State 'bungles' salmon project, sowing doubts about its ability to regulate aquaculture industry

BH petition not Charles Sidman's first rodeo; crack in MRC hegemony; lawyers monopolize Tremont meeting

CUTLER, Maine, Dec. 18, 2021 - Mikael Roenes, the Norwegian who wants to build two massive fish farms in Frenchman Bay, must be licking his chops.

The state of Maine showed once again this week its ineptitude at enforcing oversight of the burgeoning aquaculture industry. The Department of Marine Resources announced it was backing out of a wild salmon restoration project intended as a disciplinary action for violations by Cooke Seafood, which has the only in-water fish farm permit in Maine.

Two years ago the state came up with a novel way to discipline Cooke for, among multiple violations identified by state regulators, exceeding fish density limits, failure to provide complete annual stocking notices on time and failure to properly sample for sulfides in facilities it operates off the coast of Maine.

Its “consent agreement” called for $156,000 from Cooke to fund a new, state-led program that would have raised 900 native Atlantic salmon in ocean net pens in Franklin, then deliver them to the Machias River when they reached adulthood.

The project was modeled after a successful one in Canada’s Upper Salmon River, also funded by Cooke. Fundy Salmon Recovery (FSR) released more than 600 endangered Atlantic salmon into the Upper Salmon River in Fundy National Park in 2018.

Except this is Maine where enforcement is, well, not the highest priority.

It was a sketchy plan from the start where the state played the role of licensor and licensee. It called for the DMR to lease the acres of water needed and then give itself a permit. Cooke would have managed the herding of the salmon up the river. With the Cutler project canceled, Cooke is now out of the penalty box.

QSJ has reported other soft stances on enforcement by the DMR.

On Nov. 27 QSJ unveiled emails of a high ranking DMR official who decided not to pursue underwater videos of the die-off of 116,000 salmon at Cooke’s Black Island fish farm last summer so that DMR wouldn’t have to investigate it further.

Marcy Nelson, chief of aquaculture at DMR, wrote, “Cooke is not collecting videos for us at this time. Although we have the authority to ask for videos, there was concern in the past about it being contrary to the MEPDES permit should we start collecting that information and potentially having to then take action.”

In other words, DMR would rather not know about potential violations because it might have to do its job.

QSJ recently obtained another email showing the DMR commissioner out of the loop for almost 10 days after the massive die-off. It wasn’t until the manager of the boat assigned to clean up the dead fish alerted Patrick Keliher on Aug. 23 did he learn of the news. The following is a scan of the actual email exchange.

“DMR has a huge void in its leadership,” said Crystal Canney, executive director of Protect Maine's Fishing Heritage Foundation. “DMR was about to approve its own lease for salmon net pen aquaculture. Thankfully, the town of Cutler stopped it. This is a significant problem for the state. It's time for the Governor to take a hard look at industrial scale aquaculture leases like the one proposed for Frenchman Bay. How could a project of that scale possibly be handled by DMR leadership if the commissioner couldn’t even handle a 4-acre salmon aquaculture restoration project?”

The state certainly postured as a tough hombre when it announced in 2019 that staff inspections at multiple Cooke facilities found Cooke violated the terms of its permit. It then imposed the stocking of wild salmon at Cutler by Cooke as a disciplinary action.

Except that DMR did virtually no advance work at this fishing village (population 505) at the head of the Machias River to make sure things were copacetic.

Indeed they were not. Cutler residents had concerns about the impact on its incumbent fisheries, navigation, aesthetics and jurisdictional authority. Cutler administrator Teresa Bragg said despite multiple overtures, the DMR was not responsive.

Then DMR representatives showed up on Dec. 9, took questions, and on Dec. 13, it made the decision to close the project.

