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May 30, 2013

Saturday June 1st Save Our Shoal! Noon at Sears Island Ghost Port, 2pm on the causeway

 "Save Our Shoal!" says fish conservation group.

SEARSPORT. On Saturday June 1st Penobscot Bay area citizens concerned about the effect the Searsport Harbor expansion dredging plan could have on groundfish, lobsters and human heath will be pounding the drum at noon at the Ghost Port -abandoned port site on Sears Island. Click for map of island ghostport   At 2pm activists from Friends of Penobscot Bay will hold a talk and press conference on the Sears Island causeway.  All are welcome.

Proposed outer harbor dredging area (center of photo)
ISSUE: Opponents call the expansion dredging plan misguided and a problem for Penobscot Bay's groundfish, lobsters, taxpayers and human health. (Map of dredge plan, with shoal) 

BOONDOGGLE. Critics say the harbor dredge expansion plan  is not needed for Searsport's present and future shipping needs, and is  actually part of another federal and state push to open shipping access to Sears Island.

For the dredge expansion  makes no economic sense for Penobscot Bay's  present-day or future shipping needs.  Federal and state agencies reviewing the ill-fated  DCP Midstream LPG terminal plan determined that Searsport Harbor would accomodate the gas giant's supertankers with NO  no additional harbor dredging needed.

As far as port development on Sears Island, a state funded worldwide survey of port interests several years ago found zero interest in building a port on Sears island.

More realistically, the proposed expansion dredging is a boondoggle to benefit dredging businesses. Would Prock Marine get the contract?  Pretty likely; they do a lot of Penobscot Bay dredging.

The Friends of Penobscot Bay call the Army Corps of Engineers Searsport Harbor expansion dredging plan  "Dredging a ghost harbor for a ghost port." 

THREAT TO FISH
Not only will it waste taxpayers dollars, the expansion dredging  will endanger Penobscot Bay's groundfish recovery.  Maps of the  dredging  show it would dig out the last of the shoal between Searsport Harbor and Sears Island. The Sears Island Shoal is well recognized by state and federal fisheries agencies as important habitat for juvenile and larval Atlantic Cod. Taking an 890,000 cubic yard  bite out of the shoal is going to reduce the quality of that nursery

In fact, it was the presence of this fragile shallow ecosystem with its eelgrass and kelp that  forced Angus King in 1996 to withdraw his Sears Island port plan. Listen to King conceding defeat on MPBN (short mp3)

THREAT TO LOBSTERS AND HUMAN HEALTH
Mercury is known to be present both near the Mack Point docks and out on the Searsport Shoals shoal's old sediments. The toxic metal will be released into the water column during the act of dredging and when dumping the dredge spoils further down the bay.


Both actions will result in elevated methyl mercury in the water column that travel with prevailing currents and settle in a toxic patina over the bottom.  

Lobsters living and eating in those waters will almost certainly show a sharp increase in methyl mercury in tail and claw meat.  According to a federal court ordered study of mercury contamination of the river and upper bay there are already lobsters in the upper bay with mercury levels in tail and claw meat exceeding state and federal mercury advisory thresholds for seafood consumption. 

Listen to speakers at a September 13, 2007, DMR-hosted Public Info Meeting on Cianbro's proposal to dredge Penobscot River next to the defunct Eastern Fine Paper site - some of whose mercury-rich sediments had already fouled upper Penobscot Bay according to the study. It happened.
THE TOXIC TRIANGLE
"I know fishermen who collects these samples", Huber said,  "They've identified a toxic triangle of mercury tainted sediments in the upper bay, stretching between Islesboro's Marshall Point,  the Sears Island bell buoy and  the DMP buoy in the center of the upper bay. The proposed expansion dredge site?  Right in the heart of the this deadly triangle."

MERCURY IN BAY FOG
Nor will  only waterbreathing species imbibe this neurotoxin, Huber warned. New research shows that marine methylmercury that reaches shallow waters can transfer quickly and efficiently into the microdroplets of spring and summer bay fogs. 

In addition to  coating every leaf in our foggy coastal forests and island gardens with a light glaze of methyl mercury,  the substance will be also absorbed by the lungs of airbreathing animals in those fogs - including our own species.  

"The levels are small, but mercury adds up"  Huber said. 

The Friends of Penobscot Bay called on the Army Corps of Engineers to opt out of setting this dangerous substance loose in Penobscot Bay.  

WHAT TO DO
"Keep it buried." said Huber. "You'll keep the bay's lobsters and people safe from mercury poisoning, and the taxpayers safe from paying for a ghos

May 28, 2013

June 1st the state of Penobscot Bay - a teach-in on dredging, fishing, lobstering, tourism and governance.

