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TUFTS AND BOSTON UNIVERSITY HOST MEETING TO PAVE WAY FOR LOCAL CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVE - THREE-YEAR STUDY WILL SERVE AS A NATIONAL MODEL

Release Date: 03/28/2000
Contact Information: Amy Miller, EPA Press Office (617-918-1042) Christen Graham, Tufts Public Affairs office (617-627-5906)

BOSTON - Local and state officials will meet with university researchers and private industry leaders at Tufts University on Friday, March 24 to launch a groundbreaking study of how global climate change may affect roads, water supplies, buildings public health and other critical services in Greater Boston. The all day event will be held in the ASEAN Auditorium of the Cabot Intercultural Center on Packard Avenue in Medford.

The morning agenda, which will kick off at 8:45 am, includes talks on climate change by Mindy S. Lubber, regional administrator for EPA New England; Joel Scheraga from EPA's National Climate Change Program; Newton Mayor David Cohen; Gina McCarthy of the Mass. Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, David Soule, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, and Michael B. McElroy, professor of environmental studies at Harvard University. Ross Gelbspan, journalist and expert on climate change, will be the lunch speaker.

The afternoon agenda includes workshops and reports on how climate change may impact critical services and physical structures including roads, tunnels and drinking water supplies in the Boston area. More information on the agenda and program is available from the web site http://www.tufts.edu/tie/climb/workshop.html. Click icon for EPA disclaimer.

Tufts University and Boston University will use a $900,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to undertake the three-year study that will serve as a national model for helping urban areas address the impact of climate change. Key agencies and planners, including the Metropolitan District Commission (MDC); the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA), US Army Corps of Engineers, and Mass Port, are expected at the March 24 conference to begin gathering information that will help the region understand how global climate change could affect this area's economy, environment, social structures and physical framework. For many participants, this will be the first time they have considered the possible effects of climate change on their communities and infrastructure.