Lower Penobscot River Watershed Coalition meets Feb 26, Bangor.

Like Penobscot Bay, the tidal Penobscot River plays an important role in the fish and wildlife ecology of the Gulf of Maine. The Lower Penobscot Watershed Coalition is meeting February 26th from 10:00am – 2:00pm, at the Fish &Wildlife Building, 650 State Street, Bangor, ME to discuss protecting and restoring these values. The meeting is sponsored by Penobscot River Restoration Project Info: Gayle B. Zydlewski 207-862-3382. The draft agenda follows:

1. Review agenda

2. Introductions & Updates

3. Values of the Lower Penobscot Watershed that are worth preserving

4. What needs to happen to preserve these values

5. Overview of the Penobscot River Restoration Project

6. Discussion of Land Trusts and Watershed Councils

7. Elements of a Mission Statement

8. Discussion of organizational structure

9. Action items/next steps

10. Schedule next meeting

11. Other

Directions to Fish and Wildlife Bldg in Bangor:
Coming from I-95, take exit 187 (Hogan Road exit). If you are north bound, take a right onto Hogan Road and go to the Mount Hope intersection (third traffic light) and turn right. Approximately .3 miles take a left at the bus kiosk. This is the back entrance of the BMHI campus. Go past the large green barn. There will be a large parking lot on the right hand side of the road, and at the end of this is a three way-intersection. Turn right and look for the three-story rectangular brick building with a bronze deer sculpture in the front yard. That's the Fish & Wildlife Building. ASC is on the second floor.

If you are south bound, take a left on to Hogan Road and follow the directions.

Feb 14th legis ponder Kennebec migratory fish restoration, reimbursing Commercial Safety Councilors, limit mahogany quahog fishery to boat owners

Wednesday: Feb 14^th 1:00 pm PH
Room 214, Cross State Office Building

Public Hearing on Marine related Bills

LD# 324-Resolve to Require the Dept. of MAR to Report on Results on Anadromous Fish Restoration on the Kennebec River System

257-A/A to Allow Expense Reimbursement for the Commercial Fishing Safety Council

156-A/A to Require All Holders of Mahogany Quahog Licenses to Operate Their Own Vessels When Fishing for Quahogs (concept draft)

More info: Veronica Snow, Marine Resources Committee Clerk Tele: 207-287-1337

Lobsters from away, landing at a dock near you.

Bill seeks to lure out of state fishermen to land their lobsters in Maine.

LD 311 "An Act To Create a Nonresident Lobster and Crab Landing Permit"
Sponsored by Representative Walter Wheeler

"This bill creates a new permit that allows nonresident lobster fishermen to land their catch in a Maine port."

A farewell to seagulls?

Legislation would make it a crime to feed a seagull or any "migratory bird"
on public intertidal land on the coast of Maine and its islands.

LD 384 An Act To Further Protect Water Quality in Coastal Waters by Representative Leila Percy, Phippsburg expressly prohibits a most basic form of interspecies communication practiced in our area: tossing food to seagulls, ducks on the shore of the Gulf of maine.

"Prohibition. A person may not intentionally feed any migratory bird or seagull on public property in the intertidal zone."
As always, the fine folks in the state legislature's Marine Resources Committee
would be pleased to learn your point of view on this or any other marine legislation before them.

Shortnose Sturgeon, Elver fisher safety bills before marine resources committee Feb 7th

Augusta: Legislature's joint marine resources committee schedule
Wednesday: Feb. 7th 1:00 pm

9:00-10:30 am FY08-09 Budget hearing in Approp Committee.
1:00 pm Presentation: Sea Grant UMaine Cooperative Extension
Reports: Boater Safety and Endangered Species
Work session on LD# 140-A/A to List the Shortnose Sturgeon as a Marine Endangered Species
Work session on LD# 77-A/A to Provide for the Safety of Elver Fishermen Using Dip Nets

Sears Island: next state meeting Feb 5, '07 9 to 3

Sears Island Planning Initiative Steering Committee meets February 5, 2007 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at the First Congregational Church of Searsport. NOTE start time of 9:00. AGENDA:

I. Welcome, Introductions and Agenda Review (9:00 -9:15)
II. Presentation of DOT White Paper on Container Port Parameters (and Q & A) (9:15-10:15)

BREAK (10:15- 10:25)

III. Presentation on Proposed Easement Language (10:25-11:15)
IV. Private Meetings among Affinity Groups for Discussion of DOT White Paper and Proposed Easement Language (11:15 - 12:15)

LUNCH (12:15 – 1:00)

V. Whole Group Stakeholder Discussion of Draft Consensus Agreement (1:00 - 2:00)
VI. Followup Private Meetings among Affinity Groups (if necessary) (2:00-2:30)
VII. Next Steps & Adjourn (2:30-3:00)

Useful Links:
Fair Play for Sears Island
http://fairplayforsearsisland.org/
Maine Dept of Conservation Sears Island webpage
http://www.state.me.us/doc/initiatives/SearsIsland/SearsIsland.shtml

Bay Management Study final report out: Weak on solutions

"Managing Maine’s Nearshore Coastal Resources: Final Report of the Bay Management Study" Click Here

The report was just given to the Maine Legislature's Marine Resources Committee
What's in it?

It starts by stating the problem:
Maine’s nearshore coastal waters are under increasing pressure from a variety of influences. The potential exists for both increased user conflicts and for further environmental degradation. At the same time, there are signs and symptoms that Maine’s current methods of nearshore management need improvement. Without embarking on enhancements to nearshore management, the health of the marine environment, the livelihoods and recreation that depend on it and the essence of Maine’s character may be at risk.

Solutions? Nothing new here.
A. Move towards regional management of nearshore waters.
B. Increase the amount, availability and accessibility of nearshore data and information.
C. Improve the state’s framework for nearshore management.
D. Increase the amount and diversity of funding sources.

Rockland Lobsterman to City Council: Save Our Industry from Marina Sprawl

Rockland lobsterman Artie Johnson tells the Rockland City Council to protect his industry! Waiting for Maine DEP to deny the Samorock yacht pier proposal is nervewracking to all concerned.

Salmon manure - Maine DEP tightfisted on details

Under an aquaculture agreement with the federal EPA, Maine oversees the NPDES pollution permitting license for finfish aquaculture. The salmon farms dotting the downeast coast must file monthly monitoring reports with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, detailing the amount of manure that has emanated from the up-to million farm salmon swimming in foreign-owned cages from Passamaquoddy Bay to Blue Hill Bay at any given time.

Read DEP Fact Sheet on Salmon farm pollution monitoring (PDF)

The reports arrive at MDEP's Bangor office in a tabulated format that Maine DEP, several years into receiving these reports, says it has yet to come up with a good way of printing them out or otherwise making them available.
to
This has angered and frustrated coastal environmentalists seeking this info -- vital to keeping track of these absentee-owned marine hog farms. But MDEP has persisted making these reports available to the public as paper printouts. on unscannable unreadable gray paper stock with the oversized table figures overcompressed to the point of unreadability.

The MDEP official in question Matthew Young admitted that "the printed form is a challenge to read" and agreed to "look into the possibility of creating a cd-rom with the electronic reports we have now...".

Further Young'll see where the agency as it as far as adding this waste discharge data to its publically available database. Watch this space...

Rockland lobster fishery protection debated at City Council meeting.

On January 8, 2007, A lobsterman and a conservationist spoke their minds to the Rockland city council about the Samorock pier proposal.
Click here for coverage of that council meeting,
Excerpt: Pier proposed near Rockland Breakwater...On the application to build a pier near the Rockland Breakwater, Ron Huber, executive director of Penobscot Bay Watch, and Art Johnson, a Rockland lobster fisherman, asked the council to take a position opposing the Samoset pier project.

“If built, the pier itself will close off fishing in the productive near-shore waters,” said Huber. “More fishing ground will be lost to the approach routes that would have to be kept free of lobster traps to avoid fouling the props of boats using the pier. It would increase pollution into this cleanest, most natural part of Rockland’s inner harbor.”
http://knox.villagesoup.com/print/Print.cfm?StoryID=84873

City harbormaster Ed Glaser has been too lukewarm about the subject, in their opinion, and can an earful from city fishermen, whose traps bring millions of dollars into the local economy. About two dozen harbor lobstermen have signed a petition to the city which was delivered last month.

