The deadline for submitting written comments on Aquafortis Associates LLC’s appeal of the DEP Order transferring the Clary Lake Water Level Order to the Clary Lake Association was Tuesday, 22 January 2019 at 5:00 PM (see “Aquafortis Appeals CLA License Transfer“). Only Butch Duncan commented on the actual license transfer application so therefore, according to the Notice of Appeal, he was the only one entitled to submit written comments on the appeal. He did not disappoint, submitting a short email to the Service List just after 3 PM on Tuesday. Per the Notice of Appeal, the Clary Lake Association was also entitled to comment, and we did by our letter dated January 4th. Much to my surprise (just kidding!) verbose comments were also submitted at the last minute by Paul Kelley (a total of 79 pages) and Richard Smith (a total of 37 pages).

Predictably, Kelley’s, Smith’s, and Duncan’s comments are not germaine to the appeal of the DEP Transfer Order and I’ll be surprised if they are even considered by the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP). The Notice of Appeal made it quite clear that “the only matter before the Board on appeal is the transfer of the duties and obligations of the water level order to Clary Lake Association.” Kelley and Smith have nonetheless dredged up all the old tired arguments they’ve been using for years to try and discredit the DEP, the WLO, and the CLA and they don’t acknowledge the fact that after a 4 year court proceeding, the WLO was finally fully upheld in a Decision and Order by the Lincoln County Superior Court less than a year ago.

Despite being public documents, the comments by Kelley and Smith are full of baseless accusations, malicious innuendo, questionable legal interpretations, irrelevancies, half truths, and outright lies and I see nothing to be gained by posting the comments here at this time. To do so would dignify them as well as giving Kelley and Smith the publicity and platform they’re seeking. Seeing as how I’m not going to post comments by Kelley and Smith, I’m not going to post Mr. Duncan’s comments either. Furthermore, I will refrain from further comment on this entire matter at this time. After seven years I’m quite tired of them and their senseless attacks on Clary Lake, and I not going to waste any more time or energy thinking about this. We own the dam. We’ve moved on. It’s time they did too.

I’ve always been a proponent of full disclosure so my decision to not post these filings for general consumption didn’t come naturally. I also understand the attraction of a train wreck and don’t fault people for wanting to be fully informed. Therefore, anyone who wants to waste an hour of their life they’ll never get back can email me and request the files, and I’ll oblige.

At some point the BEP will hold a hearing on the appeal at a regularly scheduled Board meeting, and I’m sure it’ll be very interesting! The meetings are held in Augusta and if you can’t get to the meeting you can live-stream it (I’ll post information about this at the appropriate time) so there’s no reason to miss it. There are two meetings scheduled in February but I wouldn’t be surprised if, given the circumstances, that the BEP doesn’t address this matter until later in the year. When we hear something, you’ll hear something.