An article in this week’s Lincoln County News reports that the DEP and DLWA (Damariscotta Lake Watershed Association) representatives have found the invasive plant hydrilla outside the cove in which they had hoped it had been confined. Hydrilla which is one of the most notorious of the invasive plant species found in Maine was discovered in Damariscotta Lake some years ago. Efforts have been underway to confine and remove the plant. This is the first time the plant has been found outside the confinement area since 2009. The thumbnail at left is a stock photo of hydrilla which looks a lot like the common, non-invasive plant of species Elodea which is found in Clary Lake.

DEP and DLWA discover hydrilla outside Cranberry Cove

This is disturbing news because Damariscotta Lake is only a few miles down the road. We’ll be posting more information about invasive plants in the very near future.

The video that was at this link was missing the first 50 seconds of the segment and has been superceded by a better, complete video provided by David Hodsdon which is in the process of being uploaded to YouTube now.

Here’s the new video:

24 July 2013: UPDATED Video of WGME Channel 13 News Marissa Bodnar Interview on Clary Lake Petition

Mary and Ernie Shaw completed the 2013 Audubon Loon Count this morning. While they headed east from their place along the south shore, my wife Margaret and I headed up the west side and the along the north shore. We met up not far from Ed Grant’s place and stopped to compare notes. The loon count takes place all over the State between 7 am and 7:30 am on the 3rd Saturday of July and includes more than just the number of loons counted. Mary will be giving a report on the count at the Annual meeting. We counted only 2 loons this morning though as many as 6 have been seen in recent weeks. When they’re nesting, one pair is about normal for a lake the size of Clary but they’re not nesting this year and it appears they’re rather more sociable when that is the case.  I have no idea where the other loons were this morning, likely off visiting another lake. They do fly around a fair bit more than I ever knew- I was told when I was growing up that loons landed in the spring and never flew again till they took off in the fall. I now know this is not the case. There are a few more pictures from the loon count in the Summer 2013 Album.

At 4:36 this afternoon Kelley filed his closing arguments with the Service list. It consists of 2 documents which his cover email describes as “the Final Brief of Pleasant Pond Mill LLC in the Clary Lake Water Level Proceeding, accompanied by an Exhibit comprised primarily of DEP Communications obtained under the (second) Freedom of Access Act, as well as a few pages from State of Maine databases, of which PPM believes it important that the agency take judicial Notice.” I haven’t read them yet. I’m sure I’ll have some comments when I’m done… I’m afraid, knowing Kelley, it’s going to be tough sledding to get through them.

• PPM Final Brief Clary Lake Petition 070813
• PPM_FinalBrief_070813_Exhibit_Final

Everyone have a happy and safe 4th of July!

There’s an article in this week’s Lincoln County News by Shlomit Auciello about the State Dam Inspector’s visit to the Clary Lake dams back on the 18th as well as describing the recently released Procedural Order 7. All of this has been covered here. The article is not available online to non-subscribers. Sadly, my printer/scanner fried a few days ago so I can’t scan it and post it. If you want to read the article you’ll have to buy the paper. If anyone out there has a subscription and is willing to “print it” to a PDF and send it to me, that would be appreciated.

[UPDATE] Well it turns out I can’t just live without a printer/scanner/fax so I went and bought an HP Officejet Pro 8600 Plus printer/scanner/fax. It’s sweet. Here’s the article:

• State Inspector visits Clary Lake dams, DEP sets comment deadline

Many of you have no doubt seen the recent articles in the Newpapers (Portland Press Herald, KJ, etc.) about DEP’s alleged “speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil” approach to environmental regulation these days as in “looking the other way”, “sitting on their hands and doing nothing”, and generally “dragging their feet” on various issues. The allegations mostly involve land use and chemical industry issues with Big Money behind them. The highlight of the first article is how DEP failed to meet a deadline for submission of documents related to water levels associated with a hydropower licensing action on Long Falls dam on Flagstaff Lake, to the decided detriment of the town of Eustis. DEP claims it was an oversight. Here’s part 1 and 2 of a 3 part series:

• Part 1: The lobbyist in the henhouse: Whose interests is Maine’s DEP commissioner serving?
• Part 2: Efforts to reduce risks to kids run into a powerful foe
• Part 3: Maine leaders try and fail to dilute recycling’s success

Here is another article along the same vein by the same reporter, Colin Woodard:

• Sources describe a department under duress

The paper has printed an editorial (on the front page even) which is pretty good:

• Our View: Maine DEP needs an advocate, not a lobbyist

[mw-ip-deny deny=”76.179.6.54,71.173.72.205″]For those of you who attribute lack of movement on the Clary Lake water level petition to DEP intentionally dragging their feet, I disagree. There is one very good reason why this petition is taking so long: one very loud and ornery man with a grudge: I blame Paul Kelley for the delays, plain and simple. There is no “Big Business Lobby” on the other side of this petition to explain why things are taking so long. [/mw-ip-deny]

Dear Ms. Parent:

Petitioners have no objection to this revised response. Everyone makes mistakes once in a while and within reason should be allowed to correct them. However, blaming you for making him do it, and seemingly mocking you in the process I find offensive. Furthermore, having re-read Procedural Order #5 I can see nothing in the wording of the Order to suggest that you have anything to apologize for or anything in it to justify Mr. Kelley’s imagined concerns over Department attitudes toward him or his counsel. Therefore I object to his suggestion that you review or revise the Order in any way. Mr. Kelley is imagining things. 

“See 38 MRSA §840(4)(B) regarding the issue of safety and §840(E) regarding accommodation of precipitation and run off of waters.”

“See 38 MRSA §840(4)(B) regarding the issue of safety and §840(E) regarding accommodation of precipitation and run off of waters. An application for a new dam must be allowed if a water level is ordered.“