On Saturday June First, from 2  to 4pm, join the Friends of Penobscot Bay   several bay area legislators and many others at an information gathering event on the Sears Island causeway, to consider the state of Penobscot Bay's shipping, lobstering, recreational fishing, tourism, and other bay-dependent businesses, and the health of the bay's environment.  

Whether you can stay a few minutes or for hours,  (or even by speakerphone: 207-593-9242 after 2pm on the first your insights and suggestions will make a difference
TOPICS INCLUDE

SHIPPING. Searsport hosts a bulk products and petroleum.  Rockland sends cement to greater New England by barge. Modular industrial machinery comes down from Orrington,  Forest products from Bucksport.  Every summer hundreds of sailboats ply the bay.  What sort of additional commercial industrial and recreational vessels do we want to attract to  our bay's many harbors and ports? 

FISHING. Is the bay producing more fish & shellfish or less? Where did the mussels go?  Is global change bringing southern species like blue crabs up to Penobscot Bay? Will century-old sediments buried in the bay floor be lieverated into the water column by the Searsport Harbor expansion plan, taintinjg the bay's seafood with methyl mercury? 

TOURISM: Are the bay's scenic vistas  by land and by sea being conserved?  How clear are the state's  processes for protecting unspoiled scenic views that attract tourists and their dollars?

AGENCIES: How well are environmental and fishery agencies conserving Penobscot Bay resources? Are they careful or are they  rubber stamping to placate?

LEGISLATURE: What has the legislature passed  this year that affects Penobscot Bay?  For good or ill?

NGOs: What is their scorecard on protecting and conserving Penobscot Bay natural resources?  Island Institute,  NRCM. Sierra Club etc.

CRYSTAL BALL  What can the scallopers of Stonington,  the mills of Bucksport, the energy businesses and tourism resorts of Searsport, the windjammers of Camden, the lobstermen  of Port Clyde  and all the rest of those who depend on Penobscot Bay look forward to in the next five years? The next fifty years?

Please attend on June 1st event on the Sears Island causeway  (even by speakerphone: call 207-593-9242)

Maine's biggest bay depends on it!

May 24, 2013

June 1st: help Stop the Toxic Dredge Spoil Ring around Penobscot Bay at Sears Island ghost port - by kayak, foot and boat!

Do you reject the Army Corps' proposed mercury-liberating "dredge of dreams" plan to "spoil"  upper Penobscot Bay?   You should!

On Saturday June 1st,  join other Penobscot Bay defenders at and in front of the ghost port on Sears Islandoverlooking the Wasumkeag Shoal. Directions: Park on the causeway. Walk island road to ghost port.. Or walk norhtwest shore to ghost port.  Boaters' paddlers: come to the Sears Island Buoy in front of the ghost port at noon.

AT ISSUE: If Army Corps of Engineers has its way, then Prock Marine dredge gear will take an 800,000 cubic yard bite out of this shoal, Penobscot Bay's most valuable fish nursery.

This to create a ghost harbor for the Sears Island ghost port!  Watch bayhugger boats trace the perimeter of the proposed Big Diggah.

Bring your skills, energies, ideas to bear on the Task: keeping the sunken Mordor of the 19th and 20th century - lurking down in the muck beneath outer Searsport Harbor -  from rising up to cast loose a deadly ring of methylmercury around Penobscot Bay! 

For, should the Army Corps prevail, then, mercury enriched silt plumes dislodged by the dredgers' jaws will  rising off Wassumkeag and spread throughout Searsport Harbor, and to Belfast Bay, leaving a patina of the deadly metal dusting the seaweed, clams, the lobsterbait in trap, the lobsters - and  lobster eaters.

Meanwhile, mercurious spoils dumped onto the Rockland Disposal Site will, under the sway of  prevailing deep bay currents, be sent streaming back north along both sides of Islesboro, back to Belfast, to Searsport, to Castine; coming together in the shallows of the upper bay.  

So say those who fish the upper bay and know it well.   Should the Corps get approval and then dump into the site between Islesboro and Belfast instead... - the mind boggles.

Nor will  only our waterbreathing cousins imbibe this neurotoxin.   New research shows that marine methylmercury that reaches shallow waters  transfers quickly and efficiently into the microdroplets of spring and summer bay fogs. 

There it can transfer to seabirds' lungs - and yours. As well as every leaf in  our foggy coastal forests and island homes and gardens.


Keep the Army Corps of Engineers from loosing this deadly menace  upon Penobscot Bay.  Already methyl mercury levels of some upper bay lobster claws and tails  have risen above state and federal food safety notification  levels,  

One ring that could sink the hard gained marine sustainability certification of Maine lobster, by requiring mercury warning labels on live and processed lobsters from frozen tails to lobster rolls and stew.

