandfathering of all solar generators already receiving net metering credit for the next twenty years.

The bill now sits in the Joint Committee on Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy, which continues to hear testimony from scores of witnesses on all sides of the issue, from National Grid to Massachusetts Taxpayers Foundation and dozens of renewable energy proponents. Mass Power Forward, a brand-new statewide coalition dedicated to fighting for a just transition to clean energy, advocates modernizing the power grid and empowering “everyday people” to access locally generated power. Among its 90 members are HealthLink, Ipswich Watershed Association, ICARE, GASSP and other local groups.

While House leaders have said they are holding out hope of completing a more comprehensive energy bill before the end of November, most observers are skeptical that will happen.

This uncertainty impacts everyone, from energy consulting firms trying to plan large-scale projects to municipal electric utilities, to large investor-owned utilities, solar panel installers and, of course, the consumer.

According to Donald E. Bowen and Richard E. Waitt, Jr., principals of Beverly’s Meridian Associates, settling the net-metering issue will open the floodgates on large-scale, free-standing solar projects. “There are projects being permitted all over the place. We’ve probably done 900-1,000 MWs of solar projects in Massachusetts. Next year will be the biggest year of all time,” said Waitt.

That the legislature is taking so long to pass a long term energy bill is particularly irritating to Waitt. “I suspect they’re trying to work on a bill that will have some legs and last for a while. This is very disruptive to the solar industry. It is very expensive to get these projects permitted, only to find out you can’t get them built,” he added.

Waitt suspects the power companies have too much say in the matter, needlessly rendering the process political. “In my world, what’s best for the environment, the economy, the country and the world is to put up solar everywhere and stop trying to be political about it,” he said with frustration.

Meridian Associates offers civil engineering, landscape architecture and renewable and sustainability consulting services, and has worked on renewable energy projects in 213 of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. The company was recognized as Greater Boston’s 2012 Small Business of the Year, in part in recognition of “the sustainable practices that we undertake internally and our advocacy for the fight against climate change and the development of large scale renewable energy,” according to Bowen.

The company’s completed renewable energy projects, along with projects currently in the feasibility, design, or construction phase, represent over 75’s of solar power throughout Massachusetts.

Although in his professional life he deals in large-scale projects, Bowen has been a small-scale consumer of solar energy for decades. “I was the first applicant under the buy-back program in Ipswich to file an application for and install a 3 kilowatt system on my home when I lived in Ipswich,” Bowen said, noting that as early as 2009, he was charging his plug-in electric Prius with solar power.

However, when he and his wife Amy wanted to build a net-zero home, they chose Hamilton, which is serviced by National Grid, rather than Ipswich, which has a municipal electric light plant. (A net-zero home produces on site all the renewable energy it consumes.] Bowen chose Hamilton despite the fact that he found dealing with National Grid far more cumbersome and painful than dealing with municipalities. “The opportunity to go net zero or even net surplus in Ipswich was not something that they looked favorably upon,” Bowen said.

The reason goes back to the 2008 Green Communities Act, which did not require that municipal lighting plants contribute to the Massachusetts Renewable Energy Trust. The Trust funds MassCEC grant programs, rebates and other incentives. Because those financial incentives have been available historically to only those communities that contribute to the Trust, residents of towns that chose not to contribute do not qualify to receive the same benefits if they install solar panels as do residents of communities that are served by investor-owned utilities (like Western Massachusetts Electric Company, National Grid or Northeast Utilities) that do contribute to the trust.

Ipswich opted out of contributing to the Trust.

Regionally, the following cities and town are serviced by municipal lighting plants according to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center: Groveland, Georgetown, Rowley, Middleton, Danvers, Peabody, Lynnfield, Wakefield, Reading, North Reading, Wilmington, Marblehead and Merrimac.

Although Ipswich chose not to participate in the Trust, it does have its own net metering program. According to Ipswich Electric Co. Manager, Newell, the biggest challenge going forward with promoting renewable energy is making up for the lost revenue to the town when residents with solar energy reduce their kilowatt-hour sales by using net metering.

“We need to find a mechanism for making up the portion of revenue that is associated with fixed operating costs,” Newell explained. At the moment, one such possible mechanism is a “Net Metering Recovery Surcharge” which would charge a solar producer a surcharge for their share of the fixed costs involved in operating Ipswich’s network regardless of kilowatt-hour production. “We’re trying to make sure we’re not having customers that don’t have solar subsidizing those who do for some of the costs that they still bring to our system,” he added.

Many of the region’s solar panel installers say that they are busier than ever and that customers seem unaware or unbothered by the fact the state legislature is behind schedule in setting a long-term energy policy.

Nonetheless, Waitt is worried about the energy bill pending in the legislature and the influence the investor-owned utilities may have. “What will happen if we get squeezed again? There are thousands of people in Massachusetts working in the solar industry. Right now we’re one of the top states in the entire country and we just have to find a way to keep it there,” he said.

For more information, go to: malegislature.gov/Bills/189/House/H3724; seia.org; energysage.com/seia; iea.org.]

MORE INFORMATION

Federal Tax Credit

The federal Residential Renewable Energy Tax Credit is a personal tax credit of 30 percent of qualified expenditures for a system that serves a dwelling located anywhere in the United States. The credit expires on December 31, 2016.

There is no maximum credit for systems placed in service after 2008 and the home served by the system does not have to be the taxpayer’s principal residence.

Allowable expenditures include labor costs for on-site preparation, assembly or original system installation, and for piping or wiring to interconnect a system to the home. If the federal tax credit exceeds tax liability, the excess amount may be carried forward to the succeeding taxable year until 2016.

For more information, go to www.energystar.gov/taxcredits

Electricity in a Nutshell

Watts are a measurement of power, describing the rate at which electricity is being used at a specific moment. For example, a 15-watt LED light bulb draws 15 watts of electricity at any moment when turned on.

Watt-hours are a measurement of energy, describing the total amount of electricity used over time. Watt-hours are a combination of how fast the electricity is used (watts) and the length of time it is used (hours). For example, a 15-watt light bulb, which draws 15 watts at any one moment, uses 15 watt-hours of electricity in the course of one hour.

Kilowatts and kilowatt-hours are useful for measuring amounts of electricity used by large appliances and by households. Kilowatt-hours are what show up on your electricity bill, describing how much electricity you have used. One kilowatt (kW) equals 1,000 watts, and one kilowatt-hour (kWh) is one hour of using electricity at a rate of 1,000 watts. New, energy-efficient refrigerators use about 300-400 kilowatt-hours per year. The typical American home uses about 7,200 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year.

Megawatts are used to measure the output of a power plant or the amount of electricity required by an entire city. One megawatt (MW) = 1,000 kilowatts = 1,000,000 watts. For example, a typical coal plant is about 600 MW in size.

Gigawatts measure the capacity of large power plants or of many plants. One gigawatt (GW) = 1,000 megawatts = 1 billion watts. In 2012, the total capacity of U.S. electricity generating plants was approximately 1,100 GW.

ucsusa.org/clean_energy/our-energy-choices/how-is-electricity-measured.html#.VkCZ3K6rSV4

InSights

A Blog by Shelley A. Sackett

News

Redemption Fish Closes the Loop

Northeast Animal Shelter rescues out-of-state cats and dogs

275 Years of the Black Picnic

Let the Gaming Begin!

House of Seven Gables Throws its Founder a 150th Birthday Party

RESCUES Manual for Commercial Fishing Industry Unveiled

Come to Salem, see the world.

Scores Brave the Storm to “Ask a Muslim Anything”

Math Common Core : Friend or Foe?

Spotlight on the Massachusetts Solar Industry