Jeff Nichols, DMR spokesman, stated, “After meeting with Cutler’s Select Board and Harbormasters on Thursday, December 9th, the DMR Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat made the decision to withdraw its application. This meeting was not required per regulation, but as the applicant, the DMR Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat is committed to ensuring the understanding and support of stakeholders, especially those who live and work near a proposed site. During the meeting, the DMR Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat staff learned that, while the community was supportive of the approach to restoring Atlantic salmon intended by the proposed lease, concerns included the impact on fishing near the proposed site and the use of a nearby boat launch to manage the net pens, which could impact use by local fishermen. As a result of the input received during the meeting, the Bureau has withdrawn its application and is considering options for the future of this project.”

So no one from the state anticipated these concerns before the state attorney general and the Department of Environmental Protection entered into its consent agreement with Cooke and issued its public statement in 2019?

Where does that leave us?

“This proposed experimental lease was intended to cultivate Atlantic salmon as part of the Bureau’s Salmon for Maine’s River project to support restoration of this endangered species,” Nichols replied. “DMR remains committed to this project and will continue to pursue conservation aquaculture to raise Atlantic salmon in the marine environment. At this point, it is too early to say exactly what the Bureau’s plans are for sustaining this project however we will be reviewing options in the near future.”

In other words the project is dead.

Dwayne Shaw of the Downeast Salmon Federation who endorsed the project on behalf of indigenous peoples with a stake on preserving wild salmon, said the state “bungled the project.”

He is a stakeholder who watched the train wreck from the beginning. He was kept in the dark about the wild salmon in the pens off Franklin, Maine and whether they will be euthanized. Like Cutler, he feels like he’s uninformed.

Meanwhile, Cooke is a free bird, having paid its fine and no longer encumbered.

Shaw raised the question of whether these consent agreements are the best instruments for enforcement.

As part of the project the state received a $1 million grant from the federal government as part of its “sea run” program. About $100,000 of that has been spent, Cutler officials were told.

“The Bureau is doing an accounting of money spent to-date and will work with funders to identify a path forward,” Nichols said.

Meanwhile, Mikael Roenes, a convicted felon who is not unfamiliar with the dark alleys of rules-bending, is awaiting his application for a 20-year permit to operate two massive salmon fish pens in Frenchman Bay. He wants the chance to run a business here. Wonder how many others are looking at the state of Maine with its dim light of enforcement?

Veteran activist takes on council, cruise ships

Startup investor Charles Sidman

​BAR HARBOR - Charles Sidman is READY TO RUMBLE!

Cruise ship industry take note: This guy is combat proven and not a delphic piece of jelly which is the majority of the current Town Council. His serving notice of a citizens petition to cap cruise ship visits, which the Islander reported this week, has the imprimatur of a seasoned veteran of municipal trench warfare.

He was the catalyst behind two successful ballot initiatives in 2019, including one which prevented docking of large cruise ships in Bar Harbor. That passed overwhelmingly 493-384.

In a letter Dec. 7 to the Town Council, Sidman said unless the council reduces cruise ship visits by two-thirds off the 2019 high, he will launch a citizens petition. He told QSJ that an outright ban has not been ruled out.

“Our town’s carrying capacity in terms of health resources, workforce housing, public crowding, emergency and other services, etc. (all affecting public health) were clearly strained by this past summer’s extravagant visitation (without the addition of any major Cruise Ship activity.)  Protection of such land-based safeguards and quality of life is certainly within the legal purview of a town.”

Maine’s laws give enormous power to citizens to petition for changes in local ordinances when select boards and councils are rendered ineffective. Sidman needs to gather only 234 signatures - 10 percent of the last gubernatorial votes - to have the question placed on a townwide ballot. Citizens may even call a special town meeting to adjudicate such questions.

Most likely, the earliest date for the ballot question will be in November 2022. If the 2022 cruise ship season gets out of hand, it will only fuel a bigger turnout to enforce tight restrictions, Sidman said.

The petition will be worded so future town councils may not abrogate its intention as was the case in 2019, Sidman said, when the Town Council attempted to water down a petition which overwhelmingly ruled that only registered voters may serve on town boards.

