Power to the people! MDI residents support bid for consumer-owned Maine utility
Foliage video, fotos; AWL's many faces; Environmental consequences of fish farms
TREMONT, Oct. 16, 2021 - In a barn with tools and bicycles hanging off the walls, the activists made their case for a consumer owned and operated utility in Maine to replace our hardened reliance on the monopolies of Versant and Central Maine Power.
Bar Harbor Councilman Gary Friedmann, who works with non-profits, helped arrange the fund-raiser hosted by Debby and Rick Smith here Friday.
The participants heard Friedmann, State Rep. Seth Berry, co-chair of the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee, and committee member Nicole Grohoski, a Democrat who represents Ellsworth, proffer compelling arguments.
Berry and Grohoski were principals behind a bill which passed the Maine House for a forced buyout of Versant and Central Maine. But it was too much of a political lift for Gov. Janet Mills, who vetoed the measure July 13.
Berry and Grohoski are planning to relieve her of that burden by going directly to Maine voters with a referendum question.
Versant and CMP aren’t helping themselves with what Mills said was their “abysmal” service. In recent years they consistently ranked at the bottom of consumer surveys of utility companies across the country.
JD Power’s 2020 ranking of utility companies shows CMP, Versant at the bottom …
Berry, the chief sponsor, said 75 percent of Mainers surveyed supports the initiative. “It’s a sovereignty issue. It’s a local control issue. It’s about who controls our future,” Berry said.”
Schools, police, armed forces, water and sewer are not commercialized, so why should our power grid, a key infrastructure, be controlled by out-of-state investors, he said.
Commercial utilities are not moving fast enough to enable renewal energy solutions to replace fossil fuel-fired plants, Grohoski said. She has constituents frustrated by Versant’s “dragging their feet” in connecting solar arrays to the power grid.
She also cited Versant’s woeful response to last summer’s blackouts on several hot days in North Ellsworth, Orland and Dedham. “The grid is overloaded and Versant is not interested in proper distribution because that’s not where the money is. It is the most expensive utility in the state.”
Berry and Grohoski are behind Our Power Maine, the initiative to buy out the utilities in a referendum. Berry said 80,000 signatures are needed “in the next several weeks” and Our Power Maine is looking to raise $156,000 over the next eight weeks for its campaign.
You may make a donation by clicking here or you make make a donation to its partner organization Institute for Local reliance, which is a 501c3 non-profit and specify that the donation is for Our Power Maine.
“When you get something in front of the people in Maine and they see the logic in it, they get it, and that’s why we know we can do this,” Berry told the supporters here. “We can be the first state to get to 100 percent renewables.”
He cited six cities in the country which have achieved 100 percent renewable energy production and only two - Aspen and Burlington, Vermont - are in blue states.
It is expected that the transition to a publicly owned utility would increase rates in the short term but flatten out and decrease over the long term.
That is what is happening in Georgetown, Texas, a city of about 50,000 which achieved 100 renewable energy but also encountered criticism in 2019 for an increase in rates. It being Texas, the fossil fuel industry was quick to jump on the wagon.
But others said the Georgetown situation was an anomaly having more to do with bad management than the concept of renewable energy.
“Essentially, Georgetown neglected to seek community input before signing contracts that generated significantly more energy than the city needed on an annual basis. The goal was to sell that excess energy for a profit through Texas’ electricity market,” the Sierra Club noted. “Unfortunately, at least in the few years since the contract was signed, the utility lost money on those excess sales, leading in part to higher electricity bills and upset residents.
“They could have also taken a more measured approach and moved to 100% renewable energy over time rather than all at once. Among cities that are scaling renewable energy, Georgetown’s situation is the exception, not the rule (although climate deniers and fossil fuel proponents might suggest otherwise).”
MDI fall foliage fotos
SOMESVILLE - Until today, we were having a spectacular foliage season. The usually blustery month of October has been virtually windless, allowing the leaves to stay longer. We also had eight straight days without rain. Enjoy the following three photos and a video through Beech Hill Cross Road.
Why is Tremont planning board allowing multiple phases of glamping resort, unreported changes?
TREMONT - If, as a representative of Acadia Wilderness Lodge has said, that the project will unfold in phases which could take years, then what is the first phase and what is the last?
That would seem a logical question for the Planning Board. But this board seems obsessed with process and little else.
The board hearings and meetings have been drawn out and much time spent debating who should talk first, who should rebut and how time each side should be allotted. PB members seem less interested in the content.
Such as, if the project is in phases, would the 1.6-acre campground under construction on Kelleytown Road be considered Phase 1? And if the plan was for a phased development, then why didn’t AWL presented it as such?
And what’s with the open space which AWL said it would wait until better zoning regulations come into play in five years?
Certainly the aquifers below the surface and the soil on the properties didn’t get the memo about the different phases and boundaries. It’s just one massive development as far as Mother Earth is concerned.
There are two lawyers on the PB so these are not unfamiliar questions.
