Yearly Archives: 2014

05 March 2014 Lincoln County News: Clary Lake Dam Owners Seek to Have Water Level Order Vacated

There is an article in this week’s Lincoln County News about the appeal filed by Pleasant Pond Mill LLC in Lincoln County Superior court. The article, written by Dominik Lobkowicz, does a pretty good job of distilling the 27 page filing into something manageable. I spoke to Mr. Lobkowicz yesterday afternoon shortly after receiving word of the filing but before I’d had a chance to look it over. I sent him some of my thoughts on it in an email last night, a few of which made it into the paper. Those that didn’t are probably best left unpublished anyways.

Clary Lake Dam Owners Seek to Have Water Level Order Vacated

[Archived Copy]:
Clary Lake Dam Owners Seek to Have Water Level Order Vacated

05 March 2014: Clary Lake Association’s 501c3 status reinstated like it was never gone

At last, something good to report! You will recall back in July of last year it came to our attention that the Internal Revenue Service had revoked the Clary Lake Association’s 501(c)3 non-profit status somewhere back around 2007. We were never made aware of this change in status by the IRS. I first posted about this matter when it was brought to our attention by Mr. Kelley and I first wrote about it on 10 July 2013, and again when we filed our new application on 15 July 2013. Well I am pleased to announce that the IRS has approved our application for non-profit status and has officially reinstated the Clary Lake Association’s 501c3 status as of 24 February 2014 as per letter received yesterday. The letter also says that our reinstatement is retroactive to the date of revocation which means there has been no lapse in our non-profit status in the eyes of the law. While this comes as good news for us, Mr. Kelley, who has been spreading vicious rumors and haranguing the AG’s office and the IRS in an attempt to make trouble for us will no doubt be devastated when he finds out the good news. Continue reading →

04 March 2014: Pleasant Pond Mill LLC files suit in Superior Court, Lincoln County

Pleasant Pond Mill LLC and Aquafortis Associates LLC, represented by Anthony Buxton of PretiFlaherty, have filed an appeal of the Clary Lake water level order in Superior Court, Lincoln County. The sole respondent is the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. I received a copy of the appeal today by certified mail. It is dated 26 February 2014. I can’t say as I am surprised by this move; when Kelley failed to file an appeal with the Board of Environmental by the deadline (last 26 February) I figured he was heading for Superior Court. Here’s a copy of the filing:

Pleasant Pond Mill LLC Appeal of Clary Lake WLO

I guess the best thing about this latest development is that neither the Petitioners nor the Association need to do a thing, we can just sit back and follow the proceedings and we don’t need to spend a dime defending anything. Kelley is not so lucky: you can bet that having PretiFlaherty represent him in court is going to cost him a lot of money.

I’ll undoubtedly have some additional comments when I’ve finished reading it.

06 February 2014 Lincoln County News: A Little Perspective

Here’s my Letter to the Editor which appeared in this week’s Lincoln County News. It is pretty much the same as what I already posted except this of course has been published:

A Little Perspective

Mr. Kelley is going to have to start coming to terms with the reality of his situation. From what I’ve heard lately, it doesn’t appear he’s begun that process.

05 February 2014 Lincoln County News: New Clary Lake Group aimed at water level order compliance

There’s a article in this week’s Lincoln County News by Dominik Lobkowicz about the Clary Dam Project. I was interviewed on the phone yesterday at length. It’s a good article I think, it captures my chagrin without making me feel stupid. Yes, this is an exercise in faith. No we have no idea when we might end up owning the dam. Yes we’re certain we will.

New Clary Lake Group aimed at water level order compliance

My letter to the editor is in the same issue. It appears to be identical to what I’ve already posted in A Letter to the Editor and thoughts on the Water Level Order.

01 February 2014 [REVISED]: A Letter to the Editor and thoughts on the Water Level Order

I have sent the following missive off to the Editor of the Lincoln County News with the expectation that it will be published in next week’s paper. I’m posting it here, now, because I don’t want to wait that long to get my opinion out in the open. I also want to get a few more of my thoughts down on paper, so to speak, while it’s all fresh in my mind.