“If the Town Council in its wisdom decides to not listen to clearly expressed citizen sentiment, and allows continuation of the majority of previous and destructive Cruise Ship visitation, then a new Citizen Initiative will certainly be launched, with awareness this time of how to insulate it from further Council modification afterward,” Sidman wrote.

The Town Council is scheduled to meet Tuesday and will continue its discussion of curbing cruise ship visits after hearing from industry representatives that it’s too late to change the 2022 schedule with 292,000 passengers. The council consists of three pro-cruise ship members - Matt Hochman, Jeff Dobbs and Erin Cough - three anti cruise ship members - Joe Minutolo, Gary Friedmann and Jill Goldthwait - and one member, Valerie Peacock, who favors limiting cruise ship visits but prefers “collaborative” solutions with the industry.

In a letter to the Islander in 2019, Sidman wrote, “Ever-greater catering to the cruise ship industry is ‘killing the goose that laid the golden egg’ and, if unchecked, will continue to erode and compromise our sustainable local economy and traditions, for the benefit mainly of a few large international firms and non-resident business owners. Are we truly so ‘penny-wise, pound-foolish’?

“Our town officials now openly express the view that they alone are in charge and can rule however they choose, despite paying lip service to being public servants. Thus they voice disdain and disapproval for citizens’ initiatives in general, that remain the only public check and balance between staggered Town Council elections.”

MRC member says some waste stream could go to incineration in the future

SOMESVILLE - The Karen Fussell hegemony showed a slight crack at the annual Municipal Review Committee meeting Wednesday when the Orono board member opened the possibility of having more than just the failed Hampden plant as part of the MRC future.

Fussell is the strict constructionist chair who has maintained steadfastly that there can be only one solution in the MRC future - re-opening of the failed Fiberight plant in Hampden.

There is no Plan B in any of Fussell’s public statements. Wednesday, she said, “We’re looking to move forward. We’re not looking to move back.” She disparaged the Penobscot Energy Recovery plant as “extremely aging and has many, many issues associated with it. I don’t think it’s a future for the MRC.”

That is a strange way to treat someone who just bailed you out of a massive jam. PERC’s Orrington plant is processing two-thirds of MRC waste while the Hampden plant remains shuttered.

But someone forgot to send the “tow the line” memo to MRC member Sophie Wilson, town manager of Orono, who said:

“We wouldn’t be able to service our members without PERC right now. I am but one voice on this board but I happen to believe that the future which would work best for our region is one that MRC and PERC are working together to address the total waste stream because there are some streams which are better suited through PERC and there are some better suited for the Hampden plant once we get it going …

“There was a time when there was an us and them,” Wilson said. “We’re beyond that and quite frankly I think we need each other to move forward. I hope we can get our plant up and going so that we can really work with that partnership so that we can find that local, long-term solution for the entire waste stream.”

Asked for an interview, Wilson directed questions to MRC director Michael Carroll, who said QSJ was “lobbing grenades” (MRC board members don’t give interviews).

Carroll insisted, “There is no disagreement between our board chair, Karen Fussell and board member Sophie Wilson. They both see value in PERC and its continued operation. PERC simply isn’t in a position to handle the volume of MSW generated by MRC communities. I’m certain if you spoke with PERC leadership, you’d be told the same thing.”

PERC did not exactly agree.

“We’re here to help the MRC in any way we can - for now or the future,” said Henry Lang, PERC plant manager. “Just because something is newer doesn’t mean it’s better.” Lang said PERC is constantly updating and investing in its plant so it may be viable for a long time.

You may view the exchange yourself in this video starting at 1:15 into the meeting:

https://www.facebook.com/MRCMaine/videos/286908676727633

Fussell opened the meeting with a long-winded speech full of denial, defiance, fear mongering and dated information, and sans any contrition.

