Envionrmental Impact Study for Hywind Maine

Draft Environmental Impact Study for Hywind Maine
 Click here for federal register notice

Islesboro Islands Trust retains prominent security expert to review DCP gas tank plan

From the Islesboro Islands Trust August 14, 2012

INTERNATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS TO REVIEW SEARSPORT LPG TERMINAL

 Islesboro Islands Trust retains Richard A. Clarke and consulting firm Good Harbor to conduct impartial All Hazards Risk Assessment of LPG marine import terminal proposed for Searsport, Maine.

ISLESBORO, MAINE (Aug. 14, 2012) – Today, the Islesboro Islands Trust (“IIT”) announced the retention of internationally renowned security expert Richard A. Clarke with the consulting firm Good Harbor, to conduct an independent All Hazards Risk Assessment of the 22.7 million gallon liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) marine import and storage facility proposed for Mack Point in Searsport, Maine.

IIT Executive Director Stephen Miller said, “The people of the Penobscot Bay region have repeatedly asked the developer and the permitting agencies to hire an independent expert to conduct an unbiased analysis of the safety and security risks of siting the largest liquefied petroleum gas import terminal on the East Coast at the head of Penobscot Bay – but these requests have, so far, been ignored.”

Steve Hinchman, counsel for IIT, a conservation land trust, and Thanks But No Tank, a concerned citizens group in the upper Penobscot Bay, noted further, “The potential economic, social, environmental and human costs of a serious accident – whether onboard ship, at the terminal, or from LPG tanker trucks on Route 1 or Route 3 – are too great to proceed any further until we understand the risks involved.”

To fill the gap, IIT turned to Richard A. Clarke, counter-terrorism advisor to three Presidents of the United States, and his firm, Good Harbor, because they have the experience, qualifications and capacity to provide the people of Midcoast Maine with an objective, unbiased review of the critical security questions associated with the proposed LPG terminal.

The Good Harbor All Hazards Risk Assessment will involve identification of the potential intentional, natural and accidental threats that are inherent to a gas import and storage facility of this scale, whether the gas is LPG or LNG, and will examine the vulnerabilities associated with the 24-acre project site and surroundings, as well as potential weaknesses in the facility’s configuration and design.

To evaluate the region’s ability to safely manage this risk, Good Harbor will compare the proposed Pen Bay project against LPG terminals elsewhere (there are two similar facilities on the East Coast) to assess the community’s ability to cope with an emergency, including fire and emergency response personnel, training, and equipment; public notice and evacuation plans; medical and hospital assets; and US Coast Guard and commercial tug capabilities to respond to accidents on the water.

As part of the Assessment, a blast and heat effects analysis will map out areas that may be impacted in the event of an accidental or intentional event. The analysis will be based on the worst case and “worse likely” events, as identified in the All Hazards assessment.

The sheer size of the proposed LPG terminal – and the inherent risk of transporting large volumes of explosive gasses – warrants this level of careful and independent review,” Miller added.

To fill this critical information void, the Islesboro Islands Trust, with the generous support of many concerned residents, has undertaken the burden to obtain an objective, neutral assessment of the safety and security risks and threats posed by this proposed facility and the tanker traffic – on land and sea – that it will generate.  

-- end --

FMI: Stephen Miller, IIT Executive Director 207-734-6907 (office) 207-542-5780 (cell) 

Legal Wrangling Continues over Searsport LPG

From: Island Institute's "Working Waterfront" newspaper. August 2012 edition

Legal Wrangling Continues over Searsport LPG
By Douglas Rooks.

Review of a proposed $40 million, 22.7 million gallon liquefied propane gas (LPG) storage tank is now in the hands of the Searsport Planning Board. But opponents and skeptics of the project still wonder if their concerns will ever be fully addressed.

“There’s a tremendous number of moving parts, and the responses we’ve seen to date tend to raise more questions than they answer," said Steve Miller, executive director of the Islesboro Island Trust——whose organization has not yet taken a position on the project.

Attorney Steve Hinchman represents a local citizens group, Thanks But No Tank, which has concluded that potential harm from the project outweighs any benefits, and appealed issuance of two state permits in Kennebec County Superior Court.
Among the legal issues raised by the group are noise levels, visual and scenic impacts, and the lack of a lighting plan from the developers, DCP Midstream Partners of Denver, Colo.

