THANKS BUT NO TANK

We’ve now received two awards!

The Natural Resources Council of Maine has honored TBNT with their  People’s Choice Award at a ceremony October 16 in Portland.

In case you missed it, earlier in September, we were awarded the Sierra Club of Maine’s Grassroots Leadership Award at their twentieth anniversary event in Rockland.

We would like to thank the Islesboro Islands Trust, Steve Miller, Charles Verrill, Arch Gillies and all of the our combined legal team headed by Steve Hinchman and Kim Ervin Tucker. Nancy-Linn Nellis from Stockton Springs for creating the online petition and keeping the issue in the public out front. Also a huge thanks to Peter and MJ from Belfast and Ron Huber from Rockland who were always out front creating demonstrations, lobbying city councils and working social media as well as the innumerable people who worked in their towns to assist. We also would like to thank all the folks at 350 Maine/Waldo County and the Peace and Justice Center of Eastern Maine.

From the very beginning TBNT has been a people’s organization and to be recognized as such is phenomenal. Great Job Everyone!!

UPDATE ON SEARSPORT DREDGING

SEARSPORT HARBOR DREDGING INFO SHEET
The Islesboro Board of Selectmen unanimously voted Wednesday, Sept. 25 to ask the Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) to undertake a comprehensive Supplemental Environmental Assessment of the proposed Searsport dredging.

The Selectmen’s letter said, “… the Corps omitted critical information about dredging impacts on near-shore fish habitat from the FSEA. This, and information about the geologically unstable ocean bottom in the area proposed for disposal of the dredge spoils, elevates our ecological and economic concerns and clearly calls for more thorough analysis and additional public comment.”

They said further, “The proposed extensive, new dredging will have an adverse effect on Islesboro businesses, especially lobstering. Local lobstermen are nearly unanimous in their opposition and both Zones C and D voted to send letters of alarm to the Corps.”

In addition to sending the letter to the Army Corps of Engineers,  who are presently considering next steps in the dredging proposal, the Selectmen sent copies of their concerns to all 4 Maine representatives in Washington and to 39 Town governments in the Penobscot Bay region.

The Islesboro Board of Selectmen does not oppose maintenance dredging at Searsport Harbor.

In a letter dated September 20 addressed to the Corps, Islesboro Islands Trust (IIT) drew attention to the fact that National Marine Fisheries had reinitiated consultations with the Corps because of new information concerning the depths of the proposed dredging that had not been disclosed in the Corps’ FSEA and that this new information has yet to be made available to the public.

IIT also pointed to new information that shows the proposed disposal site off Islesboro’s Marshal Point and near Belfast Harbor is geologically unstable, which could lead to recurring sediment plumes long after the dredging is finished.

Please follow this link to read the notice and see the Army Corps plans including project maps.  Please see the info sheet which details reasons the dredging is problematic. It can be found by following this link. Take a moment to look at both documents, Belfast residents should be aware the primary disposal site is very close to the mouth of Belfast Harbor, which is where the Passagassawakeag River empties into the Bay.

Please consider writing and asking for a full Environmental Impact Statement to be conducted as well as asking for a public hearing for a job of this magnitude. Letters should perhaps focus on the expansion dredging, not the maintenance part.  The deadline is May 6 and the address is:

Project Manager Barbara Blumeris
US Army Corps of Engineers
New England District, Engineering & Planning Division
696 Virginia Road
Concord, MA  01742

Or email at: cenaeep@usace.army.mil

FROM ACoE:  IT’S OFFICIAL!!  (April 23)

We’re just got notice from the Army Corps of Engineers that the permit issued to DCP Midstream for the Searsport LPG Tank is revoked. In the words of TBNT/IIT co-counsel Kim Tucker, “This is really HUGE.”  Thank you Kim and Steve Hinchman for making this happen. Please follow this link to read the letter.

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DCP Midstream, a Denver-based limited liability company, WAS proposing to build a 22.7 million gallon, 14 story liquefied petroleum gas mega-tank and terminal on Mack Point, Searsport, Maine. This heavy industrial project would bring critical harm to Searsport. We are relieved the application has been withdrawn.

Thanks But No Tank (TBNT) is a coalition of residents and small business owners living and working in the Searsport region that seek to support, protect, and maintain the region’s economy, environment, scenic character, and quality of life. TBNT members are concerned with the safety and security impacts of the proposed DCP Midstream LPG Tank and Terminal; the associated truck, ship and rail traffic, as well as the excessive light, visual, noise, and air pollution would adversely and unduly affect their homes, businesses, environment, and quality of life.

Please see the fact page to learn more about this proposed project.

For all archived articles, presentations, and legal documents please click here.