She said that without the MRC some small towns would have to pay $140 a ton in tipping fees. She didn’t elaborate.

One town in Southern Maine which generates 36.54 tons of trash a year is paying only $59 a ton for its disposal, according to its vendor, Ecomaine.

That is because the red hot recycling market is paying back the town 80 percent of its recyclables, dramatically cutting its contracted “tipping” fee of $95 a ton.

The MRC Wednesday budgeting a tipping fee of $77 a ton for its members in 2020.

Among the many tragedies of the MRC’s mismanagement of the Fiberight plant in Hampden, which closed in May 2020, is that it missed out on the biggest boom in the recycling market in history. And 2022 promises to be another banner year.

A recent study stated that the global plastic recycling market was worth $42.6 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach $71.5 billion by 2027, at an annual increase of 7.7 percent. Factors driving the growth include increasing demand for plastic, the growing consumption of plastics for lightweight components, and growing awareness regarding the negative environmental impact of plastics.

But recycling is occurring only on a piecemeal basis by individual MRC towns since the failure of the Hampden plant. Mount Desert, for instance, finally re-opened its recycling bins at the transfer station on Sargeant Drive this week, more than a year after Bar Harbor re-started its program. Tony Smith, public works director and board member of MRC, waited and waited for the Hampden plant to re-open and only re-started recycling under pressure from the select board. You need no better example of why he is conflicted between his role on the MRC and his job serving residents.

Aaron Huotari, public works director for the City of Bangor and an MRC board member, said he supported the MRC’s sorting technology because Bangor failed at curbside recycling when too many households did not participate.

Huotari has been in his job only a year and may not be familiar with the latest advances in curbside recycling. Virtually every municipality the size of Bangor in Maine is successfully operating programs called “pay as you throw.”

In the town of Cumberland, for instance, residents only pay for solid waste disposal. Residents reduce their disposal fee by shifting as much as they can to the curbside recyclables bin which is picked up for free, and lower the volume of solid waste.

“Curbside recycling is absolutely working and a strong component of any recycling program,” said Michele Radley, business development specialist for Ecomaine, which handles most of the recycling in Southern Maine, including Portland.

Fussell dismissed Ecomaine as a potential partner the way she dismissed PERC, the incinerator which is now handling two thirds of MTC’s trash. Both Ecomaine and PERC said no one from MRC has ever reached out to explore working together in the future.

In Fact, she seems not to want to explore any alternatives other than hoping the Hampden plant comes back online. In the 18 months since the Hampden plant closed, has there been advances in waste disposal technology? Fussell doesn’t seem to want to know.

MRC members expressed impatience that the bondholders still have not closed a deal with the prospective plant operator recommended by MRC. What happens if the bondholders can’t agree to terms? What’s Plan B?

Rick Fournier, chairman of the Bangor City Council, told QSJ the reason the previous operator, Delta Thermo Energy, could not get financing was because the bondholders insisted on being “made whole.” (Bangor is the largest member of the MRC by tonnage.)

Even more reason for a Plan B.

Footnote: Jim Vallette received the support of every town on MDI in his bid for a board seat on MRC, but he was not elected because the votes are weighed by the tonnage of waste from each town. Only Bar Harbor council members Matt Hochman and Erin Cough, and Mount Desert select member Matt Hart voted against Vallette on MDI.

The results:

Lawyers rack up billable hours, scolded by Tremont appeals member

TREMONT - It was more of a scrum than a municipal meeting. At one time, appeals board member Michael Hays had had enough, telling the lawyers to stop taking over the meeting.

The lawyer for Acadia Wilderness Lodge didn’t even wait for permission from the chair to speak before launching into a multi-faceted attack on the newest board member, the agenda and the board’s standing.

At one time, all three lawyers were talking.