A brief from the State Attorney General’s oflice says the Department of Environmental Protection acted correctly in issuing the permits. And DEP spokeswoman Samantha DePoy-Warren, said, “Our review of this project . . . was a thorough and thoughtful one and was completely in keeping with the high standards of review that are within our jurisdiction under the Natural Resources Protection Act and the Site Location of Development Act."

DEP did impose several conditions on the permit, including a requirement that DCP Midstream pay $305,835 into a state conservation fund as mitigation for disturbing two acres of wetlands and rerouting a stream.

DePoy—Warren also noted that, although there were 30 written comments, no one requested a public hearing, which could have brought the matter before the Board of Environmental Protection and triggered a more extensive review.

Hinchman conceded that point, but said that BEP hearing requests were only possible for 20 days after DCP Midstream’s application was filed, in April 2011, and that “people in town were just starting to become aware of the size and scope of this project."

DEP issued the permits in September, while the Army Corps of Engi- neers signed off in April of this year.

The project still needs a Maine Fuel Board permit, and will need a federal Environmental Protection Agency permit before operating, but at this point, town review could be the last major step before construction. No Tank’s appeal of DEP’s permit decisions is now before Superior Court Iudge Nancy Mills, who could issue a ruling at any time, since the judge has not requested oral arguments.

But Hinchman is still not convinced that state and federal reviews will adequately consider the impacts. There is, for instance, the issue of public safety. “There are only two LPG storage plants on the East Coast of this magnitude,” he said — in Tampa, Fla., and Norfolk, Va. “And both of them are in heavily industrialized areas remote from homes and retail businesses?

Hinchman wonders how a volunteer fire department like Searsport’s would be able to cope with a major spill or fire. He noted that a spill at a nearby fuel depot required dispatch of a foam truck from Portland.

The tank would be built on 23.6 acres at the northeast corner of the port site, relatively close to Route 1. The Angler restaurant would be a near abutter, something that led its owner to join the No Tank group. A mile—long pipeline will connect the harbor site to the storage tank, which will be 138 feet high, almost three times the height of any existing tank in Searsport. A town height restriction was increased from 50 to 150 feet at a lightly attended town meeting in March 2011, by a vote of 79-66.

Nor do some local residents believe the state has appropriately gauged the impact of truck traffic; initially, all LPG would be moved by trailer, although rail line access is available.

One comment that doesn’t sit well with local residents came from Dave Allen, a DOT traffic engineer, who said at a recent public meeting, “Route 1 has tens of thousands of vehicles going down it every day. No one is even going to notice these trucks." The terminal is expected to operate year-round, 24 hours a day.

For Steve Miller, it is coastal navigational issues that are particularly daunting. In its review of the project, the U.S. Coast Guard recommended that no other vessels be in the shipping lane while LPG tankers are approaching the pier at Searsport. “Managing traffic during the busy summer months could take a lot more sophisticated system than anything that’s in place there now,” he said.

Miller is also disappointed and surprised that the Army Corps of Engineers didn’t require an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project, opting instead for a more abbreviated environmental assessment. “That could still change," he said. “Searsport could still request an ElS."

Miller noted that, in an application for a now-moribund liquefied natural gas plant on Cobscook Bay, the applicant’s EIS said in its alternatives analy- sis that Searsport would be unsuitable for LNG—and, he added, the National Fire Marshal’s office considers LPG to be more hazardous than LNG.

Arch Gillies, an Isleboro selectman, says it’s significant that at least seven neighboring municipalities have written to the Searsport Planning Board raising concerns. “There’s a real sense that this project is a lot bigger than anyone realized when the application was filed last year," he said. “I think that’s starting to sink in.”
But whether that realization will lead to more scrutiny is anyone’s guess. “In the filings, it’s diflicult to see the need for something this large,” Miller said.

“They say there was a propane shortage in Maine in 2007, but that was really more about transportation bottlenecks than supply. It’s hard to argue that all this new infrastructure is really necessary."

Former Maine Times and Kennebec Journal editor Douglas Rocks has been covering Maine issues for 25 years. He lives in West Gardiner.

