Below, read the interleaved commentary of two of Penobscot Bay's fiercest defenders: Conservation & Environmental Attorney Kim Ervin Tucker's and Paul Bernaki licenced longtime wetlands, uplands and and intertidal and subtidal lands consultant for our area,
Here the two dissect the Army Corps of Engineers June 18,2020 Sediment Analysis Plan for Nordic Aquafarm's application to dredge mercury-tainted sediment from SW Belfast Bay from the intertidal to the gas crater field offshore, and lay bare the various anti-bay efforts that the Mills Administration has made to try to get the company's salmon tankfarm plan rubberstamped into approval. -RH
"Comments for the record "of the Nordic combined applications before the Maine DEP. It is also a comment for the record of the USACOE applications for the Nordic /Cianbro project .
As some of you know , the SAP (Sediment Analysis Plan) forwarded below produced by The USACOE was " released " by the office of Council of the USACOE on friday to the Parties { legal intervention parties, Towns and NGO } of the BEP/DEP Nordic , multiple application , Major Project review to and through Kim Tucker ESQ council for Mabee /Grace , the Maine Lobstering Union and the Friends of Harriet L Hartley Conservation Area .
This "release" , released now to everybody, is approximately eight days after Ms Ransom received it from The Project manager handling the USACOE application for Fill , Structure , Dredging , Sidecasting { deposit into the waters }
{ Funny I am not familiar with the section of the CWA that details the "temporary" side casting , re Deposit into the waters of dredge spoils and the time limit that qualifies or quantifies "temporary " and the exact method and RIM requirements of the review of such "temporary " activity . } ,Blasting , Removing obstacles , filling depressions ,dewatering dredge spoils, Transport / dewatering from Barges into the waters , speculative Mack point dewatering facility or the resulting point source Discharge . etc .
It seems that according to the USACOE that the unknown persons with suitable qualifications on staff of the Maine DEP reviewed the "draft " of this SAP and then again someone signed off on this draft on Behalf of the Maine DEP . [Included in the recent MGL FOAA Request to DEP , pending]
As it is clear that this SAP is as of this point a critical and repeatedly called for and then accepted part of the review by the Maine DEP/BEP process , The Maine DMR , and the USACOE process and that the results of this SAP testing are critical to this review and constitute new evidence ;
I would like you all to know that the record is now reopened on all of the prematurely "closed " records of proceedings before each of the Maine agencies that were and are required by law to review , and to receive comments from the effected towns , citizens , fisheries and NGO on such important and potentially destructive industrial proposals . This is not a question of "if " but a question of How the BEP, the Attorney Generals Office , and the Administration' s of the Maine DEP and DMR will legally proceed with The Nordic /Cianbro comeuppance resulting in the resetting of most if not all of the application review process/ hearings / comment periods on multiple related subject matter .
{Perhaps the lack of Notice to the Town of Searsport and Isleboro should be rectified at this point ?}
The USACOE "record " is never "closed" until final action is taken on a Rivers and Harbors Act and the Clean water Act , application to dredge /fill/deposit/ structure . The Maine DEP in order to "review and accept" the SAP Draft , reopened the record {albeit unknown to the parties } .
Likewise the formal transmission to Mr Hiem's Agent for the various Maine DEP applications and the USACOE application , Ms Ransom , constituted the reopening of the record regarding every thing related to the Construction , the Benthic effects , the fisheries impacts, erosion and deposition of released sediments, the effect on structures in the vicinity of the construction, the effects on the recreational and commercial users of the Penobscot Bay in regards to all aspects of water quality, fisheries, Critical Fisheries Habitat , the Endangered Species act and the sediment and erosion control measures , as well as all related aspects of review of the pipeline and its construction and post construction environmental impacts .
The subject matter of a SAP and its results are critical to many aspects of the review in regards to NRPA , CWA , and a host of other federal and Maine agency acceptance of expert and lay comments and reviews thereof
{.Too bad the Maine DEP and the Maine office of the USACOE didn't require this SAP as a result of the TIER one desktop review last year !.}
Having a detailed analysis of the saturation , the grain size , the contained contaminants , the actual stratifications and "suitability for backfilling " the geotechnical properties of these sediments along the proposed pipeline installation and the specific locations and qualities to depth of the sediments extraction , will create a new set of reviewable data that will require the engagement of suitable experts . { replacing the unacceptable " only an estimate of unsuitable materials and an unknown level of contaminants in that unknown amount of "unsuitable " dredge spoils , on the abandoned location ,
We all will {including Ms Tourangoey} be looking at the actual amounts to be dredged, side cast , re-dredged , dewatered , Blasted , " Hoe -Rammed" etc. This process of review by the DEP/BEP ,DMR and Experts engaged by the towns and other parties must not be rushed , and especially because of the disruption to "business as usual " aspect of the national and state emergency created by the Pandemic still raging across our country , and all resulting considerations of actual Due Process to be regarded .
As to the actual SAP , although the details of the sampling ,the called for methods of extraction of samples and the lab tests appear to be acceptable in regards to the RIM and Green Book ; { Thanks Steve }
The exclusion of the "resting on the seafloor" "suspended above the seafloor" intake pipe, 3OOO foot extension across the Holocene Mud sediments, out to some 55 feet of depth, directly effecting Isloboro and Northport/Bayside , and on the very edge of the Pockmark locations and Methane deposits , { as commented on by Steve Dickson to Maine DEP Land administration, and as shown on the Brothers Graphic , USGS Staff } , from the test locations requirements , despite the comments and questionings of the parties and interested persons, is unacceptable .
This exclusion from the SAP Sediment Analysis Plan of this portion of the Cianbro/Nordic construction involving unspecified , un-quantified , and un-located sediment dredging and sidecasting , including heavy barge mounted equipment "grading and filling " ,
minus an actual to depth geotechnical and chemical contaminant content test and analysis , is an unacceptable risk to the environment in light of the already detailed and in the record of the various applications to state and federal agencies , detailing the effects of scour , sediment transport and redeposit ,on the surrounding benthic habitat and the Beaches of Bayside / Northport and Beyond , {as well as DR Petigrews commit that the current and circulations data are insufficient for review of TSS transport and mixing/deposit and contaminant mixing considerations }
Failing to include this portion of large scale industrial installation activity and the entire footprint of that activity in the SAP will only result in further delay of the resolution of the issues presented by the applicant’s proposed activity and does not serve any ones interest or the LAW .
I am disappointed in the exclusion of these issues and locations in the SAP in Spite of the expert comments in the record supplied by myself and others to these records and directly to the US EPA and The USACOE who have responsibility along with the Maine DEP of the creation of the SAP before us . As the Drafting process was a secret and Internal agency process not FOAA or FOIA accessible , found by SCOTUS to be "chilling" on agency and intra agency review process ;
We are left with no recourse other than continue to comment on the record that Cianbro heavy construction equipment should not be let loose on the Bay without suitable detailed plans , showing exact locations and amounts of displacement of marine soils , geotechnical testing and contaminant testing of all areas of the industrial construction process for the entire project .
Thank you all for your attention to these detailed and lengthy considerations of the newly “released” SAP , I look forward to the next several years of thrashing this through with you all .
Paul Bernacki , Homeplace Team coordinator
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