Maine Legislature: 2007 bills so far

The 2007 session of the Maine legislature is underway. The first 200 bills that they'll be taking on can be read here.

One bill LD 16 will decriminalize lobster trap molesting!

Dragon Cement - which toxic wastes does it burn?

Back in November Dragon Cement rejected a request by Neighbors for a Safe Dragon (NSD) for the company's fuel/waste burning logs. Why? "Trade secrets," of course. NSD complained to Maine DEP's Peter Carney. He wrote to Dragon in early December, stating that the company must either (a) ship NSD their fuel logs with the 'trade secrets' blacked out, or (b) ship the uncensored list to DEP. The agency, he wrote, would decide whether the things Dragon wants redacted deserved it. Then DEP would pass the fuel logs to NSD either censored or not--though first giving Dragon a chance to appeal this to state court. Stay tuned...

Fishermen's opposition to Samorock pier rises.

Opposition rises among lobstermen opposed to Samoset's second attempt to build and operate a private pier nearby the Rockland Breakwater. See also Lobstermen's 2001 opposition and that of their community to Samoset's first attempt.

MEDIA:
* WCSH TV Portland, Bangor Maine Dec 29, 2006
"A proposal for a New Pier in Rockland has local lobstermen boiling...."

* Village Soup News, Knox County, Maine. " Dec 28, 2006 A petition suggesting Rockland take a stand for the Rockland Harbor lobstermen was delivered late Friday evening to City Hall...."

* Courier Gazette Rockland, Maine "A petition signed by 23 lobstermen has been filed with the city in opposition to the proposed Samoset marina next to the Rockland Breakwater. The petition will be presented to the city council..."

* Feds opposed earlier Samoset pier plan for rockland Breakwater 5 years ago. Read letter from National Marine Fisheries Service

Sears Island - talks continue.

Two accounts of yesterday's meeting in Searsport...

Tanya's Mitchell's account of the meeting Here

Peter Taber on yesterday's meeting on Sears Island.
Sears Island Update
By Peter Taber

“Today’s the critical day,” Deputy Conservation Commissioner Karin Tilberg predicted Tuesday in Searsport at the start of what many had long hoped would be the end of a now seven-month-long citizen planning initiative, its claimed goal to achieve a consensus recommendation to Gov. John Baldacci to decide the fate of Sears Island. “It’s going to happen today or it’s not going to happen,” she said.

Five hours of generally unproductive talk later, it clearly wasn’t going to happen. But as the new year rolls around, the approximately 40 “stakeholder” participants were assured, there will be more talk, lots of talk. Starting in January, there will be meetings both large and small. Those attending will mostly be from the ranks of the two now-dominant positions that have emerged from half a dozen lengthy open meetings since May, from an unknown number of smaller technically public but unannounced meetings, from a blizzard of email and telephone traffic among the participants.

One group is a familiar one that includes transportation industry representatives and officials of the Department of Transportation (DOT) who are straightforward in their desire for major port development on the west side of the island. According to a large map of the island prepared by the DOT’s Rob Elder on display in the meeting house behind the Searsport Congregational Church where Tuesday’s gathering was held, this would close off for port development some 300 acres of what at present is an entirely wild 941-acre island, the largest such public island property on the East Coast.

The other major group of initiative stakeholders are those ostensibly in the preservation camp, most of whom until recently argued for maintaining the entirety of the island in its natural state. Considering the stormy political history of the island, focus of the longest-running environmental battle in New England history, many of these stakeholders now appear prepared to make some truly astonishing concessions to the first group, their primary caveat being that they, too, should be allowed to embark on physical development of their own on the island in the form of some sort of “education center.”

Indeed, responding to a draft consensus proposal primarily authored by Jonathan Reitman, the Brunswick attorney serving as facilitator for the state-sponsored process, on Tuesday elements of this group made public a compromise version that would give the DOT the green light to start “marketing” perhaps 141 acres of the island for a cargo container port. Reitman had suggested about 241 acres with possibly about another 50 acres serving as “a flex easement.” The compromise version was prepared by Steve Miller, director of the Islesboro Islands Trust, who along with Scott Dickerson, his counterpart at Coastal Mountains Land Trust, has led the drive for non-industrial development of the island. It was unclear whether all the others present calling themselves environmentalists were endorsing this version. Most of these stakeholders spent a considerable portion of the early afternoon closeted away in a private planning session of their own closed to the press. What was clear, after they finally emerged for the open public session, the only criticism heard of the Miller proposal came from the mainline port proponents, who didn’t feel it went far enough to suit them.

The environmentalists included two representatives of the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club. In the 1980s and 1990s, the Sierra Club footed much of the bill for a succession of legal maneuvers that stymied port developers and forced the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce provisions of the U.S. Clean Water Act. This activity brought attention to the enormous environmental damage that would be caused by a container port with a marginal wharf on the west shore of Sears Island, the very sort of project now being reconsidered. It also led to criminal investigation of some of those involved in the major preparatory work that did take place for the project, something that only failed to result in prosecution because the statute of limitations ran out. Further, it led to Normandeau Associates, which conducted some of the planning studies on behalf of the DOT for the project, having its privilege to bid for federal contracts suspended. The Sierra Club’s activities also resulted in the state agreeing to an $800,000 settlement to avoid prosecution for illegal filling of wetlands at the proposed port site. And, most significantly, it was this legal effort that ultimately forced Gov. Angus King to conclude in 1996 that the cost of mitigating for environmental damage made continuing with the port project an economically unsound idea.

Tuesday’s meeting opened with Tilberg seeking to clear the air in the wake of a Bangor Daily News article last Friday whose banner headline announced “Sears Island group reaches consensus on port.” “This is a very delicate time,” she cautioned as she went on to strongly deny suspicion her department was anything but transparent in its dealings, that it certainly would never attempt “to plant articles.” The story with its misleading headline was widely circulated by other news media including Maine Public Radio. Reporter Tom Groening said he “cringed” when he read the headline and blamed “some 25-year-old copyeditor” for the error.

END

Maine DEP still undecided on Samorock pier-sprawl plan for Rockland Breakwater.

Jim Cassida, Maine DEP's permit reviewer for the Samorock's plan for a yacht pier next to the Rockland Breakwater, continues to delay. Several days ago he answered an inquiry as to the status of the plan with:

"We are again waiting for a revised visual analysis. I will keep you posted. Jim"

So the wait continues...

DMR politicizes aquaculture decision

Maine Department of Marine Resources' aquaculture administrator is
throwing roadblocks in the way of a Rockland aquaculture proposal apparently in order to benefit a developer with personal ties to Governor Baldacci that is seeking to build a pier in a nearby location. At the same
time, Maine Department of Environmental Protection is poised to reject
the developer's pier proposal, due to its impact to the area's marine
resources.

Rockland resident Neal Parker filed an application with DMR on January
12th of this year for an experimental lease to grow sponges, eelgrass
and coralline algae in a two acre site near the Rockland Breakwater.
The species would be bottom-cultured with no cages, lines or pens.
Lobstering and recreational fishing would be permitted to continue
within the lease area.

While the proposal has met with acceptance by the residents and lobster
fishers of the area, DMR has done everything possible to slow down decision
making on Parker's application, apparently to benefit efforts by a
politically connected developer to build a pier in the same area. The
developer, Samorock LLC, is represented before state agencies by
Robert Baldacci, Governor John Baldacci's brother. Samorock owns
the Samoset resort.

DMR aquaculture administrator Mary Costigan has tried a variety of
tactics to delay decisionmaking on Parker's proposal. According to
documents released pursuant to a Freedom of Access Law request , Costigan
sought a scoping session on the proposal before receiving ANY comments
on the proposal. The scoping session was ultimately not held,
following objections by another DMR official.

Costigan then ordered a public hearing on the proposal, despite a lack
of public interest during the March comment period in doing so. Public
hearings are not required on experimental aquaculture leases unless
five or more individuals request one. Only three requests were
received. The would-be pier developer Samorock LLC did not request a
public hearing.

Moreover, while the agency typically holds public hearings on
experimental aquaculture proposals a few weeks after the close of the
comment period, Costigan has set the date for Parker's hearing for
late August, effectively preventing him from beginning work on his
lease site until next year.