Welcome to the latest episode of “The Campground Games.” The appeals board meeting Thursday night was to be a 10-minute procedural affair, but turned into an inquisition of member Richard Cohen for remarks he made condemning a proposal for 154-camp sites, including 72 RVs, which AWL eventually withdrew. Cohen was accused of conflict of interest by the AWL lawyer, who sought to disqualify him. Cohen said since the application was amended to 55 yurts, he now has no opinion. The board agreed with him and voted 4-0 to include him.

It took more than an hour of legal pugilism to come to the simple conclusion that the appellant did not have standing because the deadline for appeal had passed on the fist AWL campground on Kelleytown road. The lawyer for the appellant needed that procedural step so she may appeal it to the court on the grounds that the code enforcement officer approved doubling the size of the camps without telling the Planning Board.

QSJ will spare readers of the sturm and drang.

More important is the schedule for the various appeals by Concerned Tremont Residents who are opposing the 55-yurt campground.

CTR managed to get on the select board’s agenda for its meeting Monday at 5 to hear its request to extend its moratorium on campground development for another six months. The select board is likely to schedule a public hearing on the matter for Jan. 18.

On Jan. 11 the Planning Board will conduct its public hearing on the moratorium extension.

On Feb. 17, CTR will be back at the appeals board to try to reverse the Planning Board approval of the larger AWL project on Tremont Road.

All the meetings are expected to be repeats of last night’s scrum.

The town has lost its ability to have a cohesive conversation as evident by the Planning Board meeting of Dec. 14. QSJ is puzzled by how a provocative character like Brett Witham managed to land a seat on the Planning Board let alone any committee. On top of that he is chair of the Comprehensive Plan Task Force.

He correctly identified that the moratorium was about more than campgrounds and then proceeded to insult half the town by saying, “What I think is really going on is that people just don’t want development .. it’s hard when what you’re really working on is a nimby type, reactionary type moratorium.”

In one uncouth and simple-minded statement, Witham managed to denigrate half the town’s residents. The 428 voters who approved the moratorium probably represents the sentiments of residents twice that size. None of the planning board members were elected by this cohort.

The challenge is straight forward. Tremont, like many Maine towns its size, has a dated and inadequate land use ordinance which does not conform to the hopes and desires of its residents.

The planning board has been incapable of tackling that challenge. The conversation Tuesday night was the same circle seance it’s been having since July when town counsel James Collier outlined a near-term strategy to deal with the poorly worded land-use code. Collier urged the board to define the terms. “Light commercial” could be any business with no more than five employees and no separate building other than the residential dwelling like Seal Cove Pottery.

It was the Planning Board’s lack of action and direction which landed the town in its current state - with citizens taking matters into their own.

Brett Witham’s complete lack of empathy for his neighbors is puzzling and his words are cheap and destructive. And he is heading the development of the town’s plan for the next 10 years.

TRIBUTE: Sharon L. Jeffery

1932 - 2021

ELLSWORTH - Sharon L. Jeffery, 89, died peacefully from heart failure in Bar Harbor on December 8, 2021. She was born on June 18, 1932, in Fort Worth, Texas, the daughter of Benjamin F. Odom and Susan (Poston) Odom.

Sharon moved to Massachusetts as a teenager. She attended Bates College, where she met her husband of 65 years, Edwin A. Jeffery. They bought a large Victorian house in Natick, MA, where they raised their three children.

Sharon completed her degree at Framingham State College and later attended a certificate program in Botanical Illustration at Wellesley College. She was a lifelong learner who had many interests, including ceramics, quilting, water color, gardening, reading, van camping, island life, and most of all, being with her family and five grandsons.

After Sharon and Ed retired to Ellsworth, Sharon joined the YMCA, the Wednesday painting group at the Moore Center, and the book club at the Ellsworth Library. She enjoyed every opportunity to be creative and social. She was predeceased by her husband and her brother Michael Odom and spent her last years at Birch Bay Village in Bar Harbor.

