Sears Island - economist, scientists discuss possible futures.

ARE THERE COSTS TO NOT PROTECTING SEARS ISLAND? A Symposium, to be held November 5th, 2005 from 9am to 4:30pm at the Troy A. Howard Middle School, in Belfast, is cosponsored by Penobscot Bay Alliance, Islesboro Island Trust and the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club.

Keynote address “The Nature of Resources and the Resources of Nature: an ecological economic framework for managing the Sears Island ecosystem, by Professor Jon Erickson, Gund Institute for Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont.

Local and regional scientists and fisheries experts, Ted Ames of Downeast Groundfish Initiative, Brian Beals, Curtis Bohlen, Lobster Conservancy's Diane Cowan, and Charles Curtin will examine Sears Island and Penobscot Bay in light of this economic perspective.

$15. pre-registration. Includes Lunch and a reception
For more information or to register call Leanne Krudner at 761-5616 or send an email to maine.chapter@sierraclub.org. web site information available www.maine.sierraclub.org.

Sears Island is the largest undeveloped island in Penobscot Bay, the largest unprotected island on the East Coast and it provides five miles of coastal access for the public. The island comprises a myriad of habitats including beaches and rocky shores, softwood and hardwood forests, fern meadows, grassy meadows, salt marshes, ponds and freshwater wetlands. Such a diverse tapestry encompasses a wide variety of species not usually seen within the same zone. On a daily basis the island hosts multiple opportunities for recreation, such as walking, swimming, kayaking, bird watching, fishing, and picnicking.

Developers planning Big Box sprawl on Rte 1, Thomaston

Get involved! Developers are planning major Big Box projects on Route 1 in Thomaston (possibly a Super Wal-Mart.) A group of citizens is working to impose stricter size-limits in town, to try to keep the Box-wannabes out.
Anyone willing to get involved and/or wanting to be on
the e-mail list should contact Daryl Hahn at hahn14@verizon.net.

The NEFMC Habitat Committee

Keep up with what the New England Fishery Management Council is doing regarding the protection of natural marine habitats in the Gulf of Maine and on Georges Bank.

FMC 's stinking waste: Rockland's problem?

Reports have serious quantities of hydrogen sulfide gassing off FMC's seaweed pulp wastes lying unmixed at the surface of rockland's spongy landfill. Gas masks are now de rigeur for attendants, and residents are stifled. The writer recalls desperately filtering the sour sulfurous air through his pillow, sleepless nights on Limerock Street in the early 1990s. Learn just how poisonous these gases are, and who in the state and federal agencies are supposed to rescue Rockland from its dump funk. Click Here

BEP takes over Dragon Taming

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection agreed today to take over jurisdiction of Dragon Cement Products' pollution permits for its cement kiln dust and clinker waste piles! A public hearing will be held in Thomaston or Rockland at a later date for the board to take testimony and vote to either accept or reject dragon's permits, or order them a whole new set of conditions.
Listen to key speakers at the BEP meeting

The Board members apparently felt that the company and Maine DEP were using legal loopholes to avoid taking action on the company's permit applications, and were also declining to respond to community requests to be involved in the state's decisionmaking process.