LNG - ProLNG Eastport Councilor stalls land protection proposal

COMMENT: Vocal LNG proponent Bob Peacock is still beating the LNG drum long after any hope for LNG in Eastport is gone. And one wonders whether or not there might be a little revenge in his "official" council stand?


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Eastport Council wary of negative effects of Kendall Head conservancy plan

By Sharon Kiley Mack, BDN Staff
Posted March 10, 2011, at 5:36 p.m.


EASTPORT, Maine — Concerned that conserving 51 acres of coastal land for recreation and public access will stymie local economic development, Eastport city councilors carefully quizzed Tom Boutureira, executive director of The Downeast Coastal Conservancy, Wednesday night.

Boutureira told the council that DCC, based in Machias, is working with a private seller to buy the tract of land on Kendall Head, a stunningly beautiful property with 360 degree views of Passamaquoddy Bay and Eastport. He stressed that DCC was not asking Eastport for any funding but that it needed a letter of support to seek funding for the purchase from the state’s Land For Maine’s Future program.

He said hiking trails and two small parking areas would be developed, and DCC would work closely with the city on a plan for the property.

“We would create a scenic resource, public access, shore access, protection, management and promotion,” he said. Currently, DCC is responsible for the stewardship of 4000 acres and more than 40 miles of shoreline Down East.

Although the councilors agreed with protecting the property and agreed it would be an amazing resource for the city, they were concerned that Eastport would be losing tax revenue. They were also concerned that DCC would object to aquaculture operations, seaweed harvesting, and the possible passage of liquefied natural gas tankers off the property.

Boutureira said that hunting, fishing, aquaculture and soft recreation, such as hiking or snowshoeing, would be allowed but that DCC would object to seaweed harvesting.

Boutureira said he was aware that some of DCC’s board members had publicly voiced their objections to LNG projects but that the board as a whole had never taken a formal stand on the issue.

Council president Bob Peacock told Boutureira that DCC needed to formalize its opinion before the council could agree to support the proposal. The Eastport City Council supports LNG development because of the jobs it would provide. Peacock said the council could not support a plan that would interfere with job creation.

“There are ramifications to the area and the city,” he said.

An additional concern for councilors was the loss of revenue if the land is owned by a non-profit entity.

Treat Island was used as an example. Eastport received $3,200 annually in taxes from a private owner, but when the island was purchased for conservation by a non-profit, that dropped to $800.

Boutureira said the property is currently in tree growth status, and the city receives only $131.19 a year in taxes. He said DCC would make a donation to the city at that level or greater to offset the loss.

City officials, however, said the loss goes beyond that because a state reimbursement for tree growth property also would be lost.

The council asked Boutureira to come back to its March 15 special council meeting with a definitive answer regarding DCC’s status on taxation and LNG development.

In other business, the council watched a presentation by Jude Valentine of the Tides Institute on the Schoodic Symposium’s selection of five artists as finalists for this year’s granite sculpture projects. Eastport is one of the places Down East that has been selected to receive one of the sculptures. Valentine said no decision has been made about a design, but the sculpture will be placed in Overlook Park and will be part of a sculpture trail along Maine’s Down East coast that is well-traveled by tourists and artists.

The council also heard that the budget process was nearly complete and a draft will be ready soon; Eastport will receive $60,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency funds for storm damage last December; and an annual audit of the city’s finances is complete and the city is in full compliance with state and federal regulations.

The council also appointed a deputy city clerk and election warden and scheduled public hearings for a zoning ordinance amendment, victualer’s licenses and a liquor license renewal at 6 p.m. April 13.

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$7 million in federal port grants headed to Eastport, Portland

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http://www.bangordailynews.com/detail/155499.html

10/5/10 11:53 pm Updated: 10/6/10 05:46 am
By Sharon Kiley Mack
BDN Staff

EASTPORT, Maine — A permitting problem that held up $7 million in federal funds for Maine’s ports at Eastport and Portland, was cleared this week and the funding should be released immediately, according to Maine’s congressional delegation.

The funds were part of a $14 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery — TIGER — grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation that was awarded eight months ago to upgrade the infrastructure at three ports in Maine.

Another $7 million in the package for Searsport is still being withheld because of a “Buy American” requirement in the agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation and Maine had been holding up the process since February. Searsport needs to buy a mobile harbor crane that is not produced in the U.S.

