Butch Duncan has gotten himself in the paper. This article appeared in today’s Lincoln County News on page 16. Thanks to Jack Holland for bringing it to my attention.
Category Archives: Petition News
07 March 2013: Lincoln County News Article
An article by Shlomit Auciello is in this week’s Lincoln County News. Here’s a link to the online version:
Regulator Denies Motion To Dismiss Clary Lake Dam Petition
It’s a good article, all things considered- certainly more fair and balanced than a few previous articles by Ms. Auciello. It appears she contacted Tony Buxton for comment though she made no attempt to contact me.
I’ve downloaded a copy in PDF format and posted in the Newspaper Clippings directory:
04 March 2013: Department of Environmental Protection Procedural Order #5
The wait is over! Beth Callahan has sent around Procedural Order #5 and an Updated Service List. I haven’t finished reading the Order but I wanted to get it posted ASAP. I’ll update this post and the Petition News page shortly.
Update: Pleasant Pond Mill’s motion to dismiss the petition was denied on all grounds. This doesn’t come as a surprise as I have been saying all along that the allegations in the motion to dismiss were outrageous and unfounded, but still it is a relief to see the decision in writing. As a stalling tactic it was first class but I dare say it did not have the intended effect. It would also appear that Mr. Buxton’s reputation with the Department has been somewhat sullied as a result of some unfortunate and unsavory interactions he had with DEP staff over this. Too bad. Going forward that will not help their case.
DEP has yet to rule on my motion to supplement the record with additional information. They will do that with another Procedural Order in the near future and I fully expect that motion to be GRANTED and if it is not, I’m sure they’ll have a VERY GOOD REASON.
What’s next? Well the results of the September 21st Bathymetric Survey performed by the department will be made available to all parties on April 3rd and by this I take it they mean both the survey itself as well as a revised minimum flows recommendation and contour report. This will be followed by a comment and question period. There was no mention of when the Findings of Fact will be requested.
04 March 2013: KJ Article in Today’s Paper
The long-awaited article by Paul Koenig, reporter for the Kennebec Journal is in today’s paper and it’s also available online at this address:
Accusations, legal briefs fly in battle over future of Clary Lake dam
There’s an opportunity to comment at the end of the article. Please do! I’ll offer my own review and comment later today.
Update: The article has also appeared in the Morning Sentinel, but without pictures:
Gloom prevalent tone on Clary Lake future
Can’t say as I like the title much. Gloom may be what Paul Kelley is feeling about now, but I’m quite elated 🙂
I’ve posted a PDF copy of the article.
26 February 2013: DEP Decision and KJ Article Pending!
Senator Chris Johnson called me today to let me know he was told that the Department has drafted a decision on the motion to dismiss and that it is currently under review, presumably by folks in the Attorney General’s office. I say presumably because Chris didn’t give me any details about whom he spoke to or what they told him. Obviously, he couldn’t tell me how long it will be before we hear something either. I’d like to think it will be sooner rather than later but having waited this long, I’m content to wait a little longer. It is good to know that the long wait is finally almost over.
At this point I’d rather not speculate further on what to expect, but assuming the DEP has decided NOT to dismiss the petition then processing of the petition will resume where it left off. This would include ruling on my motion to supplement the record with additional information, and setting a deadline for submission of our findings of fact.
I also spoke with Paul Koenig of the Kennebec Journal today- it looks like he will be writing an article that may appear in the KJ as early as this coming weekend. He said he’d let me know if/when he knew more, so stay tuned.
04 February 2013: Petition Update, Possible Decision Pending
I just got off the phone with Senator Chris Johnson who had just spoken with Jerry Reid, head of the Natural Resources Division of the office of the Attorney General- the division that typically provides legal services to the Department of Environmental Protection. Chris called to tell me that according to Mr. Reed, the office of the Attorney General has not been and is not at this time engaged in reviewing issues surrounding the Clary Lake water level petition or the motion to dismiss it. He did say that he understands that a decision by the DEP is pending, possibly within the next couple of weeks and he expects his Division will be asked to review it. He also told Senator Johnson that his Division would get right on it and he encouraged the Senator to get back in touch with him if we have not heard anything from the Department in a couple of weeks. Chris said he would.
If you recall, Senator Johnson spoke at the public hearing last August, questioning Paul Kelley several times on his testimony. I have spoken with Chris several times over the past couple of months about this delay in processing the petition and he’s been concerned and responsive. I am extremely grateful for his attention to this. Stay tuned!
03 February 2013: 300 acres of drained wetland
I went for a walk in the meadow this afternoon, to the confluence of Clark’s Meadow Brook with the stream flowing out of Clary lake, to see what I could see, and
even though I pretty much knew what to expect, it was still a shock to see what was once a viable productive wetland drained, exposed, violated. The magnitude of the ongoing environmental disaster that Paul Kelley has visited on Clary Lake is criminal. It is hard to believe that he cannot be held liable for damage to the environment as a result of the way he chooses to manage the water level of Clary lake. We all know what would happen to any one of us if we went to drain even a small wetland on our property or cause erosion or sedimentation of State waters through our action or inattention, and yet this man can actively destroy 300 acres of wetland and wildlife habitat with apparent impunity.
There is plenty of evidence of erosion where rain and melt water has pooled and run
off into the main stream, cutting deep channels through the soft mud and exposing the roots of wetland plants. This soil erosion has no doubt caused significant sedimentation of the outlet stream and below the dam, the Sheepscot River itself. There are also large areas where water has pooled temporarily and in so doing has deposited a thin layer of sediment on the ground. This sediment will also wash into the outlet stream with the next rain causing further sedimentation of areas down stream. There are some more pictures of this in the Winter 2013 album.
I saw no wildlife save for a bald eagle that flew by, checking me out before heading into the trees over on the Floge property. I did see one abandoned muskrat house- I
expected to see more but it appears they were driven from their regular habitat by low water last fall before they could build any lodges. It’s a hard winter on the furbearers.
I also took a series of 10 pictures and then stitched them together into a 360° panorama which is stunning if I do say so myself. The pictures were taken right at the confluence of Clark’s Meadow Brook and the main channel coming out of Clary lake. I scaled it down considerably from it’s original (huge) size and it’s still big- almost 2 megabytes. Hope you enjoy it.
There are other pictures in the Winter 2013 album. As usual, your comments are welcome. Many thanks (again) to Jane Chase for providing access.
30 January 2013: Interviewed by the KJ
I’ve had several long phone conversations recently with a reporter from the Kennebec Journal who is doing research for a story on the Clary Lake water level petition. He also has met with Paul Kelley to get his side of the story, and has talked with Beth Callahan about what is holding things up. Beth told him that both the DEP and the Attorney General were reviewing the situation- the first statement from the DEP that this matter is being reviewed by anyone other than Heather Parent, the Presiding Officer; we pretty much surmised this because DEP doesn’t have their own legal department and when they need legal heavy lifting, they tap the AG but it’s nice to have our suspicions confirmed.
So it is now reasonable to assume that the real hold up is at the Attorney General’s office.
15 January 2013
Beth Callahan has sent around an updated Service List with additions and corrections. There will be more changes: 2 of the 3 Lincoln County Commissioners they have listed are wrong- Sheridan Bond and Lynn Gilley Orne were not reelected last fall. In any case, it’s nice to see something come out of the Department- perhaps this is an indication that DEP is finally getting moving again.