NRCM Blog

Moosehead News Direct from Bangor

After three and a half years of public hearings, written comments and hours of testimony, the Plum Creek process reached the decisive moment today – the LURC Commission tentatively voted to approve Plum Creek’s plan for 2000 house lots including two resorts surrounding Moosehead Lake.

Maine people can take great pride in the number of changes that they caused to be made in Plum Creek’s plan over the last three years.  As a result of persistent and heartfelt public opposition, all development was removed from multiple small remote ponds, from the north end of Moosehead Lake at Big W Township, the northwest shore of Brassua Lake, the north shore of Long Pond, East Outlet, the eastern shore of Upper Wilson Pond, and Prong Pond.  These changes will help maintain the remote character of these areas in the future.

However, despite repeated and passionate public opposition over three long years to the overall scope of development and to development at Lily Bay, the LURC Commission failed to heed the call of Maine people to decrease the overall amount of development or to remove the proposed resort including 404 accommodation units proposed for Lily Bay. This is very disturbing, particularly given the concerns and questions raised by a number of the Commissioners.  But, this major decision now appears to have been finally made.

But this process is far from over. Over the next few months, the decisions made today by LURC will be written up in the necessary legal language.  As we have learned repeatedly throughout this process, there can be a lot of devils in the details and NRCM will continue to review all the details and legal documents to ensure that the improvements that have been made in this plan are not lost.

In the meantime, we will explore all possible future options to protect the Moosehead Lake region and Maine’s North Woods.  Despite this setback, we remain committed to protecting the natural character, wildlife, and recreational opportunities of Maine’s North Woods. 

Cathy Johnson
NRCM North Woods Project Director

LURC deliberates about Plum Creek

So, today is the day.  Plum Creek's massive development proposal is being discussed today by Maine's Land Use Regulation Commission at a two-day meeting in Bangor.  The closing arguments are being given today, and NRCM held a press conference along with Maine Audubon this morning in advance of the start of the deliberations - sharing with everyone many of the public comments about Lily Bay and why so many people want this beautiful wilderness area preserved.

I am listening to the hearings online as I do other work in my office today.  You can listen in at http://www.maine.gov/doc/lurc/commissionwebcast.shtml.  I can't believe that after more than three years, thousands of public comments (both written and presented in front of LURC at last fall's public hearings), and many updates of maps and factsheets that I have posted on our website, that the time for LURC's making a decision on Plum Creek has finally arrived.

I read many of the 1700 comments that were sent in during the month-long comment period this summer and was moved by the passion with which many people in the Moosehead area and from around the state and the country wrote - telling their stories and their family histories of time spent at Moosehead and on Lily Bay.  You can read some of the comments here.

I have my fingers crossed (which makes it hard to type this entry!) that LURC will do the right thing and protect Lily Bay and the Moosehead area.  As we have said all along - once this area is gone, it's gone forever.  You can't undo the development once it has begun - and for the people and wildlife who love and inhabit this area, I hope that Lily Bay is kept as wilderness and not spoiled by a 404-unit resort area.

We will keep you posted on the deliberations and all of the happenings related to Plum Creek's development proposal.  Thank you to all of you who have emailed us, attended hearings, written comments, and supported and participated in our work to protect this natural gem. 

Beth

The Public Has Spoken: No Development on Lily Bay

Well it took us a few days to read through them all, but finally we know what the public really thinks about the latest proposal for development at Lily Bay.  I think that Julie Sawtelle’s comments are a good summary of the public’s response.

“Just tell Plum Creek: 'No thanks, Lily Bay is just fine the way it is….'"  -Julie Sawtelle, Litchfield

In the end, after a four week comment period that ended last Friday, the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) received 1,768 individual letters and emails.  1,762 were opposed the Plum Creek proposal, 1,517 of those comments specifically mentioned Lily Bay.  On the other end of the spectrum, LURC received six letters in support of the development proposal.  Two of those said they’d support development on Lily Bay.

Here’s a picture of the stacks of comments.

Overall 99.6% of the comments LURC received raised objections to Plum Creek’s proposal.  85.8% opposed development at Lily Bay.  Eighty percent of all comments were from Maine residents.

The comments came from more than 300 Maine towns in all sixteen counties, from Allagash to Kittery, Rangeley to Eastport. They came from the communities and outposts surrounding Moosehead Lake (Greenville, Greenville Junction, Rockwood, Beaver Cove, Tomhegan Township, Sapling Township, Frenchtown Township, and Jackman). And they came from families that have enjoyed the quiet remoteness of Lily Bay State Park for generations...

The Plum Creek Hearings - An Update and Summary

After four long weeks and hundreds of hours of testimony the technical intervener sessions on Plum Creek’s development proposal for Moosehead Lake have ended; at least for now.  The Land Use Regulation Commission closed this phase of the sessions on Friday and gave at least some indication of how the process may move forward.  On the final day of the sessions the Commissioners were offered three options from the Attorney General’s office.  The first option was for the Commissioners to vote up or down on the proposal as it is now.  The second was for the Commission to allow Plum Creek to make amendments to its development scheme.  The third option was for the Land Use Regulation Commission staff to draft a series of suggested options for potential changes.  The Commissioners voted unanimously in support of option three.  Comments from the interveners on the three options were due yesterday.  NRCM believes that the Commission should vote yes or no on the application that is in front of them now, but it appears that this not the direction the Commission is going to go.  Knowing this we think option three is the next best choice.  We don’t want to see Plum Creek continue to make only symbolic changes and attempt to drag this process out in a never ending war of attrition.  Once the Commission has a chance to review the intervener’s comments they will decide how to continue the process.  We should know more about this in the next week.

