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Aug 24, 2012

Camden Harbor breakwater study? Corps says, let's start

ACOE says: "[Camden] requested construction of breakwaters across the outer harbor to further protect the harbor from wave action and storms."
According to reporter Christine Parrish of the Free Press, the Army Corps of Engineers(ACOE) announced in its June 30 2012 Update Report for Maine that it will undertake a study and will begin "by gathering economic data from the commercial fishing fleet along with completing a depth survey in the vicinity of the proposed breakwater locations."

Below Parrish'[s article see the ACOE announcement

by Christine Parrish, Feature Writer, Free Press
In the 1960s Camden started discussing having the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers do a study to see if building a breakwater across the outer harbor would help protect the harbor from wave action and storms.


On January 26, 2007, the town submitted a request to the Corps; the Corps acted on it this June, by announcing in its Update Report for Maine that it will undertake a study and will begin "by gathering economic data from the commercial fishing fleet along with completing a depth survey in the vicinity of the proposed breakwater locations." By the time that announcement came out, the town had pretty much forgotten its request for a breakwater feasibility study, but Town Manager Pat Finnigan tracked back and found the 2007 letter and then got in touch with the Corps. The study, says Finnigan, is just the first step in a very lengthy process.

The Army Corps is not usually known for speed. In 2000, the Maine Department of Transportation asked the Corps to study deepening the 35-foot shipping channel at Mack Point in Searsport. The Corps completed a draft feasibility report this year that included project costs, economic benefits and environmental assessment, and it plans to hold a public review of the study sometime during the last three months of this year.

By contrast, a private business request for an Army Corps permit was relatively expeditious: DCP Midstream LLC was granted an Army Corps permit to pursue building a large propane storage tank at Mack Point less than a year after submitting an application.

End of FP article

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Army Corps of Engineers, Update Report for Maine, June 30, 2012
CAMDEN HARBOR, CAMDEN (1st Congressional District) 
"The Camden Board of Selectmen requested the New England District
initiate a study under Section 107 of the River and Harbor Act of 1960 to determine the feasibility of implementing a navigation improvement project for Camden Harbor.

"Currently the Camden Harbor contains a Federal navigation project consisting of an inner and outer anchorage. The town requested construction of breakwaters across the outer harbor to further protect the harbor from wave action and storms.
This improvement potentially would provide further protection of harbor anchorages and shore facilities and allow for expansion of commercial activities. 

"During the initial phases of this investigation, economic data will be gathered from the commercial fishing fleet along with completing a depth survey in the vicinity of proposed breakwater locations."
End of update

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