Thanks But No Tank! Reaching out to the bottlenecked tourists of coastal Route 1

I walked through the Thanks But No Tank! demo in Searsport on Sunday. Great!!    Spanning all ages, they lined BOTH sides of Main Street, as well as a tiny pocket park that the quiet demonstrators overflowed from.

Like Wiscasset, Searsport's lovely downtown Route One bottleneck brings the great stream of Midcoast Maine's scenic summer travellers to a crawl through its small historic zone.

Thanks But No Tank!ers took the opportunity to inform thousands of these tourists  parading slowly through their town of the peril that a proposed supersize Liquified Propane Gas tank  & terminal presents to traveler and Searsport area resident alike. 

The location was chosen was well away from the entry exit of the Penobscot Marine Museum, to avoid exacerbating the general slowdown any further. 

DCP tank farm would replace forest in lower left of photo.
Note US Route 1, at left above Long Cove

The 22 and a half million gallon LPG tank proposed by Denver-based DCP Midstream  would hulk over scenic North Searsport, over Cape Jellison, and would be a regional eyesore, becoming the dominant "scenic" feature of a dozen tourism dependent bay towns.  

The citizen activists were a colorful mosaic of signs and earnest, smiling faces to those slowly going by. The tourists had the leisure to read their sign messages and info broadsheets.

The tourists learned that if a catastrophe ever took place there, the explosion at the giant tank would engulf them, as well as the oil and gas tank farm tucked  out of sight on lower Mack Point, and the GAC Chemical complex on neighboring Kidder Point. 

Not wanting to slow the bottled-necked travelers any further, however, the No Tank!ers were mostly silent, letting the toots and honks of supportive drivers passing by speak itself of the support for their cause.

Many of the tourists visiting Searsport on foot, however, had the chance to discuss the issues at length with the Thanks but No Tank!ers and their allies from neighboring towns. 

Many signed the signup sheet and caused the pile of Thanks But No Tank! buttons to shrink away.  

For more infomation, go to http://tbnt.org

Turning mooring stones into lobster homes

Rockport Harbor and a growing number of other places are home to new perforated  artificial mooring stones with tunnels bored through them: instant lobster habitats.


New York inventor creates lobster habitat for Maine waters  
By Shlomit Auciello  May 27, 2011 
Village Soup, Camden Herald Gazette

 

Right: Rockport Charters crewmember Owen Casas and owner Robert Iserbyt prepare to set a habitat mooring block in Rockport Harbor.

"The principle of this mooring is that, rather than being a  featureless block of concrete or granite, it creates habitat," said  Lobster Institute Executive Director Robert Bayer on May 26.

"It's full of tunnels," he said. "Those habitats are shelters for  lobster — which is our target — as well as crabs. Fish will swim through  it."

Bayer was in Rockport to accompany Capt. Robert Iserbyt of Rockport  Charters as he installed one of the new moorings for a customer. In  addition to installing and maintaining moorings, Iserbyt runs a 24-hour  dive, towing and water taxi service, takes visitors out on Penobscot Bay  for photography excursions, and brings campers to the islands.

The habitat mooring was invented by Stewart Hardison of Oneonta, N.Y.

"It came to me in a roundabout way," said Hardison.
"I've been into environmental issues all my life," he said. "Five or  six years ago, I became interested in wind power." He said pressure to  stop wind development in New York state led him to look toward Maine.

"Everything seemed to come back to Maine," Hardison said of the  national conversation about wind power. He said concept renderings of  the various designs for ocean wind turbines showed large mooring blocks.

"It popped into my mind that all that massive structure could be used  as habitat," he said. Hardison wrote to Ian Bricknell, director of the  Aquaculture Research Institute at University of Maine, and was  eventually led to Bayer and Lobster Institute Assistant Director Cathy  Billings.

In time, he developed the design of a large concrete block with channels molded into it, the Habitat Mooring System 4000.

Each fiberglass filament reinforced block weighs 4,025 pounds,  carries a 15-pound hitch bar, and can secure a boat of up to 40 feet in  length or more, depending on the harbor bottom and other conditions.

