Zone D Lobstermen Join Fight Over Searsport Dredging

Lobstermen from Zone D, which includes the western half of Penobscot Bay, have submitted documents to formally challenge the state of Maine’s proposed dredging to deepen the harbor at Mack Island, Searsport and the dumping of nearly 1 million cubic yards of contaminated industrial debris in upper Penobscot Bay.

The project proposal has been around for a couple of decades. It has been promoted by Canadian oil companies including Sprague and Irving to facilitate the movement of their oil products. Observers of the dredging project see it as another step in the long range plans of eastern Maine developers to build a pipeline (The East-West Corridor) across Maine from Calais to Coburn Gore.

Critics of the dredging project have said the spoils dredged from the site will be contaminated with industrial toxins. The project is also larger than necessary, and the spoils will be dumped on an unstable sea bottom at the head of Maine’s largest bay and prime lobster habitat.

Maine DEP’s Commissioner Patricia Aho has disputed these charges claiming the dredging is safe to conduct as planned. In recent years Aho has been criticized for frequently making decisions that benefit the corporate clients of her former employer, Pierce Atwood, the state’s largest law firm, where she was a longtime industrial lobbyist. (“Lobbyist in the Henhouse,” Portland Press Herald, 6/16/13; “Judge chastises Maine DEP commissioner in overturning Vinalhaven wind power decree,” Bangor Daily News, 7/20/15.)

Attorney Kim Tucker represents the Maine Lobstermen’s Union. She said the clean water act requires that the least damaging alternative be chosen. “Why, when they can have the larger ships and the vibrant lobster fishery, are they insisting on the most damaging alternative?,” said Tucker.

See Maine Zone D lobstermen’s letter to MDEP’s Commissioner Aho at fishermensvoice.com. Also, listen to audio: “Maine BEP won’t take jurisdiction over Searsport” at http://penobscotbay.blogspot.com/2015/07/maine-bep-wont-take-jurisdiction-over.html.

Read more about the Searsport Dredging including Maine Zone D Lobstermen letter to DEP here.