By contrast, DMR received a mussel farm proposal in May and
will hold the public hearing in July, according to the mussel farm
applicant's father, Erick Swanson.

Remarkably, while Maine DMR's aquaculture administrator has been
bending over backwards to favor developer Samorock over its own
aquaculture applicant, officials at Maine Department of Environmental
Protection are poised to reject Samorock's pier proposal due to its
adverse effects on juvenile lobster habitat, the harbor lobster
fishery, shorebird nesting habitat and the aesthetics of the
breakwater area, according to DEP official Jim Cassida, who is
handling the application for that agency.

Cassida will be meeting with representatives of Samorock today to give
them an opportunity to withdraw their pier plan before the agency
rejects it.

Maine DEP proposed rejecting a similar Samorock proposal in 2001. The company withdrew its proposal at that time.

Sears Island's future at stake at meeting May 30th

On May 30th the Sears Island Planning Initiative Steering Committee will meet at the First Congregational Church of Searsport from 9 a.m.- 3 p.m. All are welcome.
DOC info on Sears island meetings Click Here
DRAFT AGENDA
I. Welcome, Introductions and Agenda Review
II. Goals for the process
III. Proposed Groundrules for Effective Communication and Dispute Resolution
IV. Proposed Steering Committee Protocol
V. Composition of Steering Committee and Resource Circle
VI. Overview of Process, Proposed Work Plan and Timeline; discussion of public participation event(s)
VII. Creation of Subcommittees:
* Education (including materials)
* Public Participation
* Site Visit
* Other
VIII. Identification of Issues
IX. Summary and Adjourn

Public hearings June 12-13 on 2006-07 sea urchin seasons

(DMR) announces two public hearings on proposed rules to establish the 2006-2007 Maine sea urchin fishing seasons. Rules for both zones (Zone 1 to be followed by Zone 2) will be discussed at both hearings.

• Monday, June 12, 6pm at the Science Building Lecture Hall, University of Maine, 9 O’Brien Avenue, Machias.
• Tuesday, June 13, 6pm at the Lincoln County Communications Center Meeting Room (lower entrance behind the courthouse), Route 1, Wiscasset.

Agency contact person: Margaret Hunter
Mail written comments to: attn L Churchill
AGENCY NAME: Department of Marine Resources
ADDRESS: PO Box 8, West Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04575-0008
TELEPHONE: (207) 633-9584

Sears Island raided by Homeland Security

Sears Island raided by Homeland Security.
Local and state security forces put public Sears Island under a tight cordon, Friday, including aerial surveillance, police dogs, motorized and on-foot sheriff's patrols,and a hastily set up wall of Jersey Barriers blockading off the island, all at the request of the Maine Department of Transportation,

That agency fears losing its grip on the NW quarter of the island.
related article ...watch for updates...

Stop Maine shark-finning!

On Wednesday May 24th, you can help put an end to the practice of "finning" sharks captured in Maine state waters.

On that day at 6pm Maine DMR will host a meeting on a rulemaking proposal to do so at their laboratory in West Boothbay Harbor (Directions below). "Shark finning" means capturing dogfish and other sharks live, cutting off and saving their fins,and tossing the maimed animal back into the water. Sharks' fins are considered a folk medicine or flavorful soup ingredient by several cultures. The price paid to harvesters for fins is much higher per pound than for shark flesh or skin, leading to an incentive to keep only the fins of sharks . The shark finning industry has led to a major drop in the number of sharks around the world, including the Gulf of Maine.

The US Government now bans shark finning in federal waters. Maine is required to enact a shark finning ban for state waters. Please get involved to make sure that Maine's regulations are strict as possible to keep our finny friends around!
Complete details, below...


PUBLIC HEARING: Wednesday, May 24, 2006, 6:00 PM*, Department of Marine Resources, Large Conference Room, 200 McKown Point Road, West Boothbay Harbor

DEADLINE FOR COMMENTS: Saturday, June 3, 2006

AGENCY CONTACT PERSON: Terry Stockwell (tel: 207-624-6550)
Mail Written Comments to: attn: L. Churchill
AGENCY NAME: Department of Marine Resources
ADDRESS: PO Box 8
West Boothbay Harbor, Maine 04575-0008
WEB SITE: www.maine.gov/dmr/rulemaking
TELEPHONE: (207) 633-9584
FAX: (207) 633-9579
TTY: (207) 633-9500 (Deaf/Hard of Hearing)
Hearing facilities: If you require accommodations due to disability, please contact Kim Pierce, at (207) 287-5055.
­­­­______­­­­­­______________________________________________________________________
Additional information:

The proposed regulations would implement a prohibition in Maine’s territorial waters for the process of “finning” spiny dogfish or coastal sharks. This measure would provide enforcement consistency with the National Marine Fisheries Service federal regulations for sharks (CFR 635.30) and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) Fisheries Management Plan for Spiny Dogfish.

Finning is the process of removing the fin or fins from a coastal shark or spiny dogfish and discarding the remaining of the animal at sea. According to the federal regulations background the strong international market for shark fins has increased the potential for fishing shark stocks at unsustainable levels as well as the waste of usable (but often relatively lower value) shark meat.

The proposed regulations would affect all harvesters of coastal shark or spiny dogfish in Maine’s territorial waters. These amendments are intended to have a positive impact on the conservation of the resource for future harvest.

Shark finning has been prohibited in Federal waters since 1993, and finning of spiny dogfish was prohibited in this region in 2000. Persons aboard a vessel issued a federal permit for coastal shark or spiny dogfish already must comply with the federal prohibitions to shore or more restrictive rules. Maine is the remaining member state of the ASMFC compact to comply with the finning prohibition.


Proposed regulations: DEPARTMENT OF MARINE RESOURCES

Chapter 50- Spiny Dogfish and Coastal Sharks

50.01 Definitions

1. “Coastal Sharks” means for the purpose of these regulations any species of shark caught in Maine’s territorial waters.

2. “Finning” means the act of taking a spiny dogfish or other coastal shark removing the fins, and returning the remainder of the spiny dogfish or other coastal shark to the sea.


50.02 Harvest, Possession and Landing Restrictions Note: See separate proposed rulemaking

50.10 Finning Prohibited

Finning is prohibited in Maine territorial waters. Vessels that land spiny dogfish or other coastal shark must land fins in proportion to carcasses, with a maximum 5% fin to carcass ratio, by weight. Fins may be removed at sea, but the corresponding carcass, including the head and tail, must be retained. All fins and carcasses must be landed at the same time and in the same location. The shark or dogfish may be bled.




If you wish to submit comments on this rulemaking and are unable to attend the hearing please mail written comments at any time from the receipt of this notice to be received on or by
June 3, 2006. See contact information.

Penobscots, NGOs to DEP: Is Casella plan for mega bark mulch complex the camel's nose for another Maine megawaste complex?

Is the mega-mulch plan for Milford actually Casella wastes' first foray into its long-dreaded proposal for a mammoth waste & demolition debris processing and sorting complex in Maine?

Recently John Banks, natural resources director for the Penobscot Nation, and a number of other concerned folks met with Karen Knuuti of the DEP's Remediation and Waste Management bureau. Purpose: Get more info on Casella Wastes plan for bark mulching and bark chip storage site that Casella wants to build at the west end of the Stud Mill Road on the Milford / Greenbush town line.

Kanuuti did the can-only-act-on-what-is-right-before-her-in-the-permit-application
dance as expected, but some aspects of the big picture are sinking in:
Big Waste is seizing every opportunity to acquire and expand existing waste dumps no matter how small, and to of course creat entire new waste hoards. Can we curb Waster rapacity?

Maine's Mini-NEPA to the Rescue?
Is the bark that Casella wants to mulch in Milford defined as 'waste' or 'raw materials'? The difference is vast. If the latter, Maine's Site Location of Development Act requires a whole new level of review for Casella's plans.

The additional review requires a look at the forest of the area


Specifically,
Sec 485-A(1-A) of the Site Law, notes that:

"For a new or expanded development requiring an annual supply of wood or wood-derived materials in excess of 150,000 tons green weight, the applicant shall submit a wood supply plan for informational purposes to the Maine Forest Service concurrent with the application required in subsection 1. " What must a wood supply plan include?
1-A. Wood supply. For a new or expanded development requiring an annual supply of wood or wood-derived materials in excess of 150,000 tons green weight, the applicant shall submit a wood supply plan for informational purposes to the Maine Forest Service concurrent with the application required in subsection 1. "

The wood supply plan must include, but is not limited to, the following information:
A. The expected operational life of the development;
B. The projected annual wood consumption of wood mill residue, wood fiber and recycled materials from forest products during the entire operational life of the development;
C. The expected market area for wood supply necessary to supply the development; and
D. Other relevant wood supply information."