Iserbyt said he saw the habitat moorings advertised through Hamilton  Marine and that the cost was not much more than that of a granite  mooring.

"The fact that they have a removable hitch rod made it more  appealing," he said. Iserbyt said the hitch rod replaces the metal  staple traditionally used to connect a mooring to its chain and buoy.

"A staple needs to be put in by somebody with a crane and torches,"  said Iserbyt. "That job in itself can cost $350 or more." He said the  steel hitch rod, galvanized bolts and stainless steel cotter pins in the  habitat mooring cost about $50.
"I ordered six of them," he said.

After Iserbyt placed his order, he got a phone call from Hardison,  who wanted to see the place where those six blocks would be set.
On May 26, Hardison, Bayer, Billings and a pair of television crews  were on hand as Iserbyt and crewmember Owen Casas set a mooring. Later,  Bayer gave Iserbyt a certificate of appreciation for his "ongoing  support of the Lobster Institute."
Bayer said the invention was likely to be of greater value in  southern New England than in Maine, because the resource is healthy in  Maine waters.

He said one habitat mooring, already in place in Seal Harbor on Mount  Desert Island, is being monitored by University of Maine at Orono  graduate student Chris Roy. Divers have made video recordings of the  life that is colonizing the mooring.
Another mooring will be used as a larval lobster nursery, said Bayer.

"That's going to be done in cooperation with Brian Beal of the Downeast Institute on Beals Island," he said.

Bayer said $50 from the sale of each mooring block would go to the Lobster Institute to support its research and educational activities. He  said that 15 percent of adult lobsters in Maine had no home shelter and  that the constant search for protective habitat exposes lobsters to  predators and disrupts life cycle behavior.

"Every ball you see is a mooring," Bayer said as he looked out over  Rockport Harbor. "If every one was a habitat mooring, it would have a  large impact on the lobster population and biodiversity."

Rockport Charters has a Facebook page and can be reached at 691-1006.  To learn
 more about habitat moorings, visit the website at  habitatmooring.com.
The Herald Gazette Reporter Shlomit Auciello 

Giant Hogweed - up the River but not (yet) down the Bay coast yet

Giant Hogweed - up to 14 feet tall

Bangor Daily News' July 4th edition warns: "Giant hogweed infestation in Bangor could spread to Kenduskeag Stream, expert says"

This aggressive invasive plant superficially resembles Queen Anne's Lace, but looms up to 14 feet tall. (Queen Anne's Lace maxes out at 3 feet tall.)The howeed stems are up to  2 & 1/2 inch thick stems, supporting leaves up to 5 feet wide. The annual weed has multiple flower heads per plant. (QA's Lace has just one flower per plant). 

Giant Hogweed sap  is highly toxic.  According to the video in the BDN article and other sources, if the bamboo-like stems are broken open,  skin contact with the sap causes skin irritation, lasting hypersensitivity to sunlight  (see blistered arm)   Even "brushing up against and breaking open the robust hairs on the plant's leaves" can trigger the irritation, according to a Maine Cooperative Extension report. Blindness has occurred as a result of the sap touching eyeballs.

Queen Anne's Lace - up to 3 feet tall

WHAT YOU CAN DO.

Each Giant Hogweed plant produces 100s of floatable seeds. It has a capacity to colonize Knox,Waldo  and Hancock counties if the seeds come down the river and survive in brackish water long enough to reach shore.

If you live along Penobscot Bay or elsewhere in Maine and identify this pernicious invader, please report the sighting to State Horticulturist Ann Gibbs at the Maine Department of Agriculture at 207-287-3891  or email ann.gibbs AT maine.gov  They will help organize renoval

See Giant hogweed and the harmless look-alike Maine plants

Because of the dangerousness of the sap, before taking on Giant Hogweed,  please review Maine Department of  Agriculture's  "Homeowners' Guide to Managing Giant Hogweed" (2 page pdf) 

Giant Hogweed was introduced into the United States  from the Near East in the early 1900s as an arboretum curiosity.