One ring that, science shows, would bring methylmercury  to all airbreathers of the upper bay.

The Army Corps of Engineers hopes to get the okay this summer.
Some things don't change.

The people are rising against this needless dangerous plan.  

Got creative? Express your self -  at the ghost port


May 12, 2013

Licensed dischargers into Penobscot Bay. Licenses and enforcement histories

Licensed dischargers into Penobscot Bay & enforcement histories

Saint George (Atlantic Ocean





East Wind Incorporated (PDF) (2 pp, 2MB)




ME0036773




07/18/2011
Saint George (Long Cove)Sea Hag Seafood, Inc. (PDF) (34 pp, 2.2MB) EnforcementME003734610/03/2012


St. George (Long Cove)Great Eastern Mussel Farms, Inc. 
Now: Sea Hag (PDF)(42 pp, 2.1MB) Enforcement
ME002312411/08/2007



Owls Head (Atlantic Ocean)Crescent Beach Association (PDF) (40 pp, 2.8MB) EnforcementME003678111/30/2010
Owls Head (Atlantic Ocean)Crescent Beach Association (PDF) (30 pp, 1.3MB)ME003678111/29/2005



Rockland (Atlantic Ocean)Rockland POTW, City of (PDF) (25 pp, 216K)  EnforcementME010059511/21/2009
Rockland (Atlantic Ocean)Rockland POTW, City of (PDF) (84 pp, 229K)ME010059512/21/2007
Rockland (Rockland Harbor)FMC Biopolymer (PDF) (40 pp, 2.7MB) EnforcementME000040012/04/2012
Rockland (Rockland Harbor)FMC Biopolymer (PDF) (31 pp, 1.6MB)ME000040010/09/2007
Rockland (Rockland Harbor)Rockland POTW, City of (PDF) (13 pp, 102K) EnforcementME010059501/31/2008
Rockland (Rockland Harbor)Rockland, City of; Waste Snow Dump (PDF) (29 pp, 2MB)ME003632304/12/2012
Rockland (Rockland Harbor)Rockland, City of; Waste Snow Dump (PDF) (15 pp, 817K)ME003632312/28/2006
Rockland (Rockland Pier)Dragon Products Company, LLC (PDF)(16 pp, 45K) EnforcementME003699411/25/2008
Rockport (Rockport Harbor)Rockport Waste snowdump (PDF) (16 pp, 649K) EnforcementME003630710/03/2006



Camden (Camden Harbor Watershed)Camden, Town of (PDF) (32 pp, 3MB)  Enforcement

ME010013707/18/2003
Camden (Camden Harbor)Camden Waste Snow Dump, Town of (PDF) (29 pp, 1.2MB) EnforcementME010272508/05/2010
Camden (Megunticook River)

Camden Waste Snow Dump, Town of (PDF) (13 pp, 643K)ME010272510/28/2005


Vinalhaven (Atlantic Ocean)Vinalhaven POTW, Town of (PDF) (61 pp, 4.1MB) EnforcementME010249111/02/2012
Vinalhaven (Atlantic Ocean)Vinalhaven POTW, Town of (PDF) (49 pp, 2.1MB)ME010249111/1



North Haven (Fresh Pond)North Haven DWTP, Town of (PDF) (34 pp, 1.1MB) EnforcementME010248208/02/2012
North Haven (Fresh Pond)North Haven DWTP, Town of (PDF) (22 pp, 1.1MB)




Islesboro (East Penobscot Bay)Islesboro, Town of (PDF) (11 pp, 1.8MB)ME010026901/20/2012
Islesboro (East Penobscot Bay)Islesboro, Town of (PDF) (25 pp, 1.3MB)ME010026911/21/2005
Enforcement

Lncolnville Beach
Lincolnville Beach Sanitary Facility  Enforcement history

Northport Village Corp  Enforcement info
NorthportAtlantic Blanket Company (PDF) (33 pp, 2.3MB) Enforcement infoMEU50825712/02/2010



BelfastMoore’s Septic, Inc. (PDF) (40 pp, 3.2MB)  Enforcement infoMEU50825910/03/2012
Belfast (Atlantic Ocean, Belfast Harbor)Belfast POTW, City of (PDF) (81 pp, 3.2MB)
Enforcement info
ME010153202/18/2011
Belfast (Belfast Harbor)Belfast POTW, City of (PDF) (5 pp, 24K)ME010153202/12/2008
Belfast (Belfast Harbor)Belfast POTW, City of (PDF) (64 pp, 3MB)ME010153205/23/2006
Belfast (Passagassawakeag River)Penobscot McCrum, LLC (PDF) (72 pp, 4.7MB)ME002304312/04/2012
Belfast (Passagassawakeag River)Penobscot Mccrum, LLC (PDF) (64 pp, 2.5MB)
Enforcement info
ME002304310/17/2007