Rockport coastal forest threatened by Utah firm.

Leucadia National Corporation has its eyes on developing 111 acres of the Brewster Point forest on the edge of Clam Cove in Rockport. (Area outlined in white on aerial photo.) 

Travellers on Route 1 in Rockport can see the forest (for now) rising directly across the impressive Clam Cove mudflats in Glen Cove.

 The company purchsed the forest property in late January 05 from the estate of longtime landowner Nancy Smyrll, who died in last June.

 Up to 50% of this tract is a thickly forested wetland rich with wildlife, including deer, furbearing mammls, forest dwelling songbirds and many more. Eleven streams flow through and out of the forest within the tract, which is also a major portion of a an undeveloped wildlife corridor stretching between Rockland Harbor and Clam Cove.

 Utah-based Leuvadia is a conglomerate with subsidiaries in the fields of mining, telecommunications, healthcare, banking, manufacturing, real estate, winery operations, and insurance. On page 1 of its 2004 Annual Report, Leucadia describes its investment philosophy “as buying assets that are out of favor and, therefore, cheap or disheveled in one way or another which makes them inexpensive.” 

While wetlands rich, wildlife rich forests such as this one may be "disheveled" in the eye of a developer, to Nature they are splendidly organized and highly functional areas, and, in this this case, irreplaceable. 

 To date the company has not filed any applications with Maine DEP. Nor has it held any preapplication discussions with the agency. There have been no application filed with the town of Rockport either.

 Stay tuned...

Eel Liberation Part 2--Androscoggin River

Coming on the heels of their victorious effort in January to get the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) to agree to hold a full adjudicated hearing on the impact to American eels of turbines of a hydroelectric dam on the Kennebec River
Ed Friedman and his Merrymeeting man and women today pose the same question to the BEP but this time on behalf of the eels that are lost to turbines on the Androscoggin River.
Click HERE for a pdf file of Ed Friedman's remarks today before the Maine Board of Environmental Protection.

Good luck today, Ed & companions! anyone who looks into the eyes of the eels of Maine cannot but wish him the best.

Stay Tuned.

Maine eels huggers gain public hearing!

Eel defenders Friends of Merrymeeting Bay and won a key victory today when the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP voted to hold a full adjudicated hearing on the impact to American eels of turbines of a hydroelectric dam on the Kennebec River. The eel huggers are asking for immediate down & upstream passage for catadromous eels through dams on that river and the Androscoggin River as well for the movement of anadromous fish.

The BEP decision to hold the meeting went against the recommendations of the Maine DEP staff, so it was a figure that had to be fought for. Happily, as one meeting attendee put it: "The DEP staff, and the dam owners kept digging a deeper and deeper hole for themselves." Let's hope they and DMR which likewise has been silent in the face of the well documented heavy eel slaughter at the turbines, dig a hole big enough to let this important animal pass safely from freshwater Kennebec to the Gulf of Maine. Two fins up for Kathleen McGee, Ed Friedman and the others waging this critical campaign for wild Maine.

Salmon fly fishery on the Penobscot?

State proposes salmon fishery reopening on the Penobscot River.
An Atlantic Samon Commission plan to allow a limited flyfishing season will be released in February with public hearings in March.
Atlantic Salmon Commission says studies show a one month winter flyfishing only catch and release fishery won't seriously harm recovery efforts especially as survivability is believed to be better when the water and air is cold, than warm.

NGO's Atlantic Salmon Federation and Trout unlimited have waded in. ASF "studying the plan", but Trout Unlimited is voicing doubts about the wisdom of a fishery in the midst of a restoration. But reserving judgement.
Penobscot River salmon not on ESA. Under a state/fedeal agreement, fishing was drasticly curtailed. State official
Pat Keliher agrees Maine salmon are not restored but says a case can be made for the public awareness positivity of a very limited fishery.

Links:
Atlantic Salmon Commission
Atlantic Salmon Federation (Maine)
Trout Unlimited (Maine Council)

Gulf of Maine: The Way (marine) Life Ought to Be

Get smart on Fisheries. Learn how abundant the fishes living in Maine rivers, bays and offshore were before the twentieth century's mechanized fisheries and pollution laid them waste.

How? Read more than 100 remarkable reports published by late 19th century researchers working for the Smithsonian and the U.S Fish Commission, as they explored and documented the fishing grounds off New England, the Maritimes, and Atlantic Canada, and the salmon rivers of Maine. And the fisherfolk who harvested them.

Sears Island - Maine DOT, Sierra Club, Islesboro Trust plans for island future?

The Waldo Independent. November 2 2005
DOT island plan blasted. By Peter Taber

The state Department of Transportation (DOT) once more stands accused of operating in bad faith with respect to the largest uninhabited and undeveloped publicly owned island on the East Coast.

This week environmentalists and neighbors who want to save Sears Island from intensive commercial and industrial development said they plan to take their concerns about the DOT's activities to Gov. John Baldacci. They said they'll remind him in an open letter of the assurances they said he gave them last year that all interested parties would be fully included in planning for the future of the island. Full story Click Here

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.

BEP holds October 6, 2005 public hearing on Dragon's waste permits.

Maine Board of Environmental Protection orders October 6 public hearing on Dragon's waste permits.
Read story, listen to audio recordings of meeting here

AUGUSTA. The Maine Board of Environmental Protection held a public hearing on whether they should take over over decisionmaking on Dragon Cement Products' pollution license. The hearing was held on October 6, 2005 at the Holiday Inn's Ground Round, on Civic Center Drive, Augusta. 

The Board responded to a petition by citizens group Neighbors for a Safe Dragon stating that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's Waste Bureau was refusing to act on Dragon's Cement Kiln Dust waste license application, meanwwhile allowing the company to continuing discharging CKD into the air and groundwater.

The Board of Environmental Protection members voted unanimously to hold a hearing to take testimony from Neighbors for a Safe Dragon, Dragon Cement and the interested public. The meeting was  held October 6th in Augusta.

At the hearing, the Board was skeptical of explanations made by Maine DEP solid waste division official Paula Clark for allowing the Dragon to operate an unlicenced unlined 840,000 ton cement kiln dust landfill for the last decade without a license and wanted to know why the company was allowed to build a major addition to the industrial complex with no public notice or review. 

Members of Neighbors for a Safe Dragon are jubilant, saying that the people finally get their chance to be heard.

On Sept 22nd, Maine's Board of Environmental Protection to quiz state's Dragon-licensers.

Dragon's toxic test well data

Thomaston cement maker Dragon Cement Products' pollution licensing problems go under the spotlight on Sept 22nd, when the state's top citizen environmental board asks the Dept of Environmental Protection's pollution officials to explain why Dragon continues to be allowed to pollute the region's watershed, aquifers and neighborhoods without being licensed to do so.

The action comes in reaction to a request by citizens' group Neighbors for a Safe Dragon to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection that the Board itself take over the permitting process instead of letting DEP continue to muddle along year after year while Dragon continues discharging into the environment..

In the past, the Board of Environmental Protection "assumed jurisdiction" over Maine DEP permitting process regarding runoff and noise issues from expansion of the Knox County Regional Airport, as well as over the amount of waste that salmon farms can discharge from their marine feedlot operations, in addition to other pollution challenges that the Maine DEP staff seem unable to resolve.

According to BEP's executive analyst Cindy Bertocci, the state's pollution officials are scheduled to appear before the Board at 1pm September 29th in Augusta at the Holiday Inn /Ground Round on Civic Center Drive adjacent to the Augusta Civic Center. 1:00 pm.

Board of Environmental Protection:
Purpose of theBoard
Members of the Board

DMR Bay Mgmt Steering Committee meets 9/19/05, Portland

The Steering Committee of the Maine Bay Management Study will meet Monday, September 19th 10:00 am - 2:00 pm at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute 400 Commercial Street, Portland, Maine.
Legislation describing how the study is to be carried out

CLF gives Ferraiolo Corp notice of intent to sue in federal court.

