Tag: Searsport

WERU News Report 4/9/14 -special hour long edition

Producer/Host: Amy Browne
Contributing producer: Matt Murphy

Segment 1: A standing-room-only crowd packed into an informational meeting at the Hutchinson Center in Belfast yesterday to hear details about the US Army Corps of Engineers and Maine DOT plans to dredge Searsport Harbor. The proposal is to deepen the channel near Mack Point to 40 feet, from the current 35, and to dump the sediment—nearly a million cubic yards of it — into Penobscot Bay.
Supporters say the depth needs to be expanded to 40 feet to accommodate larger ships and increase shipping traffic. Opponents have pointed out that Portland harbor is the same depth as Searsport currently, and does a great deal of business, and that there is already a deep water port in Eastport.
Most of the opponents of expansion dredging have voiced support of routine maintenance dredging, but there is concern about dumping of the sediment, which would most likely be done off the coast of Islesboro. While the ACoE recently stated that the materials are clean, and would not pose a risk to the fisheries in the bay, recent testing of the sediment near the adjacent docks has revealed a long list of heavy metals, carcinogens and endocrine disrupters – many present in levels severals times above the reportable limits.
After a slide presentation, which can be viewed on the Army Corps of Engineers website, the public was given an opportunity to direct comments and questions to representatives from the agencies at yesterday’s meeting. Today, in the special extended version of the WERU News Report, we’re bringing you some of the questions and comments, and the response from the reps from the state and federal agencies present. All but one person who spoke expressed concerns about the proposal, and the room was a sea of red shirts, worn to indicate solidarity with the lobstermen’s unions that have come out in opposition to the plan:

Segment 2: Matt Murphy with a report on efforts to raise funds for work against human trafficking – an interview with musician Peter Alexander

WERU News Report 11/6/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

31 Maine Legislators have signed onto a letter to the US Army Corps of Engineers, requesting a Comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement or “at the very least a Supplemental Environmental Assessment” for the controversial Searsport Harbor dredging project. If completed, the project would allow access for larger ships. It would also result in the need to dispose of what has been estimated to be close to 1 million cubic yards of sediment – sediment from an area that has seen more than 100 years of chemical companies, industrial spills and questionable disposal of waste along the shoreline. The dredged material would then be dumped elsewhere in Penobscot Bay, possibly in a dump site between Belfast and Islesboro. This has raised serious concerns about the potential impacts on the environment and the fisheries in the area.

State legislators and representatives from the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club and Islesboro Island Trust held a press conference at the Belfast Boathouse this morning, to explain their concerns. (Coverage of the press conference, and interviews with Marietta Ramsdell of “Friends of Sears Island”, and Ron Huber of “Friends of Penobscot Bay”

WERU News Report 9/18/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Today we’re following up on a news story unfolding on the coast in Searsport. Chemical companies have been located on the coast there, at Mack Point, and Kidder Point- near Sears Island –for more than 100 years. A group called Friends of Penobscot Bay has recently obtained records revealing a history of chemical spills, and raising serious questions about the disposal of highly dangerous by-products, possibly in layers up to 14 feet deep, on the shoreline. State and Federal agencies are starting to get involved in the investigation. Plans to dredge the harbor at Mack Point have hit a snag as area lobstermen voice their concerns about what might be stirred up and released into Penobscot Bay.
We spoke with Ron Huber, director of Friends of Penobscot Bay, earlier today, to get an update on the situation, including what they are finding as they sift through the old DEP records they uncovered

FMI: http://penobscotbay.blogspot.com/

WERU News Report 9/11/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Production assistance: John Greenman, Carolyn Coe, Matt Murphy

Segment 1: Maine’s Aging Population – state and federal policies – press conference in Bangor organized by Food&Medicine, featuring several local speakers.
Segment 2: An alternative to the official story about what happened in Syria, raised by Lawrence Reichard at a speak out in Bangor last week.
Segment 3: Toxic “layer cake” at Kidder and Mack Points in Searsport? Interview with Ron Huber, Friends of Penobscot Bay

WERU News Report 7/30/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Join us today on a chemical mystery tour of the area surrounding Sears Island. This afternoon we joined Ron Huber and Harlan McLaughlin of “Friends of Penobscot Bay”, as they led a hike along the shoreline, pointing out significant areas of concern. On the site of the GAC chemical company, there are old buildings and storage facilities that are crumbling on site, leftover from previous owners

Mid-Coast Currents 4/19/13

Host: John Zavodny
Engineer: Amy Browne

Program Topic: Searsport Maine LPG Tank

Key Discussion Points:
1 Why was the LPG tank permit denied by the Searsport Planning Board?
2 What is next for members of Thanks But No Tank?
3 What are some lessons to be learned from TBNT success?

Guests:
a Astrig Tanguay has owned and managed Searsport Shores Ocean Campground for twenty years. Astrig is a founding member of Thanks But No Tank, Astrig has been a vocal opponent of the DCP project. Astrig has served on the Maine Tourism Commission, the Maine Arts Commission, Maine Campground Owners Association, Penobscot Bay Steward BOD and is a founding member of both Friends of Penobscot Bay and Fiber College of Maine.
b Ken Agabian started working as the Thanks but No Tank coordinator in July 2012. Since then Ken has travelled the mid coast talking about the tank in Searsport and has communicated weekly the status of the project and what folks could do. Formerly, Ken worked with nonprofits in the arts and publishing worlds and is a graduate of Clark University, Worcester, Mass. where he was a student intern at the Environmental Protection Agency.

For More Information:
tbnt.org
http://www.searsport.maine.gov/

WERU News Report 2/26/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

The town of Searsport held the final in the series of public hearings on the proposed LPG tank there last night. People have been waiting to have a chance to comment– some since last year when the planning board stopped allowing comments during their regular meetings when DCP, the company that wants to build the tank, complained. So when the planning board voted to close the hearings last night while some of them were still in line waiting to speak, there was an uproar. Here today, is some of the testimony from last night.

WERU News Report 2/19/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Public hearings on the LPG tank in Searsport resumed last week, for what was meant to be the final week of hearings. Kim Tucker, one of the attorneys representing tank opponents, presented the planning board with documents–obtained from the town of Searsport thru a freedom of access request–that reveal how closely Searsport town officials have been working with DCP, the company that wants to build the tank.

The question of whether the facility is really intended for exports, rather than imports of propane, was raised again at the public hearings as well, and there was a short public comment period.