The latest Lincoln County News article “Water Level Order Enacted for Clary Lake” is a great article, but a few things contained in it have been bugging me ever since I read it, especially this statement since it suggests a reason as to why Mr. Kelley has been loathe to offer up the dam to us despite all his posturing to the contrary:

“If it was clear what my company owned and who was likely to sue my company if we sold something that we don’t own, then I would be more inclined to have discussions with the lake association with their interest, their purported interest, in the property,” he said.

Continue reading →

31 January 2014: Maine Lakes Society Legislative Update

The Maine Lakes Society (formerly the Congress of Lake Associations or COLA) has sent around a legislative update in an attempt to solicit interest in several important bills currently before the Maine Legislature, LD 1744 and LD 1626. Sadly, I don’t have the free cycles to get involved in any legislative activities at this time, but perhaps someone out there reading this will.

Maine Lakes Society Winter 2014 Legislative Update

The Clary Lake Association has been an MLS (COLA) member for a long time.

30 January 2014: The February 2014 Whitefield Newsletter is available

The February 2014 Whitefield Newsletter is available. They’re doing a good job. Printed copies are available at the Town office and the Whitefield Superette, and probably the Sheepscot General, and on the Town website: http://www.townofwhitefield.com/ at this link: http://www.townofwhitefield.com/Newsletter.html

[gview file=”http://www.townofwhitefield.com/February2014.pdf” save=”0″]

29 January 2014: Google Earth Flyover of Clary Lake, then and now

David Chase has compiled a pretty cool video contrasting the water levels of Clary Lake between 1997 and 2013. He has posted it on the Clary Lake Association Google+ Community. He did it using a Google Earth flyover “tour.” Very impressive, and the comparison in water levels between then and now is stark. Thanks for sharing David!

Here’s the post:

https://plus.google.com/117329993421272712954/posts/b1Bxcr5M3Dk

Here’s the direct link to the video:

https://vidd.me/Aa3

29 January 2014 Lincoln County News: Water Level Order Enacted for Clary Lake

There is an article on the front page of this week’s Lincoln County News about the recently issued water level order for Clary Lake. I was interviewed at length yesterday morning by the reporter, Dominik Lobkowicz and I gather from statements in the article that he also subsequently interviewed Paul Kelley, who continues to posture and complain as if people still cared about what he thought:

Water Level Order Enacted for Clary Lake

[archived copy of article]

I have to comment on several things. First, Mr. Lobkowicz expressed surprise when I told him I thought Mr. Kelley would keep fighting this Order as long as he had the energy to do so. Surely Mr. Kelley will want to cut his losses? Well, numerous statements in the article clearly indicate that Kelley has no intention of simply “giving up” this battle even though the battle is over, and he has lost. Continue reading →

29 January 2014: Announcing the Clary Dam Project, a computer mediated discussion group

Now that the State’s Water Level Order has been issued, the dam owner faces a number of daunting tasks and a challenging time line to complete the work of bringing the dam property into compliance with the Order. The Clary Lake Association has made it publicly known that we are ready and willing to assist the dam owner in completing this work but to date they have not expressed any interest in having us help them. It also remains to be seen just how willing the Membership really is to help Mr. Kelley with his problem. Nonetheless the Clary Lake Association is confident that sooner or later we will be asked for help or even asked to take over ownership of the dam completely and feel therefore that it is in our current best interests and long term goals to start acting like the stewards of Clary Lake that we claim to be.

Complying with the Water Level Order will involve a lot of money and a daunting amount of work on the part of many people and while we may all personally relish the prospect of this work, it is daunting nonetheless. Success depends on a committed and coordinated group effort which in turn requires organization and planning. Failure is not an option. It is our belief that full adherence to the conditions specified in the Water Level Order and implementing the water level regime contained therein are crucial steps to meeting the goals of the Clary Lake Association of protecting and preserving Clary Lake, now, and into the future. To this end I have setup the Clary Dam Project. This is a collaborative, interactive, computer-mediated discussion group for the express purpose of facilitating the exchange of information and ideas between like-minded people with a common goal. Continue reading →