Ferraiolo Construction Company gets Clean Water Act Notice of intent to Sue 9/8/05
"Concerned with rising levels of stormwater pollution and rampant permit violations at industrial facilities in Maine, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) today notified six concrete and asphalt plants in mid-coast Maine that it will file suit in 60 days for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

"Statewide, fewer than 15 percent of Maine's industrial plants have federal stormwater discharge permits," said CLF Staff Attorney Steve Hinchman..." Click Here for full media release from CLF *** Village soup story

Sears Island - environmental coalition announces plans

Environmental coalition offering plan for Sears Island
By Peter Taber, Waldo Independent
A loose coalition of environmental groups from across Maine known as Protect Sears Island (PSI) this week stepped forward with announcement of plans that would permanently fill a vacuum that for nearly 40 years has prompted a succession of industrial schemes ranging from a nuclear power plant to, most recently, a terminal and gasification plant for liquefied natural gas. Read more

Georges Bank exploratory drilling to happen

One of the foul balls of the Energy Policy Act...
Exploration on Georges Bank OK'd
Critics say oil, gas survey could disrupt fishing grounds
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | August 5, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A provision tucked into the energy bill approved by Congress last week calls on the government to conduct a survey of potential oil and gas drilling at sites along the entire US coastline, including Georges Bank off the coast of Nantucket.

The measure directs the Department of Interior to conduct an ''inventory and analysis of oil and gas resources" beneath the outer continental shelf, the relatively shallow areas beginning about 3 miles off the nation's coastline. That includes Georges Bank, a vast underwater plateau that stretches from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia and has been among the world's most fertile fishing grounds.

Energy companies have sought to drill for oil and gas on the bank for more than 30 years, prompting protracted legal and congressional battles. A ban on drilling has been in place since 1982, and the current moratorium runs through 2012. The energy bill, which President Bush is expected to sign next week, does not alter the drilling ba but lifts the prohibition on exploration, which was added during the 1990s.

More Click Here

Invader asian crabs spread downeast

A volunteer working for a Canadian researcher Dave Delaney of McGill University just found a 22 mm female Asian shorecrab (Hemigrapsus sanguineus) on the north shore of Schoodic Peninsula, (presumably Gouldsboro.

This is unfortunate news. Now the ASC has colonized the southern (Isle au Haut) and northern extents of Acadia National Park. Even more alarming, the found organism was a gravid female with only a few eggs remaining.

This is the furthest north that the lobster-threatening invasive crab has been confirmed.

The staff of Acadia National Park, especially Jim McKenna and David Manski, have been assisting in the crab-watch.

This crab has had impacts in more southern Atlantic states. (massive population growth in the intertidal, crowding out other crustaceans.)

The strategy the Canadian resaerch calls for: start a trapping program throughout Acadia and the rest of Maine to control for the invader. The invader green crab now has an official trapping fishery with a commercial license. )

Rockland Dredge Disposal Site - state to mandate more community involvement.

Changes are in the wind for how decisions are made about dumping dredge spoils in Penobscot Bay. Towns will have to become experts. A held over bill LD 1592 at the state legislature will require all towns where dredging is to take place to develop a plan for the disposal of dredge spoils. In an email sequence below, Maine Port Authority head Brian Nutter has Maine Port Safety Forum staffer Eileen Lord forward to a broad spectrum of the state maritime community an email from Jay Clement of the US Army Corps of Engineers. Titled "Dredging/Disposal and the Rockland Disposal Area" it apparently refers to the bill, which was held over by the legislature till the next session or special session.
Read the bill at this link or below pasted in below the email.
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/LD.asp?LD=1592

The last paragraph of the bill is the added language, the only change it would make in this law: http://janus.state.me.us/legis/statutes/38/title38sec480-d.html .
-BayBlog

-----Original Message-----
From: Nutter, Brian
Sent: Thursday, July 14, 2005 12:00 PM
To: Lord, Eileen
Subject: FW: Dredging/Disposal and the Rockland Disposal Area

Eileen,
Please forward this to the Port Safety Forum.

Thanks, Brian

Brian C. Nutter, Executive Director
Maine Port Authority
16 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0016

Tel. 207-624-3564 Fax 207-624-3251
Brian.Nutter@Maine.gov
www.maineports.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Clement, Jay L NAE [mailto:Jay.L.Clement@nae02.usace.army.mil]
Sent: Wednesday, July 13, 2005 1:42 PM
To: brian.nutter@maine.gov
Subject: Dredging/Disposal and the Rockland Disposal Area

Brian:

I didn't want to wait until October so feel free to pass this message along to the members of the forum. Apparently the legislature instructed DOT and DEP to work together on the issue of use of the Rockland Disposal Site. At DOT the POC is Chris Olsen; and at DEP it is Judy Gates or Jeff Madore. At this point in time no outcomes are pre-ordained nor has a work group or even a work plan been developed, let alone a time table. It is likely that nothing will happen until at least September. Our office would expect to be involved, particularly since we've worked with your shop and DEP for many years on dredging/disposal issues.

I may have more information by the October forum meeting or I may not. This initiative seems to have had some gas in the beginning but now the tank is empty.

Jay

----------------------End of Emails----------------------------------------------

The bill LD 1592's language. The addition of the last paragraph about municipalities is the ONLY change.

LD 1592. An Act Regarding Disposal of Dredged Materials.
Introduced by Representative KOFFMAN of Bar Harbor

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 38 MRSA §413, sub-§2-C, as amended by PL 1989, c. 656, §1, is repealed:

Sec. 2. 38 MRSA §480-D, sub-§9, as amended by PL 2001, c. 248, §1, is
further amended to read:

9. Dredging. If the proposed activity involves dredging,
dredge spoils disposal or transporting dredge spoils by water,
the applicant must demonstrate that the transportation route
minimizes adverse impacts on the fishing industry and that the
disposal site is geologically suitable. The Commissioner of
Marine Resources shall provide the department with an assessment
of the impacts on the fishing industry of a proposed dredging
operation in the coastal wetlands. The assessment must consider
impacts to the area to be dredged and impacts to the fishing
industry of a proposed route to transport dredge spoils to an
ocean disposal site. The Commissioner of Marine Resources may
hold a public hearing on the proposed dredging operation. In
determining if a hearing is to be held, the Commissioner of
Marine Resources shall consider the potential impacts of the
proposed dredging operation on fishing in the area to be dredged.
If a hearing is held, it must be within at least one of the
municipalities in which the dredging operation would take place.

If the Commissioner of Marine Resources determines that a hearing
is not to be held, the Commissioner of Marine Resources must
publish a notice of that determination in a newspaper of general
circulation in the area proposed for the dredging operation. The
notice must state that the Commissioner of Marine Resources will
accept verbal and written comments in lieu of a public hearing.

The notice must also state that if 5 or more persons request a
public hearing within 30 days of the notice publication, the
Commissioner of Marine Resources will hold a hearing. If 5 or
more persons request a public hearing within 30 days of the
notice publication, the Commissioner of Marine Resources must
hold a hearing. In making its determination under this
subsection, the department must take into consideration the
assessment provided by the Commissioner of Marine Resources. The
permit must require the applicant to:

A. Clearly mark or designate the dredging area, the spoils
disposal route and the transportation route;

B. Publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the
area adjacent to the route the approved transportation route
of the dredge spoils; and

C. Publish in a newspaper of general circulation in the area
adjacent to the route a procedure that the applicant
will use to respond to inquiries regarding the loss of fishing
gear during the dredging operation.

A municipality that is adjacent to coastal waters in which
dredging operations take place shall develop a plan for the
disposal of dredge spoils.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY
Current law exempts holders of a permit issued under the
United States Clean Water Act, Public Law 92-500, Section 404
from obtaining a waste discharge license for the disposal of
dredged materials into waters of the State. This bill removes
that exemption. The bill also requires coastal municipalities to
develop a plan for the disposal of dredge spoils.