Rockland drafting letter to Searsport re giant gas tank & tankers plan

The Rockland City Council has agreed at their July 2, 2012 meeting to draft a letter to the town of Searsport asking them for an explanation of their understanding of their mutual aid agreement as it relates to the proposed DCP Liquified petroleum gas tank and terminal on upper Mack Point. See  Bangor Daily News coverage of the council meeting

Steve Miller of Islesboro asks Council to draft letter

Listen to the  city council take on the LPG issue at their July 2, 2012 meeting: 

* Council taking public comments (28 minute mp3)  from two area residents and and a delegation from Islesboro on the DCP midstream issue 

* Council discussing the issue and voting to draft a letter to Searsport (15min mp3). said letter  to be brought up for a vote  at next Monday's council meeting. (July 9, 2012)

If approved at the July 9th meeting, Rockland will join Stockton Springs  Belfast, Islesboro, North Haven, Rockport and Lincolnville in requesting consultation on the controversial DCP Midstream plan for a 22.6 million gallon Liquified Petroleum Gas tank.

Mapping offshore Maine's submerged wildlands with 3D sonar

The NOAA research vessel OSV BOLD  is setting out within a week  to use side scan sonar to create 3D maps of an 800 square mile area of the Gulf of Maine off the mouth of west Penobscot Bay, south to Boothbay.

See a recent  Maine Department of Conservation press release

Map shows the area that the Bold is   going to document includes the two  areas proposed for ocean windfarming off Maine: state and federal waters off waters off Monhegan, and  Boothbay.

The waters  off Monhegan are under consideration by  DeepCwind Consortium, while Norwegian-based Hywind Maine  is interested in waters off Boothbay.

The vessel will be well stocked with local scientists from academia government and industry, keen to sample as many parameters of this wild region of seamounts rising above deep muddy plains as they can during the five day voyage.

Bon Voyage!

Maine newspaper editorial blasts Gas giant DCP

DCP conduct raises concerns

Jun 20, 2012

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A month ago The Journal wrote an editorial urging the Searsport Planning Board to take its time while reviewing the application by Colorado-based DCP Midstream for a 22.7-million-gallon liquefied petroleum gas tank at Mack Point.

So far the Planning Board has done an excellent job wading through the 700-page application document and thoroughly vetting its contents. When it found the company lacked a permit from the state fuel board they voted that the application was incomplete.

The Board also allowed for public comment on the project at its last meeting, though it was limited to half an hour. It will also hold a public hearing on the application before voting on whether to approve the project.

The Planning Board's conduct, thus far, has been as professional and considerate of all opposing views as we could ask. The conduct from DCP Midstream has not.

Two things the company said at the Monday, June 11, meeting raised serious questions. The first was a statement by a DCP attorney during the public comment portion of the meeting.

After a different DCP lawyer was denied a request to respond to public comment, DCP attorney James Kilbreth, approached planning board chairman Bruce Probert and planning board attorney Kristin Collins and whispered, "You better shut this down." His words were caught on video during the meeting.

The their credit neither Collins nor Probert stopped the public comment period. Though the Board will have tighter restrictions on comments at future meetings.

DCP does not deny that exchange took place. A representative of DCP said the attorneys objected because they felt the statements made were not factual and some speakers did not have standing. However, the speakers had waited three and a half hours to say their piece, while DCP presented evidence to the board.

Though DCP felt what was being said was not true, its attempt to interrupt and "shut down" public comment is not conduct a respectful community partner displays. Everyone deserves an opportunity to have their concerns aired.

The other statement that DCP made that must be looked at more closely is its apparent unwillingness to fund the development of a 3D model of the project. In order for the community to really grasp the size and scale of the tank proposal a good model of what it would look once built is necessary.

To date, we've seen two representations, both of which carried biases in favor of the group that produced them.

A photo illustration created by DCP last year showed the tank as it might appear from the water downplaying its size.

A model produced by local opposition group Thanks But No Tank portrayed the tank in correct scale, but it left out the topography and surrounding foliage. The omission made the tank seem larger than it probably would if built.

Both DCP and Thanks but No Tank have an inherently desired outcome, which makes their respective photo illustrations and models suspect. A third-party presentation would be beneficial to everyone, particularly those who have not yet decided how they feel about the proposed tank.

This week DCP will float balloons over the project site to demonstrate the height and width of the tank; however, a 3-Dimensional model would better demonstrate the mass.

