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History
of Sears Island
 Update
- May 2008
After more than thirty five years of controversy over what many call the “jewel”
in Penobscot Bay, the Sierra Club and others concerned about the environment
have helped to develop a plan that finally creates and codifies a permanent
conservation easement on 600 acres, including an impressive four miles of
coastline, myriad acres of wetland habitat and public access.
The Sierra
Club has never endorsed a port on Sears Island. Our position has, among
other things, been to emphasize that a Mack Point build out is essential and
that appropriate uses for Mack Point and Sears Island are compatibly managed
marine transportation, recreation, education and conservation. According to the
2007 Sears Island Planning Initiative consensus agreement, “It is understood
that none of the parties are endorsing in advance any proposal for a marine
transportation facility”.
Information and documents
of the Sears Island Planning Initiative and the Joint Use Planning Committee
process can be found on:
http://www.state.me.us/doc/initiatives/SearsIsland/SearsIsland.shtml
Recent History
In 1978 the Maine
Department of Transportation (MDOT) proposed a cargo terminal on the island. In
1984, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to
prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for a Cargo Port project for its Clean
Water Act permit review. The Corps refused.
The Sierra Club then requested a
preliminary injunction of the project, filing court claim that the Corps
violated the Clean Water Act and National Environmental Policy Act by not requiring
an Environmental Impact Statement. The causeway to the island was begun in 1985 without proper permits.
After years of challenges by the
Sierra Club, EPA, and others, the EPA, Conservation Law Foundation and the
Sierra Club signed a consent decree settling the Sears Island wetland
enforcement case, requiring restoration. The state bought the island to be
overseen by the MDOT. In 1997 Governor King called the cargo port project to a
halt over concern for the cost to the state and in recognition of the negative
environmental impacts.
In October 2004
following controversy over a proposed LNG terminal on the island, environmental
groups met with the MDOT, representatives of several other state agencies
and officials from Searsport to begin crafting an open and inclusive public
participation process regarding the future of Sears Island.
In the spring of
2005 the Sierra Club and others fought off a bill that would have required that
Sears Island be managed primarily for industrial and commercial purposes.
We supported an amendment that changed the title and removed language from the
bill that required Sears Island to be managed primarily for industrial and
commercial purposes. However, the law requires that the Commissioner of
DOT bring before the joint standing committee of the Legislature, having
jurisdiction over transportation matters for review and approval, any proposal
that would alter the current land use, ownership or jurisdiction of lands owned
by the State within the Port of Searsport (presently under the jurisdiction of
the Department of Transportation).
Following many meetings and conversations with MDOT and the Governor, asking for
public input to agree upon a common solution for the island’s future, Governor
Baldacci provided an opportunity to demonstrate that 30 years of acrimony and
controversy can be put aside during his administration in favor of a sound,
inclusive process designed to produce a good outcome. In January 2006 a Scoping
Session attended by stakeholders including the Sierra Club, was convened by the
Governor to agree on a design for a
stakeholder/public participation process which would consider future uses for
Sears Island, and develop a consensus plan for those uses. From this and
subsequent scoping meetings a facilitator was chosen and the concept of the
Sears Island Planning Initiative (SIPI) planning committee evolved. The first
meeting was held in Searsport on May 25, 2006. The committee was made up of
a diverse group which included environmentalists, officials of
Searsport, Stockton Springs and Waldo County, business owners, mariners,
fisherman, people in the tourist industry and property owners.
During the next year of often contentious
meetings, a consensus agreement was signed on April 12, 2007 (Read
the agreement here).
From that a smaller committee, the Joint Use Planning Committee (JUPC), was
established to implement the SIPI agreement.
The JUPC was
charged with delivering a Memorandum of Agreement based on seven specific
categories according to the SIPI consensus agreement made earlier this year.
The charge was to neither plan a park nor to plan a port. The real purpose of
the SIPI agreement is to:
-
draft mutually acceptable buffer
easement language which references a baseline natural resource inventory,
-
fix the boundaries of the two
areas in a way which reserves adequate acreage for a potential port while
creating a functional area for conservation, recreation and education,
-
help convey a deed with easement
restrictions to the buffer easement holder,
-
determine appropriate access
issues,
-
develop a plan for annual
revenues to be paid to the Town of Searsport,
-
identify options for mitigation
for a potential port, and
-
consider any other issues
necessary to effectuate this Consensus Agreement, and incorporate them into a
Memorandum of Agreement.
Neither the SIPI
agreement nor the JUPC process expects any individual or organization to comment
on the viability of any of the potential future uses. For example,
transportation interests participating in the JUPC are not asked, nor should
they need to publicly address, what they think about conservation, recreation
and education Sears Island uses and whether they believe those uses can coexist
with potential transportation uses. We are enthusiastic about the opportunity
to provide such a large area that can be used for conservation, education and
recreation. Neither side (transportation interests nor conservation interests),
has been asked to endorse any effort of the other side. There is no current site
specific port development plan in hand.
Early History of
Sears Island
What is now known as Sears Island was left behind when the last glacier
retreated 12,000 years ago. Indians living in the Penobscot Bay region
frequented the island. The island was first called Wassumkeag, “bright sand
beach”. Many English and French explorers came to the bay in the sixteenth
century.
Captain John Smith wrote about the region praising its, “…rocky isles so
furnished with good Woods, Springs, Fruits, Fish and Fowle.” The American
Revolution brought squatters to Sears Island. The first, Job Pendleton, arrived
sometime before 1775. An American ship “Defense” was sunk in the harbor next to
the island, and the squatters fled rather than face the enemy soldiers. Peace
returned, and six families were settled on the island by 1790. In 1813 the
island became a dairy farm owned by the Sears family. In 1905 The Bangor &
Aroostook Railway bought the island for a tourist destination, which failed with
the rising popularity of cars.
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