I got a phone call today while making lunch that made me turn down the radio and ask if I’d really heard what I thought I heard. Jack Holland called to tell me that his son Taylor and a friend had found a loon that had been “hit by a car” somewhere over by the State boat launch. I grabbed my camera and headed over but I was looking for someone with an injured loon on the side of the road, not a concrete forms truck parked in the driveway leading to Clary Knoll Farm. I should have stopped to ask because that was them. Jack called me again and confirmed that was them so I headed back over and found they had just made the hand off to some volunteers from Avian Haven, a wild bird rehabilitation center in Freedom. The bird had been found sitting in Route 215 near the end of the Sennott Road.
I spoke briefly to the people who had come to pick up the bird but they had already put it in the back of the car and obviously wanted to get going. They told me to contact Avian Haven. I did when I got home, sending them an email. I received the following response a bit ago: Continue reading
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.
I received an email today from a fellow with the Natural Resources Council of Maine. He was looking to update the listing for Clary Lake on the 
Paul Koenig has written another article which has appeared in today’s Kennebec Journal. Paul and I spoke several times over the past few days about the closing arguments that Kelley and I submitted last Monday. I hadn’t expected the article to be published until tomorrow. Many thanks to Brandon K. for bringing it to my attention.
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.
There’s an article in this week’s Lincoln County News by Shlomit Auciello about the 
A short and sweet article in this week’s Lincoln County News by Shlomit Auciello about the Clary Lake Association’s short and sweet motion to set a deadline for submission of Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. 
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:
Back on 31 May the Lincoln County News posted an article on their website by Dominik Lobkowicz about the Whitefield Public Meeting to consider and act on the issue of dam ownership. Somehow I missed it at the time. It looks like this article and an addendum by Shlomit Auciello appeared in this weeks paper. That has not appeared on line yet but I assume it will by later today. Here’s the 31 May article:
In a surprise move barely 30 minutes after Paul Kelley reiterated his desire for an extension, DEP issued Procedural Order #6 denying 
If the Whitefield Selectmen are going to asking the voters of the town to consider purchasing the Clary Lake dam, they’re entitled to know how much it’s going to cost, right? You know, the price. That’s a reasonable request, no? Well to that end, the Selectmen handed a letter to Paul Kelley at the 30 April 2013 Selectmen’s meeting, asking just that question. They asked for a response by the 10th of April. Many of us were there, that was the night the Selectmen held their 
In yet another letter with more foot notes than actual verbiage, Paul Kelley makes a formal request with the Department for an extension of the time to file comments on the Clary Lake Assessment currently due May 9th. Mr. Kelley seems to be objecting to comments made by Mark Hyland of the Maine Emergency Management Agency that the Agency has no opinion on whether the dam should be breached, whereas Mr. Kelley maintains that the dam is already breached. Mr. Kelley wants to put everything off until June 6th to give Mr. Hyland time to respond to a letter Kelley is supposedly hand-delivering to him today.