The 3-D model would likely cost an amount that equates to a drop in the bucket compared to the estimated total project cost of $40 million. However, DCP's representatives have labeled it cost prohibitive, even though they pledged on several occasions to eventually fund the model, a promise that came more recently after TBNT produced its own scale model last winter.

This raises questions about the company's future plans. A 3-D model would help all those involved understand the project better and the company is on record promising to provide it.

If they are willing to renege on that promise, what other promise could they go back on in the future?

DCP has said it wants to be a part of this community, to provide much needed jobs and increased economic activity. In order to do so it must live up to its promises by funding a 3-D model of the tank and fully accept and encourage engagement with the people it hopes become neighbors with by allowing unfettered public comment.

Statoil Speaks: six Interviews at public info meeting June 21, 2012 in Rockland

 Listen below to recorded interviews below of 3 Statoil officials, one consultant, a representative of the DeepCwind Consortium and a Seagrant staffer who mingeld with attendeees at a public information meeting  held June 26th  by Statoil at the Rockland Library's meeting hall, to describe its Hywind Maine Project to deploy 4 turbines between 12 to 15 miles offshore of Brunswick, Maine. The Seagrant staffer  said  zero members of the Maine fishing industry attended this event. Read Bangor Daily News coverage 

The recorded interviews below have background sounds of conferees talking and are presented in the order  that Ron Huber recorded them.
* Kari Hege Mork, Stakeholder manager  5 minutes 30 seconds
* Jennifer Daniels Tetratech (Enviro assessment consultant)  8 mi 45 sec.
* Kristin Aamodt, Statoil Project Manager  8 minutes 49 seconds
* Peter Marcus K Greve, Statoil Environmental Assessment mgr,  7 minutes 14 seconds
* Jake Ward  educator, U Maine  DeepCwind Consortium
* Sherman Hoyt  Seagrant/A\Cooperative Extension   7 minutes 20 seconds

Earlier Statoil Hywind events audio
 * 5/23/12, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held a 20 minute public  teleconference (mp3)  after concluding its closed session meeting about Statoil's proposal
* 3/12/12 Statoil at 2012 Maine Fishermens Forum

DCP Midstream tells Searsport: muzzle citizens' speech & don't consider impacts of planned giant LPG tank on tourism.

Searsport. Citizens reacted sharply after disclosure of a letter sent recently to Searsport town officials by gas industry giant DCP Midstream. Signed by lawyer Kelly Boden, and reeking with arrogance, the June 15th letter tells the town to bar citizens attending all future planning board meetings from mentioning the company and its controversial plan to replace Searsport's Mack Point coastal forest with a 22.3 million gallon Liquified Petroleum Gas tank and trucking terminal. 

       Furthermore, the corporate lawyer sneers in the letter, it's TOO LATE to worry about the effect the Gassers' facility will have on the tourism-dependent upper bay area's tourism.

DCP attorney Kelly Boden, left, disrupting public speaking session .

"Opponents of the project are taking advantage of the 'open to the public' portion of the Board's meeting"  DCP whined in the five page letter. Boden called the citizens speaking their mind "prejudicial and disruptive".

       Area residents dismissed the company's assertions.

      "It was through the "Open To The Public" forum that it became apparent there was a [Maine] Fuel Board Permit missing", said Christopher Hyk.  "It was through the same forum that the lapsed lease came to light." 

     "Neither the Searsport Planning Board or Kelly knew of these issues." Hyk observed. "What else is missing or compromised? I suspect there are a few other issues Kelly would like to avoid."

     "They basically sent a letter "instructing" the board to muzzle any comment of the project during the public comment period of OUR meetings," said David Italiaander.  "Then they objected when they couldn't push to the front of the line during our open-to-the-public comment period to offer rebuttals."

DCP atty Kilbreth, left, tells board: stop public speakers.

"More galling" Italiaander continued " is their narrow reading and misreading and misinterpretation of  applicable ordinances.  We all know the intent of the property values ordinance was to protect the property values of all those potentially affected. In this case that is the entire town.       

       Ann Flack, also of Searsport, noted that the purpose of the public speaking time is to let citizens provide the Planning Board with "advice on how to thoroughly reject the DCP application, using their ordinances."
       The propane peddling company's letter complained that the list of  issues to be considered in an upcoming economic study of  DCP's giant propane tank is "far broader than necessary."  