Searsport (Atlantic Ocean/Stockton Harbor)General Alum New England Corporation Chemical Manufacturing Facility 2006 (PDF) (42 pp, 3MB) Enforcement info
TRI Discharges

ME000183003/03/2011

Searsport (Long Cove, Penobscot Bay)
Irving Oil Terminals, Inc. (PDF) (75 pp, 2.3MB) Enforcement infoME000246104/09/2010
Searsport (Penobscot Bay)Searsport, Town of (PDF) (79 pp, 1.4MB) Enforcement infoME010196611/12/2008
Searsport (Searsport Harbor)Irving Oil Terminals, Inc. (PDF) (70 pp, 2.2MB)
Enforcement info  TRI Info
ME002118104/09/2010
Searsport (Searsport Tidewaters)Sprague Energy Corporation (PDF) (73 pp, 14.3MB) Enforcement infoME000220809/14/2009
Searsport (Searsport)Sprague Energy Corporation (PDF) (27 pp, 1.3MB) TRI InfoME000220812/15/2006



Winterport (Penobscot River)Winterport Water District (PDF) (61 pp, 3.6MB) Enforcement  infoME0100




Hampden (Penobscot River)Coldbrook Energy, Inc. (PDF) (50 pp, 2.2MB)
Enforcement info
ME000226712/20/2011
Hampden (Penobscot River)Coldbrook Energy, Inc. (PDF) (31 pp, 1.4MB)ME000226711/06/2006
Hampden (Souadabscook Stream)Hampden CSO, Town of (PDF) (34 pp, 2.1MB)
Enforcement info
ME010251202/04/2013
Hampden (Souadabscook Stream)Hampden CSO, Town of (PDF) (52 pp, 1.7MB)ME010251201/07/2008



Bangor (Penobscot River)Webber Oil Company Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (PDF) (43 pp, 2.2MB)ME002222505/19/2010
Bangor (Penobscot River)Webber Oil Company (PDF) (28 pp, 1.5MB)
Enforcement info
ME002222504/25/2006
Bangor (Penobscot River, Kenduskeag Stream )Bangor POTW (PDF) (135 pp, 4.4MB)

Enforcement info
ME010078105/26/2011



BucksportBucksport, Town of (PDF) (65 pp, 4.1MB) Enforcement infoME010011104/10/2012
BucksportVerso Bucksport LLC (PDF) (23 pp, 1.4MB)  Enforcement InformationME000216006/07/2012
BucksportVerso Bucksport LLC (PDF) (22 pp, 1.8MB)ME000216009/02/2010
Bucksport (Penobscot River)Verso Bucksport LLC (PDF) (65 pp, 3.3MB)ME000216001/07/2010
Bucksport (Penobscot River)Webber Tanks, Inc. Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (PDF) (68 pp, 16.1MB)ME000145710/15/2010
Bucksport (Penobscot River)Webber Tanks, Inc. Bulk Fuel Storage Facility (PDF) (28 pp, 1.3MB)ME000145704/25/2006


Orrington (Penobscot River)Penobscot Energy Recovery Co. (PDF)(67 pp, 2.6MB) 
Enforcement info

ME002323008/26/2009


Brewer (Penobscot River)Brewer POTW (PDF) (111 pp, 2.7MB)ME010007205/19/2011
Brewer (Penobscot River)Brewer POTW (PDF) (34 pp, 933K) | Fact Sheet (PDF) (16 pp, 297K)ME010007204/25/2003
Brewer (Penobscot River)CES Inc. (PDF) (16 pp, 742K)ME010269511/04/2005

Brewer POTW Enforcement
OrlandG.M. Allen & Son, Inc. Surface Wastewater Disposal System (PDF) (42 pp, 2.1MB)MEU50779112/22/2009
OrlandLetts Relax, Inc. (PDF) (35 pp, 1.55MB)MEU50787408/13/2007
Orland (Alamoosook Lake)Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery (PDF) (8 pp, 544K)ME000243702/04/2013
Orland (Alamoosook Lake)Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery (PDF) (23 pp, 1.9MB)ME000243705/16/2011
Orland (Alamoosook Lake)Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery (PDF) (73 pp, 2.9MB)ME000243702/02/2010


Penobscot (Penobscot River)School Union 93 (PDF) (21 pp, 71K)ME010197408/28/2008
Penobscot Nursing Home 


CastineCastine POTW, Town of (PDF) (15 pp, 55K)ME010119203/12/2008
Castine (Castine Harbor)Castine POTW, Town of (PDF) (77 pp, 2.3MB)ME010119212/29/2009
Castine enforcement reports











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