28 January 2014 Kennebec Journal: State issues final plan for Clary Lake in Whitefield

There is an article in today’s Kennebec Journal about the issuance of the Final Clary Lake Water Level Order. While it contains a few mistakes, it’s pretty much factually accurate and contains a link to the actual ORDER document. I did speak briefly with KJ correspondent Paul Koenig about the order, shortly after it was issued. I gave him a few choice quotes which apparently he found not to be particularly quotable…

[2:40 PM] Sorry I just realized I used a broken link for the online newspaper article. It’s fixed now. Also would like to remind everyone that the KJ supports reader comments 🙂

State issues final plan for Clary Lake in Whitefield

[archived copy] State issues final plan for Clary Lake in Whitefield

I would like to make one observation. Apparently Mr. Koenig also spoke to Paul Kelley before writing the article:

“Kelley pointed out that although the department originally requested parties respond to the draft order in less than five full business days, the DEP took three weeks to review comments before issuing essentially the same order.”

So Paul Kelley is accusing the Department of providing him with less than the legally mandated 5 business days to comment on the Order. Really? Let’s see: the DRAFT order was issued on Thursday December 19th and the comment period was to end at the close of business on Monday December 30th. Counting on my fingers that is… Gee: 6 business days, not including Christmas.

27 January 2014: DEP Issues FINAL Clary Lake Water Level Order!

At a little before 2:30 PM this afternoon the Department of Environmental Protection issued the FINAL Clary Lake Water Level Order. I have scanned it quickly as have a couple of other people and we can’t see any changes between today’s final order and the Draft order issued back on December 19th. I will be reading it over carefully again shortly.

Here is a link to the FINAL order; it’s over 6 megabytes in size. As soon as I get a chance I will print out the relevant sections of the order into separate PDF files for easier consumption.

Final Clary Lake Water Level Order

Final Order Only (just under 3 megabytes)

I’ve gone through the order pretty carefully and I’ve only found a few minor changes:

1) The Final order includes Standard Conditions for Water Level Orders.

2) Per Senator Chris Johnson’s suggestion, the word “Insure” has been changed to “Ensure” 🙂

3) They refined the requirements for water level measurements. In the draft order this was daily “during times of rapid water level rise and on a monthly basis at all other times.” This changed to “Beginning June 1 through September 30 of any given calendar year, the level of the lake and the gate opening status shall be logged every other week and on a daily basis during times of rapid water level rise. At all other times, the level of the lake and the gate opening status shall logged on a monthly basis.”

That’s it as far as I can see.

25 January 2014: Clary Lake Association Community set up on Google+

I have set up a Clary Lake Association Community on Google Plus. Online social networking communities provide means, methods, and opportunities for people to share and exchange information in ways that just aren’t offered by an more traditional information-distribution site such as this one. On this site, I post stuff and people can comment the posts and reply to comments, but it’s not the same thing as being involved in an online community. It has only been in existence for less than an hour and already there are 9 members and a video posted by David Chase. Go figure.

The Clary Lake Association community will also be a source of material for this site. That’s a good thing. If anyone has any questions about all this, email me or comment!

Google+ Embedded Post Example

I am testing embedding Google+ posts on the web site. This may or may not work on your computer/browser combination. In particular it seems Chrome on Windows XP seems not to work. If anyone has trouble viewing these posts, please email me or leave a comment with your operating system and browser. Thanks.

25 January 2014: Maine Lakefront Property Owners Encouraged to Contact Legislators About Bill to Control Invasive Plant Infestations

Maine lakefront property owners should know that a bill is now before the legislature that would finally provide some significant funding for those working to control invasive aquatic plant infestations. LD 1626 was presented by Representative Mike McClellan of Raymond. It would raise the milfoil sticker fees for in-state boats by $7 and $15 for out-of-state boats. The proceeds would help fund suction harvesting, bottom barrier work and hand-pulling. You can read the whole article at: http://blog.mrlakefront.net

Thanks to Jack Holland for bringing this to my attention.