       While residents point out that tourism is the primary economic engine of Searsport and nearby towns, the company declare in their letter that studying the effect of the giant tank on scenic tourism must not be part of the economic study.
       "{T]he proposal to include an assessment on "tourism" is inappropriate, as there are no performance standards that address tourism,  DCP attorney Boden wrote. "Evaluating the project's impact on tourism is not helpful and a waste of both the Planning Board's and DCP's time and resources. "  See Searsport Planning Board Performance Standards

       Opponents of the company's tank plan rejected Boden's assertion, pointing out that, as tourism IS the economic driver of the region, an economic study that fails take tourism into account would be hopelessly flawed. Moreover Searsport's Performance Standard 1. "Preserve and Enhance the Landscape", and Performance Standard 2  "Relationship of Proposed Buildings to Environment" exist largely to protect resources vital to local tourism.

       DCP's liquified petroleum gas tank, along with its associated flare tower and 24/7 truck operations cannot possibly meet either of those performance standards, according to Ron Huber of Penobscot Bay Watch. 

       "The recent balloon test showed that the giant tank, which would hulk thirteen stories high above the town, would be an egregious eyesore from every direction", Huber said. adding that "flattening an irreplaceable coastal forest and replacing it with concrete,  steel and asphalt  will not 'fit in harmoniously with the surrounding terrain' no matter how many times gas industry lawyers claim otherwise."  

Balloons prove DCP tank would be "world class eyesore".

Photographic results are in. This morning's deployment of red and yellow balloons above the forested site that  DCP Midstream hopes to clearcut and pave before erecting the east coast's biggest liquified petroleum gas tank show conclusively that the tank would be an objectionably instrusive addition to the world class scenic visual assets of Penobscot Bay.

Can you see me now? DCP test balloons rise above horizon , June 21, 2012

As damning as the balloon test results are, they pale in comparison with the scenic disruption the actual tank would cause. While the balloons suggest the general outline of the top third of the liquified petroleum gas tank, missing from the picture is the middle third of the tank that would be visible once the forest in the center of the picture is stripped from the site, (which presently features some of the oldest forested wetlands in Maine).


Nor does the balloon deployment demonstrate how the nighttime view of the starry western  sky would be degraded. Not only would the tank be festooned with blinking lights, it would be accompanied by a flare tower that would  send  Mordor-like flames roaring into the sky whenever minute temperature shifts roil the ocean of superchilled gasses in the tank.


Opponents of the Gasser-wanabees mocked the company's spectacular fail. "DCP proposes grafting a world class eyesore on our bay's  world class scenic vistas," said Penobscot Bay Watch leader Ron Huber. "Blind with greed, they just don't get it."

DCP balloons viewed from Rt 1 north of Sears Island Rd. (trees in middle of photo would be clearcut)

In a letter to the Searsport Planning board - which must rule on  the company's tank application- a spokesperson for grassroots civic group Thanks But No Tank! dismissed the balloon plan as one more of "DCP's pathetic and desperate attempts to explain their way out of producing a 3D scale model (agreed to and, in fact, promised well over a year ago)"   In a claim that has drawn universal scorn, the  billion dollar company asserted that creating a digital 3D scale model of its proposed tank and related buildings and pipelines would be too expensive and time consuming.


 "An insult to the citizens and the [Searsport] Planning Board alike." the spokesperson said. "DCP does not want the Board or the public to see the magnitude of the tank and terminal."


Additional photographs of the DCP balloon test from more locations will be added to this story as they arrive.

Maine tidal & floating wind power leaders took calls on public radio

John Ferland

On June 16, 2012, Habib Dagher of DeepCwind Consortium and John Ferland of Ocean Renewable Power Company appeared on Maine public radio's "Maine Calling" show.

Ferland discussed the progress of his company's submerged tidal  energy turbine, known as theTidGen™ Power System. Over the course of this year ORPC will install up to 5 of its  tidal generators in Cobscook Bay.


Dagher discussed the DeepCwind Consortium's floating wind turbine. While the plan originally called for deployment of the consortium's first prototype floating windmill off Monhegan Island this summer, delays in obtaining several required permits have forced the rollout of the prototype to next year.
 
