Sears Island at the Alamo Theatre

I've just returned from the WERU forum on Sears Island's Future.

Participants included: Maine's DOT Commissioner David Cole, State Senator Dennis Damon - Chairman of both the Transportation and Marine Resources Committees, Jim Freeman a carpenter and member of the Friends of Sears Island and the Sears Island Joint Use Committee, Peter Tabor - Veteran Writer and Journalist and an independent advocate for keeping Sears Island forever wild, and Ron Huber - Director of "Penobscot Bay Watch" an advocacy organization for the stewardship of Penobscot Bay and environs.

The format of the evening was that each man on the panel had five minutes to introduce themselves and define their position with regards to the future of Sears Island. After all five had spoken each was to direct a question to another panel member of their choice and that speaker had 3 minutes to answer the question. Finally at the end of that round, the audience were given the opportunity to ask questions of anyone at the table.

Senator Damon defined his position as a supporter of a Container Port and Railyard as his idea of the best possible compromise for safeguarding 2/3 of Sears Island while bringing the possibility of prosperity to Maine's economy through International Trade.

Peter Tabor used his time to articulate his disappointment in the Sears Island Joint Use Process, giving examples where the public was excluded/unrepresented in the meetings and decisions that lead to potential development. Tabor spoke with conviction and restrained fury of the way advocates for a Wild Sears Island were pushed out of the process so that only those who agreed that development was appropriate use of the island were allowed to participate.

Jim Freeman expressed his belief that this compromise of 2/3 of the island put under the watchful eye of the Maine Heritage Trust and 1/3 made available for Port Development was the best possible outcome he believed realistic because there were far worse possibilities if something was not done to cement the process now. He explained that he felt he had done a service to the island by insuring the well being of it's largest portion and hoped that the Port would not be able to get the permits it would need to progress.

Commissioner Cole spoke with great enthusiasm of this plan as one that would open the door to international trade and interstate freight service as an avenue for profit and employment in the state of Maine. He made it clear that no port was actually planned yet as no port developer had been found, but did go on to say that the state was aggressively seeking a developer and also searching for markets that a port might serve.

Ron Huber explained the ways that the Sears Island estuary was infinitely more valuable than any port could be, as it was integral to the Maine Coast Fisheries. He spoke of the richness of young fish that depended on the area for protection and sustainence through their early development and the perfect environment the waters around Sears Island gave young fish with it's eel grass and shallow depths. He also stated that both regional fisheries and Sears Island ecosystems would be irrevocably damaged by any Port or Rail development.

The question part of the forum was less than satisfactory to me... answers too often missed the point of the question or were uncommital or hazy.
When it came time for audience participation, I asked Commissioner Cole... Why after 40 years of trying to develop the island at taxpayers' expense, and continually being told that Environmental Law would not allow such development did the MDOT continue to fight public sentiment and spend more of our money trying to find a way to develop the island... Mr Cole said that the studies had not yet been done this time and he felt optimistic that a Container Port was the right use of the island. --- It was as though he didn't get it that all these studies cost taxpayers for something the majority was opposed to, and that too much was at stake to experiment with what the ecosystems could cope with!

There were some great audience questions, but the answers did not satisfy me or my sense of justice. It seemed to me that the state was simply committed to "progress" through development and that they did not know or care about the affects. The advocates for Sears Island seemed to have information at their fingertips while both Mr Damon and Mr Cole often responded with unfamiliarity with the documents and a refusal to consider that if development was prohibited in the past with lesser Environmental Laws in place, that certainly a review today would reveal the same undeniable result.

I left the Forum more convinced than ever that Sears Island must not be tampered with... and sadly, that Maine Government seems to have lost it's compass and has also lost sight of true environmental/economic priorities in a state who's natural bounty is it's greatest asset!