18 January 2014: Outflows from Clary Lake exceed 50 CFS

With the lake level higher than it’s been in several years, it follows that outflows from the lake should also be at levels not seen for quite some time. Well I had occasion to measure the outflow from Clary Lake this morning, out of curiosity as much as anything and sure enough, based on my calculations the current outflows as of the time of this writing are on the order of 83 cfs (cubic feet per second). The raw figure I arrived at was 98 cfs but it is customary to scale that figure down by as much as 15% to allow for flow losses resulting from friction on the sides and bottom of the stream which inevitably result in uneven water velocity and a lower overall flow value.

I estimate that about 55 cfs of water is flowing out of the dam’s outlet pipe and the rest of the water, about 30 cfs, is the result of water leaking through the hole in the dam and from seams on either side of the outlet. That there is a substantial amount of water leaking through the hole and cracks is apparent just by standing on the side of the road and looking at the downstream face of the dam. Here’s a short video I took this morning. What you can’t see in this video is the water leaking through the dam on the left side. It it essentially leaking across the entire face of the dam: Continue reading →

14 January 2014: Lake level continues to rise

Too bad it’s winter time and not boating time! The 2.3″ of rain we have received over the last 9 days has brought the lake level up over 23″ to -29″ below the top of the dam and it’s still raining. The lake has risen every day for the last 9 days and is now higher than it’s been since mid-June 2012. This makes for a runoff multiplier of 10x or 10″ of lake level rise for each inch of rain received. I attribute most of this to the time of year: with the ground frozen, less water soaks in and more runs off.

Lake levels normally fall during the winter due to a lack of precipitation but that’s not a problem this winter. I took the picture at left this morning when the surface of the lake was a little more than 30″ below the top of the dam, which is about 2″ above the water level at the dam. You can see water is now flowing out of the hole in the dam to the left of the outlet gate, indicating that the lake level has risen above the hole which is about -34″ below the top of the dam.

10 January 2014: User registration errors, site statistics, and privacy

It has come to my attention that a few people have been unable to register for this site because they are using one browser extension or another to block tracking code, cookies, malicious javascript, etc. One such extension which I myself use on some sites is Ghostery. What is happening is the code in the page that generates the “Captcha” is blocked so the graphic it isn’t visible. Consequently, the registration attempt fails with the error message: “ERROR: Invalid reCAPTCHA challenge parameter.” With all the attention the internet privacy meme is getting, I thought I’d address this problem head on and talk about site privacy.

First I should explain that the use of Captcha mechanism is intended to prevent automated registrations by robot crawlers intent on either hacking the site for their own nefarious purposes or spamming the site to no good end. They work by challenging people registering with human-readable-only information. This effectively thwarts the robots and is standard procedure on websites that want to restrict registrations to real people. I’m sure you’ve run across them before. A typical reCaptcha graphic from our site is shown at left. The solution is simple: disable your blocking systems temporarily, long enough to get registered; then you can turn it back on if you want and continue to browse in (relative) privacy. I’ve updated the User Policy page with information about this. Hopefully anyone having problems registering will figure it out or contact me about it. Continue reading →

10 January 2014: Lake water level rises 13.7″ from last rain storm

The rain storm back on the 5th and 6th of this month dropped 1.37″ of rain on us. That rain has brought the lake up a total of 13.7″ for a runoff multiplier of 10x meaning that 1″ of rain brought the lake up 10″. This is impressive; normally the runoff multiplier is around 4x meaning an inch of rain brings the lake up 4″ but there is more runoff this time of year because the ground is frozen and little if any runoff soaks into the ground. The shape of the lake has something to do with it too: sometimes runoff causes the lake to get deeper, sometimes it causes it to get bigger, and sometimes it results in both happening at the same time. We’ve been in the “get deeper” range. Next up is the “get bigger” range where an inch of rain might only bring the lake up 2 or 3 inches but the size of the lake will increase substantially.

The lake level is now -39.2″ below the top of the dam or only 5.2″ above the hole in the dam. The lake is set to rise again fro the 1″ to 2″ of rain forecast for this weekend though I don’t think we’ll see a runoff multiplier of 10x, more likely 5x. That will bring the lake up to and likely above the hole in the dam which at last check was around -34″ below the top of the dam.

The thumbnail at left is a bit of a misnomer since the water level is a long ways from being “high” in my opinion. However Paul Kelley might have a conniption fit next time he stops by to check the Water Level Charts. The higher the better I say.