Click on the links below to listen to the two energy pioneers speaking with MPBN's Keith Shortall and field questions from callers and emailers.All recordings are MP3s.

Introduction  1 minute 40 seconds
Discussion with Dr. Dagher  5 minutes
Discussion with  Mr. Ferland   5 minutes 30 seconds
Call-in questions 1   12 minutes
Call-in questions  2 to end of show 11 minutes 30 seconds
OR
Listen to MPBN podcast of complete show  43 minutes

DCP Midstream attorneys try to muzzle Maine citizens at Searsport public meeting

Mainers reacted with anger and disbelief  when attorneys for Colorado-based DCP Midstream Corp tried to interrupt & close down the public comment section of a meeting on the company's controversial plan to install an oversized LPG tank on the shore of scenic Penobscot Bay.

SEARSPORT. At the June 11th meeting of the Searsport Planning Board, DCP Midstream attorneys Kelly Boden & James Kilbreth tried to block and even close down public comment on the Denver-based company's controversial plan for a 22.6 million gallon liquified petroleum gas tank in this tiny port town.  The two lawyers' unsuccessful efforts were captured on video. Angry Mainers are calling for the company to replace the two attorneys with others who actually respect Maine law. (Youtube version of incident)

Area residents were already upset because DCP Midstream officials had succeeded in convincing town officials to delay the public comment section of the evening meeting for more than three hours, causing many citizens to have to leave before their opportunity to speak came up. The public comment section of planning board meetings in Maine are traditionally held at the beginning of the meeting.

But emotions reached a flashpoint when DCP attorneys Kelly B. Boden and James Kilbreth, working in tandem, apparently tried to shut the delayed public comment period down. 

First, Boden walked to the front of the line of citizens waiting to speak. Told by Searsport  planning board chair Bruce Probert to return to the end of the line, the DCP lawyer ignored the request, pushed  past Camden resident Thomas Michaels, who was just beginning his testimony, and announced that she wanted to object to statements made by previous public speakers. Expressions of disbelief filled the air as enraged Mainers echoed the planning board chief in telling Boden to go away from the podium. Probert finally ordered the DCP lawyer to back off and called for calm.  

Then, as Thomas Michaels resumed his testimony, noting the added costs the company's controversial  tank would bring to towns around Penobscot Bay, and challenging DCP's refusal to produce a simple 3-D representation of the company's proposal, DCP's other attorney, James Kilbreth, walked to the front of the chamber and, referring to the hubbub created by Boden, told town officials "you better shut this [meeting] down".  The Planning Board declined Kilbreth's "advice", and allowed Michaels and other citizens to testify. Recording of complete hearing here

This disgraceful behavior by DCP's lawyers is a warning call to Mainers. The  Maine Supreme Judicial Court found late last year that Kilbreth violated state ethics rules in an embezzlement case. 

If DCP Midstream continues to allow these two to represent them on this project, then it will be clear that the company has nothing but contempt for Maine law and Maine people.

Recent media Coverage of DCP's controversial plan: Click Here

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Statoil to hold public mtgs on off-Maine floating windmill plan: June 25th 26th, 27th.

 

Do you want to have a say in the decision on installing 4 deepwater floating windmills off Maine?  Here's your chance.

On June 25, 26 and 27, the American subsidiary of Statoil will be hosting what it calls "Introductory public informational sessions for the Hywind Maine Pilot offshore wind project"  at the following locations:

June 25, 2012: Boothbay – Boothbay Firehouse (4 – 7pm) 911 Wiscasset Rd, Boothbay, 

June 26, 2012:  Rockland  Rockland Public Library (5:30-8pm) 80 Union Street, Rockland, 

June 27, 2012: Portland - Gulf of Maine Research Institute (4 -7pm) 350 Commercial St.

The company writes: "All sessions will be in Open House format so individuals can speak to our team members, gather information, and learn how to stay informed throughout the regulatory process.  

The pilot project will include four floating wind turbines in federal waters and is scheduled for construction in 2016."

For more information contact Kristin Amodt of Statoil. Email:  kriaa AT statoil.com