End of bill
----------------------------------------------------
The law below, exempting dredger-wannabes from needing to get state permits will be repealed by the bill as well:

38 MRSA §413, sub-§2-C
Waste Discharge Licenses.

2-C. Dredge spoils. Holders of a permit obtained pursuant to the United States Clean Water Act, Public Law 92-500, Section 404, are exempt from the need to obtain a waste discharge license for disposal of dredged material into waters of the State when the dredged material is disposed of in an approved United States Army Corps of Engineers disposal site. Disposal of all dredged materials is governed by the natural resource protection laws, sections 480-A to 480-S. [1989, c. 656, §1 (amd).]

Maine fishermen fight Navy assault ship plan.

Maine fishermen fight Navy assault ship plan.
Rockland. In an ironic departure from efforts to retain naval ships in Portsmouth, angry fishermen from one of Maine's top lobstering areas rounded on the US Navy today, filling the Rockland Harbormaster's office in a hastily called meeting and demanding that the USS Wasp , scheduled to make a courtesy call to the town during the Maine Lobster Festival, move its anchoring location from choice lobstergrounds north of the Rockland Breakwater either a half mile south (closer to the Breakwater Lighthouse) or to the anchorage traditionally used by visiting navy ships off Owls Head across the harbor which has little fishing activity.

While no Navy officials attended the meeting, the Navy's concern was said to be the existence on the harbor nautical chart of a submerged wreck that could entangle anchor lines or foul the deep draft vessel. The Wasp is an 840 foot long, 106 foot wide amphibious assault ship, drawing 26 and one half feet.

The fishermen say the carrier and its surrounding no-vessels-allowed security zone will block dozens of fishermen from their traps for up to a week.

Representatives of the US Coast Guard and Marine Patrol joined the fishermen and harbormaster at the meeting. Asked by the fishermen if they would compensate them for the lost earnings, festival promoters at the meeting said no. The harbormaster was similarly unwilling to discuss compensation.

The meeting ended with the following plan: the harbormaster will hire a professional diver to videodocument the site and a sonar sweep of the wreck area will be taken and recorded. The results will be sent on to the navy, if they show that the wreck on the local nautical chart has crumbled into the seafloor, in hopes that the Navy will review it and consider anchoring the Wasp in that area, instead of prime lobster grounds.

Regardless of the ultimate location of the USS Wasp, fishermen say that the heightened security around Navy vessels since 911 has made life a bit less pleasant whenever a navy vessel visits Rockland harbor. One harbor fisherman described the eerie sensation of being tracked by a watchful seaman wielding a 50 caliber machine gun last summer while fishing his traps near a visiting warship then.

Dragon agrees to cap its pile!

Dragon agrees to cap its toxic cement kiln dust pile!
The pressure of the NSD lawsuit and the gloomy results of water testing around Dragon's cement plant. has apparently changed Dragon's mind about their Cement Kiln Dust (CKD) pile. Carla Hopkins of Maine DEP's Bureau of Remediation and Waste Mgmt reports that Maine DEP has received from Dragon Cement Products a "submittal for a closure plan" of the company's 825,000 ton CKD pile.

Maine DEP's engineering people are looking at this and if it is approved, the capping of the dragondust pile could take place during the summer and fall 2005 construction season.

Under the plan, thirteen of seventeen acres would be capped with clay and soil and revegetated. The other three acres would be the working face that they are actively removing dust from to try different ways of re-use. This would end the addition of toxics into the air, surface water and groundwater.

The state is preparing to issue a Schedule of Compliance, establishing a strict timeline for the company to bring its operations into compliance with the law as written by MDEP's Carla Hopkins has been vetted and passed by her immediate supervisor. It is now in the hands of Bureau Birector Steve Davis; once he approves it, the Schedule of Compliance goes for the commissioner's signature. There may be a last minute change to incorporate Dragon's new pile closure plan.

ME apprpriations Committee approves the Stockton Harbor/Coastal Trust Fund bill

Maine state representative Jeff Kaelin's bill LD 1234 to "Re-create the Maine Coast Environmental Trust Fund and re-fund it to pay for the Stockton Harbor study" has passed unanimously. Committee members were "pretty offended by the "looting" of the Stockton Harbor money," according to one who attended the meeting. the money vanished from a state account more than two years ago.

Read the bill:
http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/LD.asp?LD=1234

Details about the Stockton Harbor pollution issue are at http://www.penbay.org/gacalum.html

Committee of Reference: Appropriations and Financial Affairs, Tue Mar 15, 2005Public

TEXT OF LD 1234
SUMMARY "This bill reestablishes the Maine Coast Environmental Trust Fund in the Department of Marine Resources. The purpose of the trust fund is to protect and improve the quality of the State's marine environment by providing grants to qualifying organizations. This bill requires the department to develop a competitive grant program, including qualifications and application procedures, and report back to the Second Regular Session of the 122nd Legislature with the department's recommendations.

The bill also appropriates start-up funds to the trust fund and funds to be used to restore the clam flats in Stockton Harbor."


Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6136 is enacted to read:

§6136. Maine Coast Environmental Trust Fund
1. Creation of trust fund. There is established the Maine Coast Environmental Trust Fund, referred to in this section as "the trust."

2. Purpose of trust. The purpose of the trust is to protect and improve the quality of the State's marine environment by providing grants to qualifying organizations for activities to advance scientific research concerning the nature, magnitude and effect of pollution of the State's estuarine, near-shore and off-shore marine environments and the means to abate pollution or preserve and enhance estuarine, near-shore and off-shore marine habitats.

3. Sources for trust. Money obtained from the following sources must be paid to the Treasurer of State for the benefit of the trust:

A. Gifts, bequests and donations to the trust from private individuals or corporations desiring to protect and improve the marine environment through applied research;

B. Grants to the trust from private or public foundations desiring to protect and improve the marine environment through applied and basic research;

C. Funds stipulated for deposit in the trust as part of the terms of settlement of legal actions against corporations, partnerships or individuals for violations of environmental laws, rules or regulations;

D. Funds for research received under any federal oil spill trust fund;
E. Revenues that may be from time to time realized through public bond issues; and
F. Federal grants and loans.

4. Use and administration of trust. Trust funds must be used to provide grants to meet the purposes of this section. The department shall administer the trust as follows.

A. Unless otherwise specified by the source of a contribution to the trust, 50% of a contribution to the trust must be deposited in a principal account and maintained as a permanent endowment. The income earned on funds held in this account, combined with the remaining 50% of funds contributed to the trust, must be deposited in an operating account and made available for disbursement as grants to accomplish the purposes of this section and as expenditures for purposes of administering the trust.

B. An executive agency is not eligible to receive funding from the trust unless the agency jointly undertakes a research proposal with another entity that is not an executive agency.

C. The department shall give preference to institutions, organizations and entities located and operated in the State.

D. Principal, or interest earned from principal, with special instructions from contributors must be awarded in accordance with the contributors' instructions.

E. All money in the trust not immediately required for payment, pursuant to the provisions of this section, must be invested by the Treasurer of State as authorized by Title 5, section 138, except that the securities in which the trust money is invested must remain part of the trust until exchanged for other securities and the income from all investments must remain a part of the trust unless prohibited by federal law.

5. Report, amendment and termination of trust. The department shall file a report as follows.

A. The department shall report to the Legislature on a biennial basis concerning the activities of the trust.

B. In the event the department determines that the provisions of the trust should be amended, the department shall make appropriate recommendations to the Legislature in its biennial report.

C. The department may recommend in its biennial report that the trust be terminated if termination is determined to be appropriate. In the event that the Legislature terminates the trust, the principal and operating funds must be disbursed in a manner consistent with the purpose of the trust.

Sec. 2. Development of competitive grant program; report. The Department of Marine Resources shall develop a competitive grant program, including qualifications and application procedures, for the improvement and protection of the State's marine environment pursuant to the Maine Revised Statutes, Title 12, section 6136. The department shall report by January 15, 2006 to the Second Regular Session of the 122nd Legislature with its recommendations and any necessary implementing legislation.

Sec. 3. Appropriations and allocations. The following appropriations and allocations are made.

Maine Coast Environmental Trust Fund Initiative: Provides funds to reestablish a competitive grant program and to restore the clam flats in Stockton Harbor.

GENERAL FUND 2005-06 2006-07

All Other $52,300 $0

__________ __________

GENERAL FUND TOTAL $52,300 $0

Dragon Huggers: read this, look at these:

Ah, the Dragon-huggers!