According to John Henshaw of the Maine Port Authority, all three projects were part of one grant request, and as such the funding for all three was held up.

But the USDOT announced this week that it will allow the projects at Eastport and Portland to proceed while Searsport seeks a waiver. Moving those projects ahead is critical, especially at Eastport, since the state has a short construction season. The Eastport project requires blasting and drilling, which now can be accomplished before winter sets in.

The three ports and their projects are:

ä $2 million will go to Eastport for a warehouse, conveyer equipment and storage pad.

ä $5 million to the International Marine Terminal in Portland for capacity and infrastructure improvements to improve access to the pier and cargo-handling capability.

ä $7 million to Searsport for investments in a heavy-lift mobile harbor crane and cargo-handling equipment. “These TIGER grants were designed to put people back to work,” U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe said in a prepared statement. “The last thing we want is government paperwork preventing critical infrastructure initiatives, like the ‘Revitalizing Maine’s Ports’ project, from moving forward and creating jobs. I am delighted we were able to find a way to cut through the red tape, so that Mainers may get back to work on such a vital project

Groundbreaking Tidal Power Technology to be Tested in Cobscook Bay

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=115x231607
02/18/2010 Reported By: Anne Mostue

A Portland-based tidal power company unveiled its latest underwater turbine structure today in Bangor. It's the largest ocean energy device to be deployed in U.S. waters, and it will be submerged in Cobscook Bay early next month.



Eastport continues to be the hub for some of the most advanced tidal power research in the country, according to the Portland-based Ocean Renewable Power Company and the University of Maine.

"Cobscook Bay and Western Passage, which are on either side of Eastport, are the best tidal energy resources on the east coast of the U.S., so that's why we're there," says Christopher Sauer, CEO of Ocean Renewable Power Company, which is developing tidal power projects in Maine, Alaska and Florida.

Sauer contracted Stillwater Metalworks of Bangor and Harbor Technologies of Brunswick to build its latest turbine, nicknamed Energy Tide 2 (pictured above). "It's going to be at the end of deployment arms that are at the side of a barge and it's going to be lowered in underneath the barge and it will be about 25 feet below the surface," he says. "And the barge is going to be moored in Cobscook Bay, just off from an area called Shackford Head. So actually, interesting, as you drive into Eastport, at one point as you're coming into town you'll actually be able to look over and see it."

The device is made up of a rectangular framed box containing a 10,000-pound generator and turbine blades. It looks like a giant push-reel lawnmower - 46-feet wide by 11-feet tall, and 14-and-a-half feet deep. "It's the largest Ocean Energy Device ever deployed in U.S. waters," Sauer says. "It's rated, designed for a maximum capacity of 60 kilowatts, so that's the largest yet done in the United States. Now in Europe and other places they have done bigger, but in the U.S. this is the biggest."

Passamaquoddy LNG Issue Continues to Split Friends, Family, and Communities

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The level of acrimony that LNG developers have spawned over the last few years has continued to rise. It began with Quoddy Bay LNG's move into Sipayik which split native American families and friends there, moved to the towns and villages where the other sites were proposed and created a huge international fuss that has now reached the point where many Canadians feel insecure and unwelcome in the American half of their natural and historic international community.

Now Eastport is being split again and the town fathers are seen to be bowing to the wishes of the small and vocal group of promoters that have a vested interest and who will, or believe they will, profit largely if any of these developments proceed. This is particularly true of some who are so pro-LNG in the face of their friends and neighbours concerns, that one must wonder why they would abuse their community members the way they do. In the absence of proof, one can only guess what motivates them.

In any event, the following links outline the conflicts in Eastport today:

# Biting the dust - http://www.savepassamaquoddybay.org/news_archives/2009/news_2009jul.html#25_telegram
# City’s FERC comments irk harbor pilots (Jul 24) - http://www.savepassamaquoddybay.org/news_archives/2009/news_2009jul.html#25_qt2
# Council votes to withdraw LNG comments (Jul 24) - http://www.savepassamaquoddybay.org/news_archives/2009/news_2009jul.html#25_qt3
# Avoiding a debilitating debate [Editorial] (Jul 24) - http://www.savepassamaquoddybay.org/news_archives/2009/news_2009jul.html#25_qt4

That`s my opinion today.
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