tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-81796142010-01-04T12:43:24.203-05:00All about Penobscot Bay conservation and the interactions between the public, commercial, scientific, journalistic, regulatory and political players that focus on Maine's biggest bay and its natural inhabitants. A special emphasis in 2008 and 2009 on fate of Sears Island.Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.comBlogger254125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-42577177922470326492010-01-04T12:42:00.001-05:002010-01-04T12:43:24.213-05:00

Some of the many bills coming up before the Maine legislature that, if passed, would affect Penobscot Bay. For a larger list click here LD 1601 An Act To Create the Lincolnville Sewer District Public Hearing: Jan 14, 2010, 1PM, Rm 211 Cross Building "Each sanitary district .... shall have the power, within the district, within the territory of any adjoining municipality, and within any adjoining

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-60802493622012356882009-12-28T10:10:00.001-05:002009-12-28T10:15:49.496-05:00

It is astonishing to read in a recent article by the Portland Press Herald that that "the Maine Chapter of the Sierra Club...has long opposed development on Sears Island". Not so. The New England Chapter of the Sierra Club long opposed any development on Sears Island. It showed its mettle by suing -and winning-in state & federal courts in the 1980s and 90s.  The Maine Chapter, which split off

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-81270973582031593362009-12-25T11:42:00.003-05:002009-12-25T12:11:00.098-05:00

Looks like our lawsuits have been doing their work well: MDOT got No responses to its Sears Island RFEI (Request for Expression of Interest. This according to the following letter to the editor in the Free Press by Steve Miller: (links & map added for clarity) "According to Maine Port Authority chief John Henshaw, MDOT "received no responses to our [Sears Island] RFEI by the November 25 deadline

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-88106421312123160822009-12-16T01:17:00.002-05:002009-12-16T01:25:29.061-05:00

Jeff Pidot, who recently retired from a career in the Maine Attorney General's Natural Resources Division  office - a career pretty much sans reproach -  wrote an advisory report back in August at the request of the Maine State  Planning Office.  It outlines ocean windfarm-related laws & regulations affecting Maine state waters. The  31 page report  is entitled "An Independent Study of

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-83708093820957430062009-12-14T21:30:00.005-05:002009-12-15T16:53:56.456-05:00

The cross-oceanic striations - source of effectively limitless energy that our oceans' wildlife cavort about in. These are the warp of  Aphrodite's Loom, with the greater currents (Gulf Stream, etc) being the woof.  Who shall be the inventor whose gear can pull juice out of these 500 kilometer-long (crest to crest),  6 centimeter tall (trough to crest) ocean waves that crisscross the seven seas

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-3958069114587938432009-12-09T16:22:00.004-05:002009-12-09T19:20:36.234-05:00

The Maine Legislature will hear 159 new bills in the session coming up this winter;  click here to read the titles and sponsors of 159  Legislative Requests (LRs) accepted by the Legislative Council.  (Note this is a 16 page pdf file)  These LRs will shortly turn into LDs. They will join these bills held over from the last legislative session (6pg pdf) Marine resources holdover bills include a

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-4751780266085364082009-12-07T15:01:00.002-05:002009-12-07T15:09:26.974-05:00

Smelt, lobsters, seaweed,  shrimp and clams  are on the agenda for the DMR Advisory Council meeting, December 16, 2009 1:00 p.m. at the   Natural Resource Service Center in Hallowell. The public is welcome to attend. Directions here.   The following regulations will be voted upon : Chapter 40 Smelt Regulations and Chapter 55 Gear Restrictions, sections 20, 60 and 97 (C. Enterline) (PDF format

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-87041605374584266822009-11-26T10:40:00.003-05:002009-11-26T18:32:17.976-05:00

"Army Corps of Engineers nixes Sears Island mitigation plan."  What a wonderful headline to read. "Nix" has such an air of determination to it. Walter Griffin of Bangor Daily News reports MDOT's discomfiture, and Islesboro Islands Land Trust's Steve Miller continuing affectations of surprise at MDOT's yearnings to dismember Sears Island.  With a few tweaks,  Miller judges the partition as "...not

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-75340428968691135932009-11-04T01:39:00.002-05:002009-11-05T21:17:49.929-05:00

An environmental group with a special license from Maine's Department of Marine Resources has discovered a teeming autumn groundfish nursery in upper Penobscot Bay - directly in the path of a state proposal for a containerport and railyard.  Penobscot Bay's larval fish abundance  has been studied in spring and summer (13 pg pdf). On the other hand, fall and and winter abundances in the shallows

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-62192452966049992572009-11-02T13:53:00.000-05:002009-11-02T13:53:59.850-05:00

An opinion piece in the latest edition of  the Island Institute's Working Waterfront tabloid  laments the high real estate prices on Maine's islands, prices which render housing  there unattainable for the average Mainer. This is in large part due to, the writer observes, the fact that  "Maine's islands are part of a global real estate market." One part of that real estate market is, of course,

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-11866703715107007092009-10-29T22:25:00.000-04:002009-10-29T22:25:08.581-04:00

Maine Coastal Waters Conference October 28, 2009. Audio mp3s.  See state website of the conference. The event had 10 sessions    Paul Anderson, Maine SeaGrant Welcoming remarks George Lapointe Introductions by Maine Marine Resources Commissioner Angus King: "Ocean related energy"  BDN on King's speech Dr Susanne Moser, UC Santa Cruz: "Let's talk Climate: Communication for Effective

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-7479962245622184372009-10-28T23:41:00.004-04:002009-10-29T19:45:32.052-04:00