Referencing:
Neighbors sue dragon in federal court

Do they understand that it's not counting coup on the company, it's solving a simple problem.....It helps to consider this in a larger context. The ol' seven generations mode works well: unearth the environmental legacies--positive detrimental and neutral--of the 3 generations preceeding ours, couple that with our own contributions, benign, restorative and/or destructive, and try to crystal ball from those what the likely outcomes will be for the Maine of our great grandkids if we take one action or another. Or no action.
Dragon Cement products and its two drainages

So, you tot up what's been done, dumped and dischargd at that site--from quarrying to cement making to dust "stockpiling"--from great grandpa's time to now, and then triage out what it is technically and economically realistic for this magnificent economic engine, its product so fundamental to our way of life, to do to minimize and reduce, even end, the uncontrolled movement of its wastes offsite, be it above ground or below. To think otherwise it to hold that is okay to salt the area wells and springs with lead, arsenic and the rest of the chemicals and elements that make up Dragon's Brew. Read letters and memos from Maine DEP to Dragon about its poor potty training

The point of the photo and document links is to show that when you have an uncapped pile of this kind of material, (1) erosion happens, and when it does, (2) leachate (CKD tea) is produced, and (3) (here you must go to the writings of the state geologist) leachate pooled on the surface of a heavily fractured bedrock formation leaks into that formation and enters the groundwater, (4) groundwater reenters the surface world in springs, seeps, and wells, as well as percolating into either of the two rivers flanking the plant.

See the eroding waste piles at Dragon.
& More erosion
Then take a look at the contaminated runoff leaching into Thomaston groundwater & even more contaminated water .

Maine Bay Management Leaders Meet, discuss LURC-ing Maine's marine environment

Augusta. At a February 25, 2005 meeting of the staff and project managers of the Maine Bay Management Study in Augusta, two plans for innovative management of Maine's nearshore marine environment were reviewed, and a proposal was presented that the state create marine zoning based on the model of the Land Use Regulation Commission's rules. A government official described Baldacci Adminiustration opposition to a bill before the legislature that would clarify that under state law, towns with acccepted comprehensive plans have the power to block development or pollution discharge projects, even if they get state permit approvals

The Bay Management Study's steering committee consists of Paul Anderson, Director, Maine Sea Grant, Kathleen Billings, Chair, Soft Shell Clam Advisory Council; Town of Stonington, Heather Deese, Science Director, Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, Dewitt John, Director of Environmental Studies, Bowdoin College, Evan Richert, Program Director, Gulf of Maine Census on Marine Life, Jim Salisbury, Retired CEO, Supreme Alaska Seafoods David Schmanska, Harbormaster, St. George, Barbara Vickery, Director of Conservation Programs, ME Chapter of the Nature Conservancy.

The two adopted bay management prototype projects were described by the grantees:

Steve Perrin of Friends of Taunton Bay described his bay management project, which will draft a single shellfish and worm ordinance for the Sullivan Franklin and Gouldsboro three towns ringing and dividing Taunton Bay.

"The boundary between the thee towns meets in the middle of the bay," Perrin told the meeting. describing them as "three seperate jurisdictions along the shore that are not in any way uniform." This has led to severe overharvesting of those organisms, he said, describing how when a Sullivan clamflat that had been closed by pollution for years opened up.

"Fifty three clammers came, and wiped it out on the first day."Perrin said. "That was the end of that clamflat. So they learned that they have to regulate their resources and they have a vested interest in doing that."

Jennifer Atkinson representing the Quebec-Labrador Foundation described her project which includes surveying the people of the Muscongus Bay area and collecting historic reports and whatever data she and her associates can compile, and holding two open meetings for Muscongus Bay area residents to attend. The end result will be a a profile of the bay's marine ecology, a study of the socioeconomic and cultural relationships of the coastal communities and users of Muscongus Bay, and a proposal for improving the interaction between the two .

Deirdre Gilbert of DMR discussed DMR's "planned approach for investigating this problem of conflicts and gaps in marine governance systems," She described planning for the 'public discussion' meetings, the staff decisions to simplify the meeting process, focusing less on specific solutions from the public and more on general themes of problems citizens may have with state coastal regulations.

Sue Inches of Maine DMR described the administration's efforts to block passage of, or drastically amend, LD 582 "An Act To Change the Effect of Local Ordinances on the State" The bill, before the Maine state legislature, would clarify that under state law, towns with acccepted comprehensive have the power to block development or pollution projects, even if they get state permit approvals.

"State agencies that I've talked to are not very comfortable with the bill," Inches told the meeting. She said they are coming up with an alternative proposal to make all local ordinances advisory with respect to state agencies. "The governor's office is being very bold on this one, saying yes, there are state priorities that have to be met and the towns should not be in a position of being able to prohibit state goals from being met." Inches said. The bill was presented by Senator Bromley of Cumberland and cosponsored by Representative Koffman of Bar Harbor and Senator Damon of Hancock, Representatives Beaudette Of Biddeford, Smith N of Monmouth.

Evan Richert, former head of the Maine Coastal Program and now a private consultant, reviewed the history of the state's land use zoning process and described how parts of it could be applied as model for ocean zoning. Richert noted that land zoning began in Maine in the 1920s, but did not approach the coastal environment until passage of the Mandatory Shoreland Zoning Act inthe 1970s

He said that municipal land zoning ordinances are insufficient for bay and marine zoning because they define the land by two dimensional property lines which don't exist in the marine environment. Instead, he said, the Bay Managrement Study should look at the rules of the Land Use Regulatory Commission as a better model.

Richert said "Chapter 10 of those rules is its zoning ordinance that identifies and establishes zoning lines almost entirely on natural resource-based features instead of perperty lines. LuURC jurisdictions are zoned for a different purpose than municipal zoning, more for resource management purposes.

"So the unorganized territories are much more comparable to Taunton Bay or other bays," he said. "Where people might say this is an aquaculture bay, a working bay, there are similarities there. In the marine environment it's a three dimensional space."

Richert compared it to a three dimensional scrabble game "not only the surface but the air space, the various depths of the water column, and the seafloor."

END

Artificial lobster bait before Maine Legislature

Artificial lobster bait issue being considered by Maine Legislature: LD 527 An Act To Authorize the Commissioner of Marine Resources To Regulate the Use of Artificial Bait in Marine Fisheries.
See bill at http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/bills/ld_title.asp?ld=527

What's happening: Following the onset several years ago of large scale marketing and use of artificial lobster bait, worry arose among lobstermen about the impact that this change in diet would have on Homarus americanis, the American Lobster. The issue was brought front and center at the 2004 Maine Fishermen's Forum, where some advocated prohibiting artificial bait based on an obscure antilittering law. This was not felt sufficient by the state attorney general. In response to requrests, the Maine Department of Marine Resources drafted the following bill. The bill as presently being considered by the Maine legislature simply empowers the DMR to create rules about artificial bait. It does not define the rules:

LD 527 An Act To Authorize the Commissioner of Marine Resources To Regulate the Use of Artificial Bait in Marine Fisheries.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §6175 is enacted to read:

§6175.__Alternative bait
The commissioner may adopt rules to regulate the use of alternative bait in marine fisheries. Rules authorized by this section must be adopted in accordance with the procedures in subchapter 2 and are routine technical rules as defined in Title 5, chapter 375, subchapter 2-A.

SUMMARY
This bill authorizes the Commissioner of Marine Resources to regulate the use of alternative bait in marine fisheries.

Bay Management Blues

Maine's Bay Management Project off to Shaky Start.
Rockland. If the beginning of Maine's coastwide Bay Management Project is any indication, citizens, interest groups, state agencies and industry sectors will have to work hard if this long-awaited project to reform management of Maine's nearshore marine environment and its ecosystems is to reach its goal. For critics warn the present initiative appears to have many of the flaws of its predecessor, the Maine Aquaculture Task Force, whose January 30, 2004 report to the legislature resulted in the creation of the Bay Management Project.The February 3, 2005 Bay Management meeting brought eleven state officials to Rockland for what was billed as Sharing Public Waters: a Community Discussion to explore and document potential new and innovative concepts for the management of Maine’s embayments”. An early meeting planned for Ellsworth was postponed twice, once by weather and then by an automobile accident involving a vehicle carrying state agency staff to the meeting. See background on Maine Bay Management project. (Includes a transcript of the February 3rd meeting.)
The meeting program consisted of a series of power point presentations, followed by division of the attendees into breakout groups which each pondered a different element of bay management. The attendees then reformed, and a representative of each breakout group gave a short summary of the ideas and issues that its participants had identified.

