#wahsumkik — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #wahsumkik, aggregated by home.social.
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When it comes to standing up to #Trump, I laud #Maine Governor #JanetMills. But when it comes to #Wabanaki #Sovereignty, building wind terminals on undeveloped islands (#SearsIsland / #Wahsumkik ), destroying untouched forests to supply #WesternMass with electricity, or building highways through farmland (#MDOT), we definitely DO NOT always see eye-to-eye!
Governor opposed to latest change to #SettlementAct backed by #WabanakiNations
by Emma Davis
Wed, April 9, 2025"Discussion of legislation to afford the Wabanaki Nations more authority over their land revealed that Gov. Janet Mills does not support the change, presenting a steep path for a plan that otherwise has bipartisan support.
"After not testifying during the public hearing last week, the governor’s counsel, Jerry Reid, told the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that Mills’ concerns stem from the inability to predict the future needs of state government, an issue also raised in written testimony from the #MaineDepartmentOfTransportation, which was made available after the hearing.
"When pressed by committee members, Reid said he doesn’t have a specific example of an infrastructure project that would warrant seizing tribal land but that, 'We need to write the law mindful of the potential for problems.'
"While Reid and Wabanaki leaders noted that progress has and continues to be made to improve the relationship between the state and Wabanaki Nations, Reid added, 'the fact that we have such a good relationship right now might not always be true.'
"The U.S. government can seize private property for public use, a principle known as eminent domain, however that authority is restricted by the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which requires just compensation for land taken, as well as some federal laws.
"The 1834 federal Indian Nonintercourse Act prohibited land transactions with tribes unless authorized by Congress. However, the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act specified that that federal law was not applicable to the #HoultonBand of #Maliseet Indians, the #PassamaquoddyTribe and the #PenobscotNation.
"This is the act that has overall resulted in the Tribes being treated more akin to #municipalities than #SovereignNations. So far, sweeping changes to the act have failed due to opposition from Mills, but the governor, lawmakers and Wabanaki leaders have successfully made some targeted adjustments, including expanding tribal authority to prosecute crimes last year.
"The legislation being considered this session, #LD958, would amend the Settlement Act to prohibit the state from exercising eminent domain on trust and reservation land, which is protected under federal law, though fee land — or private property for which the owner owns the title — would still be subject to the state taking.
"The bill would also amend the 2023 #MikmaqNationRestorationAct to make this change for the Mi’kmaq Nation, which wasn’t included in the Settlement Act.
"On Tuesday, the Taxation Committee unanimously voted in favor of a bill to ensure equal tax treatment among all of the Wabanaki Nations, which Mills supports. #LD982 would provide the #MikmaqNation the same rights to sales tax revenue on its land that the other three tribes of the Wabanaki Nations were granted in 2022 through an amendment to the Settlement Act.
State hasn’t exercised this authority in decades, but argues it’s necessary"The state hasn’t exercised eminent domain over #TribalLands since the #SettlementAct. However, testimony from Wabanaki leaders and state government officials underscore that it is a possibility."
Source:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/governor-opposed-latest-change-settlement-185134791.html#MaineSettlementAct #EminentDomain #LandTheft #FirstNations #WabanakiConfederancy
#MaineFirstNations #Maine #MainePol
#NativeAmericanNews #TribalSovereignty #SaveSmilingHillFarm #SaveTheForests #MainePol #IndigenousPeoplesDay -
#SearsIsland Study Area
#Wetland Delineation#Photographs: August & September, 2023
Sears Island
Searsport, Maine 04974#Nature #MDOT #MaineDOT #JanetMills #SaveTheWetlands #EndangeredSpecies #Wahsumkik #Searsport
#WindTurbines #ProtectTheForest #ProtectTheDunes #SaveSearsIsland #OffshoreWindFarm #ProtectWahsumkik #ProtectNature #MackPoint -
What this article doesn't mention is all the other plans to develop #SearsIsland, that are contingent on #MDOT's and #GovernorJanetMills getting their way!
[Paywall] The plans for #Maine’s floating #WindPort, explained
May 31, 2024
Why Sears Island?
"This question remains a big sticking point for what appears to be a number of local residents, some environmental organizations and midcoast advocacy groups, and those who are simply opposed to offshore wind development entirely.
"They argue that industrialized #MackPoint in #SearsportMaine is the best place for a wind port.
"'There’s such a sensible alternative 800 yards away — a 105-year-old working port, with a terminal operator that is ready, willing and able to take on the project and not to jeopardize their other operations,' said #DavidItaliaander, a Searsport resident and board member for #FriendsOfSearsIsland. The group maintains the island’s vast network of trails.
