At a Town Hall meeting last Friday in Topsham, Maine, Gov. Paul LePage launched the latest in a series of attacks on Maine’s social and environmental safety net. This time, he called people who use the state’s regulatory and judicial system to challenge environmental projects, “dingbats.”
LePage said, "We should not have a system where it takes you five years to have, get, obtain a permit for a project and have some dingbat file [an] erroneous lawsuit that is not gonna go anywheres except do one thing: delay. Delay, delay, delay."
See video of his comments here.
The Governor was apparently criticizing a successful citizen legal appeal of a proposal by Seattle-based Plum Creek corporation for the largest-ever real-estate development in the state of Maine. The Plum Creek plan would rezone 400,000 acres of land around pristine Moosehead Lake in northern Maine for 2,300 or more housing units and other development covering 17,000 acres. This colossal plan would develop an area the size of the city of Portland, in the heart of a spectacular wildland proposed as a Maine Woods National Park.
Thousands of Maine citizens testified and wrote in opposition to the Plum Creek development scheme. However, the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) — in charge of zoning in northern Maine — caved in to pressure and approved the destructive plan in 2009. Three conservation organizations appealed to Maine Superior Court. In early April 2011, the court found that the LURC approval was illegal and sent the case back to the agency.
Gov. LePage blames lawsuits by “dingbats” for delaying the Plum Creek project. However, Jym St. Pierre, Maine Director of RESTORE: The North Woods, one of the public interest groups that appealed the Land Use Regulation Commission’s approval of the project, expressed surprise at the governor’s remarks.
Gov. LePage seems confused about the administrative process. It was not conservation or citizen groups that delayed the Plum Creek project. The delays were caused by endless changes that were made to the proposal, first by Plum Creek and later by LURC.
The governor also seems confused about the legal process. At appropriate places along the way, we questioned approval of this project because it has huge, long-term implications for the state of Maine. The Superior Court agreed with us that the agency’s decision-making process was illegal. Now, the State is appealing that decision. It appears that the governor would like to take away everyone’s legal rights of appeal, whether the appeal is by a citizen’s group or the Maine Attorney General.
The Governor has not explained how the appeal was “erroneous,” or what legal errors may have been made by the Chief Superior Court Justice who issued the ruling.
Maine Attorney General William Schneider and Plum Creek corporation have appealed the Superior Court ruling to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court. That appeal could further delay a new hearing by LURC on the project. Governor LePage has spoken out enthusiastically in favor of the appeal. This is consistent with his support for opening three million acres of remote, undeveloped northern Maine forests to commercial development.
There is no question that the people of northern Maine need help. The timber and paper industry have been declining for years. Millinocket’s unemployment rate stands is at least 17 percent and the community has lost 50 percent of its population in recent years. In April came another huge blow, when the owners of the once-great paper mills in the region announced that they will be shut down — perhaps permanently.
People in northern Maine are desperately looking for alternatives to keep their economy alive. There is little evidence that the Plum Creek mega-development would provide significant economic benefits to region. On the other hand, there is compelling evidence that the creation of the proposed Maine Woods National Park would provide major, lasting economic benefits to the region. The potential for such a park has gained momentum with the announcement by philanthropist Roxanne Quimby that she wants to donate tens of thousands of acres of land in the Maine Woods to become a new national park or monument.
If Governor LePage truly wants to revitalize the northern Maine economy, he should embrace the Maine Woods National Park proposal. People in northern Maine communities who were once skeptics are increasingly giving the idea a second look. Maybe the governor should, too.
For more information about the proposed Maine Woods National Park, and to sign a petition in support of the proposal, visit our Create the Maine Woods National Park & Preserve Facebook page. You can also vote for the proposed Maine Woods National Park in a reader poll in the Bangor Daily News.