Wednesday's Maine Coastal Waters Conference, in a high end conference hall that squats atop what  once was the Ducktrap Deeryard, was cool. Audio mp3s of speakers at  event Click Here Keynote speaker didn't make it: Monica Medina, Sr Advisor to NOAA's Administrator, was taken ill yesterday. But folks said good things about her. This gave the next speaker, ex-Governor Angus King, plenty of time

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-87110293905541481752009-10-27T16:48:00.002-04:002009-10-27T19:56:48.185-04:00

Group to kick off Penobscot Bay protection plan at 2nd annual  Maine Coastal Waters Conference at  the Conference Center atop Ducktrap Mountain in Northport. In addition to renewable energy and climate change's impacts to the Gulf of Maine conference attendees willl consider  Community participation in the management and conservation of coastal ecosystems . An example of such

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-7349064891707013232009-10-25T11:39:00.000-04:002009-10-25T11:39:08.823-04:00

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-87813017028263837682009-10-20T01:04:00.002-04:002009-10-20T01:09:08.686-04:00

On the coast of Maine.  We wait for Big BlueGreen to lift its sluggish head from the climate change trough it is feeding at. It is time to stand at the shore of the sea, midwifing what to developers & polluters may seem a monster, but to the rest of us, a blessing, Time to get organized, NOAA is implementing new federal marine fish habitat rules over the entire coastal shallows (low tide to 30

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-85811241349937769322009-10-14T01:06:00.004-04:002009-10-14T09:20:20.631-04:00

The word on the bay is that MDOT has just shipped out to the federal agencies the state's new umbrella mitigation plan for MDOT. The previous one offering 2/3 of dismembered Sears Island as the first "deposit" in its mitigation bank, was sent packing some months ago.  What must MDOT Commissioner Cole be thinking this time? What has he come up with? It better be something new. For according to

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-40570478862878492362009-10-10T16:58:00.004-04:002009-10-11T11:15:40.933-04:00

At the July 12 2006 meeting of the Sears Island Planning Initiative Steering Committee,  "visions" of the future of Sears Island were expressed, from full island protection to construction of a variety of industrial port types.  The Maine Dept of Conservation has kept a 42 page compendium of these land use visions as a pdf file on the state website. Below are excerpts from a few of the many, just

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-88711703437445206502009-10-04T22:03:00.002-04:002009-10-06T11:40:52.901-04:00

Friends of Sears Island  met October 4 2009 at the Yardarm Motel in Searsport. The group was formed in 2004 but incorporated as a 501(c)(3) non profit only last year.  Its mission is ostensibly to steward only the 601 acres of the island under conservation easement, and ignore the other third of the island which is in peril of port speculation. Special Guests Ron Huber of Penobscot Bay Watch

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-33298844928806241992009-10-02T21:27:00.000-04:002009-10-02T21:27:38.459-04:00

On September 29th, the Maine Geological Survey and Maine Coastal Program hosted a public info meeting at the Samoset on the state plan to establish sites in Maine state waters for research on offshore deepwater windfarming. Media coverage  Here and Here  Listen below  to a  presentation by State Geologist Bob Marvinney describing the proposed windfarm areas off our coast, and to the lively

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-74528200435375646002009-09-26T15:44:00.000-04:002009-09-26T15:44:28.779-04:00

On Tuesday September 29th, the Samoset Resort in Rockport will host a public information meeting held by the Maine Department of Conservation and the Maine State Planning Office on proposals for demonstration sites off maine for offshore windfarming.  The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m., and lasts until 9 p.m.  Whether you are interested in a new clean industry and or about the reduced air and water

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-49728366340277729302009-09-18T21:02:00.001-04:002009-09-18T21:05:43.697-04:00

At a recent public forum about Sears Island, MaineDOT Commissioner David Cole let out a big secret as he laid out his agency's vision of a Sears Island port.  It would not be an ordinary container port, he said, It would be a "Trans-shipment container port." "The paradigm has significantly shifted" Cole declared, describing the plan for Sears Island to be   "a  trans-shipment containerport

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-60898235313728152012009-09-17T21:38:00.005-04:002009-09-18T15:49:53.310-04:00

On September 14th, five panelists went onstage at the Alamo Theater in Bucksport, Maine at the center of the Penobscot River estuary, to discuss "The Future of Sears Island". The two hour event was hosted by WERU Community Radio.Hear the many audience questions, too. OPENING REMARKS Intro by Amy Browne & Gray Parrot Senator Dennis Damon Peter Taber Jim Freeman David Cole

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-7189292374493508382009-09-16T19:49:00.002-04:002009-09-16T23:29:43.970-04:00

Not bad!  though I wish she'd mentioned my main point when she wrote: "it might impact Penobscot Bay." to summarize my depiction of the awesome marine fertility of the island's shoals area and how it is being needlessly threatened for a port for which, Commissioner Cole in so many words admitted, there is no need, only an opportunity.  But I think  that opportunity would be on the backs of nature

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-31211895091711731492009-09-15T23:30:00.002-04:002009-09-16T23:31:50.522-04:00

T'was a fine time at the Alamo Theater in Bucksport last night. The Great Game playing out once more. Both hours roared by; I couldn't believe it when it was noted but a few minutes remained...See photos here. Here  are my recollections of the first hour: The entryway, where Sally Jones displayed used cores of  rhyolite, which a first nations-er  discarded on the island sometime during the last

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8179614.post-91539942011784705292009-09-15T21:15:00.000-04:002009-09-15T21:15:56.846-04:00

Bucksport.  At a forum last night  on the future of Sears Island, Senator Dennis Damon (D-Trenton) co-chair of the Maine Legislature's Marine Resources Committee, said if plans for a container port  advance, he will order a hearing on the fish habitat surrounding the upper Penobscot Bay island.. His announcement came after a succession of opponents of a proposed container port plan for the Sears

Ron Hubernoreply@blogger.com0