The board now consists of only four members on the AWL question because Beth Gott recused herself. Brett Witham, deputy general counselor for Jackson Labs, is not unfamiliar with predatory development as many Bar Harbor residents regard JAX as a non-profit which only takes (pays no property tax) and does not contribute the welfare of the town.
It would be inconsistent for Witham to vote against a pro-development venture.
Back to the question at hand. The phases.
AWL applied for an 11-cabin campground on 1.6 acres on Kelleytown Road in 2019. PB chair Mark Good cast the deciding vote in the 3-2 approval which was upheld by the appeals board. It was the first time in five years the appeals board had to decide on something. No one on either board knew then that a second, more intensive project would be forthcoming.
The phases came into question in the packet of information the applicant’s lawyer sent to the PB Oct. 5, containing previous memos including one from the project engineer to the state Department of Environmental Protection stating it was likely to seek a site location of development permit from the state in a few years.
Six months later the applicants changed their tune, telling Code Enforcement Officer Jesse Dunbar that the cabins originally proposed were not available and wanted to change them to yurts. Dunbar approved the change in August without consulting the board.
The counsel for the citizens group opposing the 43-acre glamping resort application said the problem was that the yurts were twice as large as the cabins.
“The aggregate square footage of structures on the site (11 yurts plus office building) totals 7,281 square feet. By comparison, the original site plan adopted by the Planning Board in 2019 contained 11 cabins (24’x12’) plus the office building, for an aggregate square footage of structures totaling 3,947 square feet. This change in their site plan was never presented to the Planning Board for approval,” stated attorney Amy Tchiao. She added while Dunbar had the legal authority to approve the change, the matter was material enough to require a Planning Board review.
QSJ asked Dunbar if he knew the size would increase. He declined to comment saying he needed time to research documents first.
Tchiao said she will appeal the approval by Dunbar.
Other changes (AWL has had more changes than Lady Gaga):
A new map filed by the applicant shows roads connecting the two campground which did not appear in previous maps (see black square below). Tchiao said this is evidence of a “common scheme of development” which should be treated as having 66 sites and not 55 and will require a DEP site location review.
Exactly six months after telling the DEP that it will likely seek site location review, AWL is now saying the opposite:
The above memo is interesting on several levels: AWL left out the number of the yurts - 11 - under construction; AWL is working hard to ensure the footprint is under 20 acres and 3 acres of non-permeable surface to come under the requirement for a site location of development review by the DEP which could take a year.
AWL is a moving target. Only certain question left is: What’s next?
Town Manager Jesse Dunbar has been doing two jobs since June 19, when the previous town manager left. The town wisely recognized that he needed help and contracted with the Town of Mount Desert to borrow its code enforcement officer Kim Keene on a temporary basis to assist.
This would be a great time to call in the calvary.
Greenhouse gas footprint from fish farms extend well beyond the pens
SOMESVILLE - What is fish farming’s most carbon inducing practice which emits the most greenhouse gas?
Let’s use American Aquafarms as an example.
The proposed 120-acre salmon farm for the middle of Frenchman Bay promises to be a Green Monster, and not the Fenway type. It will generate greenhouse gas, nitrogen, phosphorus and plenty of dirty diesel emissions.
But surprisingly, its biggest violator will be in the actual production of feed for the farmed fish, according to a study published in Nature magazine by a group of scientists who gathered data from almost 7,000 fish farms and 1,000 fishery records about 23 species groups of fish, bivalves, seaweeds, and crustaceans.
This was pointed out to QSJ by a reader and golf mate to an article in Anthropocene Magazine. (Did you now there was such a magazine?)
“The footprint is attributable to the land conversion and fertilizers that are needed to produce the feed, which are typically soybeans,” the magazine reported. “This land-based food production also gives farmed fish a relatively high footprint where water use is concerned.
“Crucially, finding ways to increase the feed conversion ratio (using less feed, more efficiently, to produce more fish) would bring substantial benefits. The researchers estimate that reducing the amount of feed applied in aquaculture by 10% could reduce all the associated environmental stressors of feeding fish—land use, water use, emissions—by between 1 and 24%.
“If fish farms also switched to feed sourced from deforestation-free farms, emissions associated with feeding fish would drop by up to 50%. Beyond that, alternative feed sources like insect meals and algae, also hold a lot of potential to bring impacts down.”
Henry Sharpe, president of Frenchman Bay United, touched on this in a previous QSJ article about the numerous environmental fouls the proposed salmon farm would generate.
In April, he wrote a prescient opinion piece in the Ellsworth American in which he stated, “Skretting, an international supplier of commercial aquaculture fish food, indicates that it takes 1 pound of fish pellets to raise 1 pound of fish. That translates to 1,534 trucks 21 miles long” to haul the feed.”
“There will be two 250-foot sludge barges, one at each pen. We don’t know exactly what the sludge volume is yet, but probably a similar volume to the food, so maybe another 21-mile line of trucks.
