Sears Island Frenzy

Island protection advocates Organizing. See gallery of Sears Island aerial photos
* The Sierra Club & Islesboro Island Trust are doing what they do best - negotiate-with- the-govt-behind-the-scene Sears Island dance, though this time the Penobscot Indian Nation hsa joined in the effort.
* Penobscot Bay Alliance? While saving Sears Island ought to be the "coming out" campaign of this outfit, two of the group's key leaders are acting on Sears Island from their parent organizations Sierra Club and Islesboro Island Trust, spurning any appearance before the media or in public as leaders of what appears to be a perpetually not-quite-ready-for-prime-time PBA.
* A Searsport municipal comittee has been holding somewhat murky dealings with MDOT.
Now charette style public meetings are underway with everyone from the MDOT and BPL to the Penobscot Incdian Nation and the eco-yuppies conversing on possible futures for the island.
MDOT hopes to get Searsport to sign a Memorandum of Understanding giving DOT permanent rights to the SW corner of the island. Residents of Searsport just voted to re-impose a moratorium on industrial development by an overwhelming margin

*A bill has been been put together to enable Maine DOT to transfer the island to the Bureau of Parks and Lands. Presently under state law MDOT can SELL or LEASE land under its control to private interests. It can't TRANSFER land to another agency (except the Maine Housing Authority gets first dibs if the land has been declared "surplus", which wouldn't be the case for Sears Island).

How a bill is introduced into the Maine Legislature As noted at the above link, the bill that's submitted by a legislator goes to the Revisor's Office, Office of Policy and Legal Analysis, and Office of Fiscal and Program Review. Their staff checks the wording and passes it back to the legislator for approval or not, until it says what he or she wants it to say.

* Legislators to sponsor/co-sponsor John Eder, of Course, Our beloved Green Party legislator. Stay Tuned