The one clear conclusion of these sessions is that Plum Creek’s current proposal is fatally flawed and significant changes are necessary.  Now we just have to figure out how to best make this happen.

-Diano Circo, North Woods Policy Advocate and Outreach Coordinator

Plum Creek hearings - an update from this week

After a few weeks of preparing for the upcoming public hearing in Greenville tomorrow, I’ve finally been able to come up for air and return to the intervener sessions.  We know that many of you rely on this blog to help you keep up with what is happening.  We’ll do our best to keep this blog up to date for the remainder of the intervener sessions.

The intervener sessions started back up on Tuesday of this week and will continue on Tuesday of next week and hopefully finish up on Friday the 25th.  I’ve been stopping by the intervener sessions to help out briefly over the past three days.  I think the first thing I noticed was the ever evolving revolving door of lawyers that Plum Creek has brought in.  I’m looking now at a team of what appears to be five attorneys at Plum Creek’s front row table.  Three of them are faces I haven’t noticed before and still more of their lawyers are sitting in the back of the room.  It’s hard not to wonder what the price tag is on this type of legal assault.  I can’t help at times but to envision spinning wheels of numbers over their heads with the billable hours increasing by the second.

This week has focused on scenic impacts, traffic impacts, and wildlife and habitat issues. At the moment, the Commission is cross examining state agencies about the potential impacts Plum Creek’s proposal would have on the federally listed Canada lynx.

Troupe Stays in Step For Plum Creek

1/11/08 column by Bill Nemitz in the Portland Press Herald:

Troupe Stays in Step for Plum Creek

It's no secret that Plum Creek Timber Co. has hired all kinds of local talent -- lawyers, lobbyists, beefy security guys with little plugs in their ears -- to help pitch its proposed mega-development around Moosehead Lake.

But a choreographer?

It happened last month in Portland, at the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission's hearing on the Plum Creek proposal. And the award for best stage management goes to Barton & Gingold, a Portland-based public relations firm hired by Plum Creek to, shall we say, keep supporters in step.

"We have a large team of foot soldiers tomorrow," exulted Elizabeth Swain, a partner with Barton & Gingold, in an e-mail sent to nine co-workers on the eve of the Dec. 15 hearing at the Holiday Inn by the Bay. It was one of four public hearings to be held around the state by LURC to gather input on Plum Creek's plans for two resorts and 975 house lots in the northern Maine woods.

Swain's e-mail -- reportedly recovered from a waste basket at the hotel and circulated since among Plum Creek's opponents, offers a rare glimpse into just how carefully the LURC hearings -- the last comes Jan. 19 in Greenville -- have been orchestrated by those on Plum Creek's payroll.

There's this advice from Swain to the "B&G people" who might testify to LURC:

Up the (Plum) Creek

This piece by Edgar Allen Beem was originally published in The Forecaster - and we wanted to share it with you in case you hadn't had a chance to read it.  We think it's a great piece!  Be sure to share it with your friends, family and colleagues!

Up (Plum) Creek
by Edgar Allen Beem
The Forecaster, December 27, 2007

On Saturday morning, Dec. 15, I attended the Land Use Regulation Commission’s public hearing in Portland on Plum Creek’s mammoth development proposal for the Moosehead Lake region. I went with my daughter Tess, who was interested in writing a letter to LURC urging defeat of the monstrous resort/summer colony plan.

What I saw and heard in the packed conference room of the Holiday Inn by the Bay saddened me deeply and convinced me that Plum Creek’s Wal-Marting of the Maine woods will probably be approved, albeit with a few mitigating conditions.

Over and over again I heard folks from northern Maine express the opinion that we in southern Maine shouldn’t have any say in the matter. Whatever happens around Moosehead is none of our business. The most prominent person voicing this parochial opinion was Sen. John Martin of Eagle Lake, which, for the record, is just as far from Greenville as Portland is...

Behind the scenes at the Portland Plum Creek public hearing

I want to start this post by thanking everyone who came out to the public hearing in Portland on Saturday, and especially those who patiently waited hours for their three minutes of time.  Here is one blog post about the experience from the League of Young Voters http://theleagueofyoungvoters.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/reflections-on-moosehead-lake-by-felicia-teach/.  The media has been reporting that somewhere around 500 people came to the hearing.  I wish I had a more exact figure for you, but I was sitting up front doing my best to keep track of all the testimony and didn’t have a chance to do a head count.  I did have a few opportunities to stand up and look around, the room was full of people sporting the "Don’t Mess Up Moosehead" sticker that we were passing out.  It was clear to me that the vast majority of people in the room had come to show Plum Creek and the Commission that they were opposed to the development proposal.  There has been a lot of media over the past few days about the hearing so I won’t go into what has already been hashed and rehashed in the paper.  You can read the Portland Press Herald coverage here http://www.nrcm.org/news_detail.asp?news=2022.

What I’d prefer to tell you about is what hasn’t necessarily been reported...

Final Greenville hearing postponed due to weather

The final Greenville public hearing about Plum Creek's massive development proposal for the Moosehead Lake region was originally scheduled for Sunday, December 16.  Due to a predicted snowstorm, the public hearing has now been postponed and will be held in Greenville on Saturday, January 19, 2008.  To learn more, please go to http://www.nrcm.org/pc_action.asp. 

We hope to see you in Portland for the public hearing on Saturday, December 15 - that one will go on as scheduled at the Holiday Inn By the Bay.  We will then see you in Greenville on January 19.  Thank you!

Questions about Plum Creek's proposal? Post them here.

Hey everyone let's get a dialogue going here.  If you have any questions about what is happening at the hearings or what is in the Plum Creek development proposal let us know and I’ll do my best to answer you here.

Diano Circo
North Woods Policy Advocate and Outreach Coordinator