“There will be large transport logistics for diesel fuel required to power high-volume pumps, controls, lighting and crew quarters. This demand is so large it will require one and possibly two so-called ‘minor new source’ emission licenses from the DEP to meet EPA air pollution regulations. Basically, a license to pollute.
“A large ship will make the 30-mile round trip to Prospect Harbor every day, most likely burning high sulfur fuel oil, among the dirtiest.
“So, all together, considering fish, pellets, and sludge, maybe 4,600 trucks per /year stretching 63 miles bumper to bumper. Double that to 9,200 trucks in a 126-mile line because, of course, if full trucks leave, empty ones need to arrive. Hauling that load from Gouldsboro through Ellsworth and beyond, five days a week, for 52 weeks of each year translates to 17 trucks leaving and 17 truck arriving every day, one every 14 minutes (assuming an eight-hour shift per /day) for 20 years on our small roads. Not to mention the additional traffic congestion from employees.”
The greenhouse emissions from American Aquafarms will turn it into a huge climate miscreant, not to mention a total affront to the environmental sensibilities of Maine citizens.
Here’s hoping the Maine environmental protection people are up to the task of protecting us.
The America Aquafarms application will get a DEP public airing Oct. 28 from 5 to 8 on Zoom https://us06web.zoom.us/j/6928501126?pwd=blBEMDBlUTFKb3ZIbFN0NFVEaTl0dz09
Meeting ID: 692 850 1126 Passcode: 4gWhZz
Tribute: Kaighn Smith MD 1928-2021
Kaighn Smith, M.D., revered Philadelphia physician and ocean sailing racer, died peacefully on Sept. 18 at his home in Northeast Harbor, Maine. Present were his loving children, Gay, Laurie and Kaighn Jr.. He was 92. His wife of 70 years, Rev. Ann Robb Smith, died June 6 in the identical setting.
Dr. Smith was the son of Katherine Coolidge Smith and Geoffrey Story Smith of Fort Washington, PA. Raised on their small farm, he became an excellent horseman and athlete. He attended Chestnut Hill Academy in Philadelphia and then enrolled in St. Paul’s School in Concord, NH. In his senior year, he was elected Vice President at a time when the student government ran the school because so many teachers served in World War II. He loved St. Paul’s, always referring to his years there as his most formative. In later years, he served on the school’s Board of Trustees.
After graduating from Harvard, Dr. Smith attended the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. In his third year, he watched a baby being delivered and was inspired to become an Obstetrician Gynecologist. Upon graduation from medical school, he served two years in the Navy. In 1966, after six years as attending physician at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he joined Philadelphia’s Lankenau Hospital, and in 1974, commenced 22 years as chair of Lankenau’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of the Residency Program. Residents were in awe of his surgical deftness and the depth of his wisdom. He would eventually lead the hospital as Chief of the Medical Staff.
Dr. Smith was known as a leader in his field: he introduced the use of fetal monitors before they were hardly known, purchasing one of the first of these life-saving devices for the hospital; he was the first OBGYN in the Philadelphia area to bring midwives into the practice; and he unceasingly advocated for women to take leadership roles. Upon retiring, he delighted in turning over the helm of his Department of over 60 doctors and numerous midwives to Nancy S. Roberts, whom he recruited.
He held many leadership positions both within the medical profession and outside of it: as President of the Obstetrical Society of Philadelphia (following in the footsteps of his Great Grandfather, Dr. Albert Holmes Smith), Chairman of the Board of the Philadelphia Contributionship, and Commodore of the Cruising Club of America to name a few. His awards include the Endowed Chair in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Lankenau and the Amos S. Weiner Award for Service and Teaching from Thomas Jefferson University.
In addition to his family and medical practice, Dr. Smith was passionate about sailing. In the late 1950s, he sailed competitively for the Navy in the small, one-design Thistle Class, winning regattas while described by local press as “virtually unknown.” He eventually turned to ocean racing, and with a finely honed amateur crew, won (overall) every major ocean race on the eastern seaboard in his Swan 38, Gaylark: the Bermuda Race, Annapolis to Newport, and Marblehead to Halifax. Anyone involved in the high levels of ocean racing at the time knew and respected Dr. Smith and his crew.
Although designed by the world-renowned marine architect, Sparkman & Stephens, the Swan 38 keel was not deep enough. Dr. Smith built a new mold for a longer keel in his basement, had the molten lead from the old keel poured into it at a foundry owned by a patient’s husband, and refastened the new keel to the hull. That year (1983), he went on to win the Annapolis-Newport Race. A longtime member and one time commodore of the Cruising Club of America, Dr. Smith provided the idea for and the implementation of what became the “Safety at Sea” program, which has now trained thousands of amateur sailors for handling emergencies aboard offshore sailboats.
Dr. Smith was the patriarch of a family that admired and loved him beyond measure. In addition to his two daughters and son, he leaves four grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, some of whom are named for him. A memorial service will be held next summer. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to Planned Parenthood and/or St. Paul’s School, financial aid.