Sharon was a loving and kind person who will be greatly missed by her
children, Thomas P. Jeffery and his wife Karin (Gruber) Jeffery of Mountain View, CA, Lynn A. Jeffery and her husband Bertis Syms of Natick, MA, and Peter N. Jeffery and his wife Margaret (Timothy) Jeffery of Bar Harbor; her grandchildren, Aidan J. Syms, Gabriel W. Syms, Clifton T. Jeffery, Emerson O. Jeffery and Winslow A. Jeffery; her sister-in-law Birgitta Odom; sister-in-law Ruth J. Hennessy and her husband Francis Hennessey, and many nieces and nephews.

Donations in Sharon’s memory may be sent to the Ellsworth Public Library. Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com

TRIBUTE: Susan Tibbetts Seavey

1941 - 2021

BAR HARBOR - Susan Tibbetts Seavey, 80, died December 15, 2021, in a nursing home in Jonesport. With a kind soul at her side, holding her hand, she breathed her last. She was born in Lynn, Massachusetts October 10, 1941, to Edward and Mary R. (Donahue) Tibbetts Sr.

She was born into a large Irish Catholic family with a passion to serve others. Since her childhood she had an unquenchable desire to read and learn. She graduated from Lynn English high school while working as a candy striper at the hospital. She then received her nursing degree from Lynn Hospital School of Nursing and began her career at Salem Hospital. While on a trip to Maine with her best friend, she met her future husband Wendell Seavey in Bernard while out walking the dog. They later raised their 3 children across the street from where they met.

In the 1970's and early 80's, she was the "go to" person for countless non-life-threatening bandaging and medical advice in that small fishing village. In 1978-79 she and her then husband Wendell, packed up their 3 kids and went all over the country to see as many national parks and historical sites as possible. A true gift that took 6 full months to complete but yielded memories that will last for a lifetime. Grand Canyon, Yosemite, Grand Tetons, on and on and on. In 1985 she and her family moved to Bar Harbor where she worked at Bar Harbor Hospital until she retired. When her children were raised, the marriage ended but they remained friends. She had an adventurous spirit and made many road trips around the country after. Going to concerts small and large. Even Pearl Jam! She very much enjoyed singing and being silly. She loved her arts and crafts. All Christmas and birthday cards were hand crafted. She studied the Bible thoroughly, taking courses for years at a time. She was an original person, who delighted in living life on her terms, exactly as she was. Every birthday you could expect her to sing, and all calls or messages ended with hug and kiss noises with an "I love you- love you- love you- love you" at the end.

She is survived by two sons, Wayne Seavey and his fiancé Amy Billings; Chandler "Frank" Seavey and his wife Melanie; sister-in-law, Mary Tibbetts; grandchildren, Brian, Cade, Samantha, Jordan, Bradley, Lucas, Devan, Mackenzie, and Morgan; great-grandchildren, Mary, Tessa, Hunter, and Bobby; nieces, Mary and Tricia and nephew Michael. She endured the loss of her daughter Mary to brain cancer in December 1999. Her younger brother Edward "Teddy" Tibbetts passed this past year.

She had an outstanding group of friends throughout her life and to the end. A heartfelt thank you to Carmen, Tony, Br. David Steindl-Rast, Anne, Doris, Sarah, Valerie, and Gale, Mary, Edith, Pat, and Jean ......for true friendship till the end.

A memorial service will be held at 11:00 am on January 06, 2022, at St. Saviour's Episcopal Church, 41 Mt. Desert St., Bar Harbor. A private burial to follow due to current covid spread. Any donations in her memory can be made to St. Saviour's Episcopal Church, 41 Mt. Desert St. Bar Harbor, Maine 04609.

If you'd like to show you care in a way that would bring her the most joy, do something good for a stranger or someone in need. She'd love that. So will you.

Arrangements by Jordan-Fernald, 1139 Main St. Mount Desert. Condolences may be expressed at www.jordanfernald.com

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