Moderated by Esperanza Stancioff  who has two  two positions: University of Maine Cooperative Extension & Maine SeaGrant, the presenters included Kathleen Leyden, head of the State Planning Office's Coastal Program, Maine Department of Marine Resources Ecology Division director John Sowles, and Todd Burrowes, policy specialist with the State Planning Office.

Other officials at the meeting included Seth Barker DMR GIS coordinator, Mary Costigan, DMR aquaculture hearing officer, Vanessa Levesque, coastal fellow with SPO & DMR, Elizabeth Stevenson, a Coastal Program intern and University of Maine researcher, Jim Connors, senior planner at the Coastal Program, Sherman Hoyt fisheries outreach, Maine SeaGrant, and Sarah Gladu , a phytoplankton and water quality coordinator with SeaGrant and Maine Cooperative Extension.

Some of the ideas and issues generated by the groups included improved information sharing between municipalities to facilitate the work of town conservation committees and harbormasters; finding a way to give more weight to local input in the aquaculture decisionmaking process; giving more attention to the impact to the nearshore environment of increased herbicide and pesticide runoff from growth in coastal areas.

Several specific locations were identified as nearshore flashpoints: looming sprawl on the Saint George peninsula could increase pesticide runoff into southwestern Penobscot Bay, home of Maine's richest lobster grounds; and protection of eelgrass around Sears Island (many of those eelgrass meadows narrowly escaped elimination when a hotly contested industrial port proposal for the island was finally withdrawn in the mid 1990's).

It was noted in one group that a 1993 decision by the Maine legislature to exempt aquaculture from one of the state's chief environmental laws should be re-examined. While arguably helpful during the initial growth phase of commercial aquaculture in Maine state waters, the exemption of aquaculture from meeting the standards of the Site Location of Development Act keeps the Maine Department of Environmental Protection from sharing its considerable expertise on understanding landbased impacts to and from areas where aquaculture permits are sought.

While the meeting went smoothly, a number of criticisms were leveled at the process: instead of a public hearing or public meeting, the event was defined as a "community conversation". There was no opportunity for meeting attendees to give individual testimony or statements to the assembled officials; input was only taken during the small group breakout meetings, and that input was then summarized and abstracted before being presented to the full meeting by each subgroup's facilitator in two minute summaries. Further, there was no follow up discussion on those summaries; the meeting was ended once the last summary was concluded.

Another issue is the makeup of the advisory committee for the Bay Management Project. Glaringly absent from the advisory committee are any members of the Bay Management Coalition, which includes the Conservation Law Foundation, Sierra Club, Maine Coast Heritage Trust, Friends of Blue Hill Bay, East Penobscot Bay Environmental Alliance and many others. Many of the advisory committee members picked instead also served on the state Aquaculture Task Force, whose final report took a dim view of bay management's potential for improving public participation in nearshore issues, instead seeing it as a potential threat to the growth of aquaculture.

Additional "community discussions" of the Bay Management Project will be held Feb 8th in Portland and shortly thereafter elsewhere on the Maine coast. They will be followed by 'midcourse workshops' in the summer and fall of 2005, and more public meetings in January and February of 2006. After a year of review and analysis, recommendations are to be delivered to the Maine legislature in January 2007.
END

MORE mussel rafts applied for between MDI and Lamoine

Narrow picturesque Eastern Bay - between Mount Desert Island and the Lamoine mainland - is under threat of floating mussel rafts that would join two other mussel farms already in operation in this narrow waterbody connecting Blue Hill Bay and Frenchman's Bay. Concerned citizens are rising to challenge this latest proposal, which sources say would be seeded, maintained and harvested by Great Eastern Mussel while under the legal ownership of Tim Levesque. Stay tuned.

Maine legislature - Conservation, environmental and marine resources bills for 2005

So it begins. (this page will be updated as links to bills appear on the state's website. - RH

(1) Conservation related bills:

LD 27 An Act To Ensure That Sears Island Will Be Used for Industrial and Commercial Purposes

LD 22 Resolve, Directing the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife To Issue a Policy Clarifying Public Access Requirements for Ponds To Qualify for Fish Stocking Programs

LD 35 An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue in the Amount of $75,000,000 for the Land for Maine's Future Fund

LD 48 An Act To Ensure the Safe and Timely Retrieval of Wounded Bear BY REQUEST
LD 50 An Act To Ban Remote-control Hunting


LD 78 An Act To Fund the Acquisition of Land by the Land for Maine's Future Board from the General Fund

LD 89 An Act To Give the Commissioner of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife the Authority To Allow the Operation of Snowmobiles Registered outside the State at Special Events Occurring in the State.

LD 115 An Act Enabling Municipalities To Establish Municipal Land Banks Funded by Local Option Real Estate Transfer Taxes

LD 117 An Act To Amend Provisions of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission Law


Environmental Bills

LD 99 An Act To Include Specific Bodies of Water within Class C Standards Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources .


LD 126 Resolve, Authorizing the City of Gardiner To Refinance Certain Temporary Bond Anticipation Notes Issued for Its Wastewater Project


Marine Resource related bills
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Sen. Raye of Washington

LD 228 An Act To Provide Funding for the Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education

LR 1231 An Act To Authorize a General Fund Bond Issue in the Amount of $850,000 for the Downeast Institute for Applied Marine Research and Education

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Clough Scarborough
LR 2012 An Act To Protect the Recreational Harvesting of Surf Clams in Saco Bay

Rep Adams Portland
LR 276 Resolve, Regarding Marine Invasive Species

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Percy Phippsburgh
LD 167 An Act To Provide Flexibility for Sea Urchin Zones

LD 189 RESOLUTION, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Provide Property Tax Relief to Owners of Property Used for Commercial Fishing and Homestead Land

LR 1200 An Act To Encourage Recreational Lobster Fishing License Holders To Participate in Current Conservation Efforts of the Commercial Lobster Industry

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Sen. Bartlett II of Cumberland
LR 955 An Act To Allow Maine Licensed Vessels Holding a Federal Permit To Lobster in Maine Waters

LR 956 An Act To Allow Certain Maine Licensed Lobster Vessels To Land Lobsters in New Hampshire and Massachusetts
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Sen. Martin of Aroostook
LR 71 An Act To Prevent the Upstream Migration of Exotic Species of Fish above the Fish River Falls and into the Fish River Watershed
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Rep Fletcher of Winslow (?)

LR 2015 An Act To Limit the Harvesting of Downstream Migrating American Eels in Maine Rivers

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Kaelin
LR 1377 An Act to Reestablish the Maine Coast Environmental Trust Fund within the Department of Marine Resources

LR 2070 An Act To Establish a Demersal Finfish Ecologist Position at the Department of Marine Resources
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Damon (Hancock)
LR 861 An Act To Adopt the Recommendations of the Soft-shell Clam Advisory Council
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Pingree
LR 1023 An Act To Encourage Local Affordable Housing, Open Space and Shore Access through a High Valuation Transfer Tax

LR 1848 An Act To Amend the Hours for Lobster Fishing
LR 1962 Resolve, To Encourage the Scallop Industry

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Schatz Blue Hill

LR 1214 Resolve, Directing the Joint Standing Committee on Marine Resources to Meet with the Marine Resources Advisory Council and Interested Parties

LR 1215 An Act To Exempt Seafood Dealers with Fewer than 20 Employees from the Department of Marine Resources Statistics-Gathering Requirements

Cement lawsuit proceeding well

Earthjustice DC sends word that their federal case against EPA about Cement Kiln Dust has gotten off to a good start See The case was filed against the Bush Admin for its EPA's failure to meet the deadline for creating rules to regulate cement kiln dust pollution. Because the rules aren't there, neither Dragon Cement Products nor other kilns have any federal pollution regulations to meet, so by definition they're never out of compliance. Get it?.

Defendant EPA tried to have the case dismissed, but the judge instead has given EPA a January 20th deadline to explain to the court why they haven't done what they're supposed to regarding CKD pollution regs, and then EarthJustice has until January 31st to respond to EPA's response, at which point the judge ponders the whole mass of evidence, testimony etc etc, and works up his or her verdict.