"#SpragueEnergy owns Mack Point and appears to be making its own push to host the state’s wind port. The company has said that its existing #industrial #waterfront could be repurposed to support Maine’s plans. And Sprague said it has a new alternative plan that addresses some of the concerns the state has identified.
"But there is a coalition of other conservation organizations, labor groups, the Maine Chamber of Commerce and others that want to see Sears Island redeveloped as a wind port and support the state’s plan.
"Maine DOT already owns the land that it wants to develop. The state also says that Sears Island wouldn’t require dredging, but Sprague has said those requirements would be reduced under its new plan.
In the meantime, Italiaander and other Sears Island advocacy groups are poring through the details of DOT’s federal grant application."DOT, for example, has proposed relocating the Sears Island access road so it would cut through a corner of the #conservation area.
"That’s a concern, Italiaander said. Burns acknowledged that the land is protected and said the proposed road relocation is intended to better bifurcate the island into its two potential uses — port activity and recreation.
"The debate over Sears Island will ramp up in the coming weeks and months.
"Sprague Energy will host an event next month at the Mack Point terminal, where company leaders are expected to present their own alternative wind port design.
"And #MaineDOT is expected to release a much-anticipated analysis of alternative sites, which will include Mack Point."
#WindPort #GulfOfMaine #Environment #EndangeredSpecies #ProtectSearsIsland #WindTerminal #SandDunes
#Searsport #ProtectWahsumkik #Wahsumkik
#EndangeredSpecies #ProtectTheDunes #WabanakiAlliance #Wassumkeag #CorporateColonialism #PenobscotBay #Maine #ProtectSearsIsland #WindTerminal #SandDunes
#ProtectWahsumkik #Wahsumkik #CulturalGenocide #Greenwashing -
#MDOT Plans New #SearsIsland Road and Rail Access Corridor Through Current #ConservationLand
Published by
#allianceforsearsislandon May 23, 2024
"Can we hold the Maine Department of Transportation accountable for bull-dozing their way toward developing Sears Island and industrializing #PenobscotBay, along the way breaking promises, rewriting environmental protection law, changing the Sears Island conservation easement, withholding from the public important development costs and impacts and avoiding open, honest, transparent public involvement?
"We might be tempted to begin our list of facts illustrating MDOT’s abuse of authority and public trust with the illegal filling of Sears Island #wetlands and construction of the causeway, apparently in violation of its permit, in the 1980’s. But let’s keep to the more recent offshore wind record of broken promises and undisclosed development activity.
"During the Governor’s announcement in February, [#GovJanetMills] claimed, without supporting data, that Sears Island development 'will cost less' and 'is expected to result in less environmental harm' than would development of a state-owned but privately operated offshore wind facility at Mack Point.
"The 'cost less' assertion raised major questions not yet answered in part because, a few months earlier, at the last OSWPAG meeting, we were told, 'The total project cost for construction is very similar for both MP ($460 Million Total Project Cost) and SI ($470 Million Total Project Cost).'
"Sears Island’s current #undeveloped, natural condition, provides important ecological services to the region and state, especially for fisheries, #CarbonSequestration and publicly accessible recreation. #MackPoint does not provide these ecological services. According to a reliable source, every acre of intact Sears Island forest locks up between 80 and 100 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year – #CO2 that cannot harm our #climate.
"Developing Sears Island proposes removing all vegetation and life from more than 100 acres on Sears Island, nearly one-third of which is existing or historical #wetland, and then harvesting 1.4 million cubic yards of soil to create an impermeable, nearly level work area. Doing so constitutes radical, permanent, irreparable ecological damage, forever eliminating current upland and associated marine #environmental benefits. This exactly flips an appropriate climate-change response and dramatically undermines any claim that developing Sears Island instead of Mack Point represents the least environmentally damaging choice.
Broken Promises
"In 2007, the state promised to choose #MackPoint as the preferred location for future marine transportation development. The Sears Island agreement, signed by 38 stakeholders including the Maine Department of Transportation, and adopted as state policy by then-Governor Baldacci and the State of Maine’s Joint Standing Committee on Transportation, says: 'Mack Point shall be given preference as an alternative to port development on Sears Island.'
"The Sears Island agreement also committed the State of Maine from ever harvesting soil from the island. Ever. Not one cubic yard of soil would be harvested and certainly not 1.4 million cubic yards of soil!
Sadly, the Governor’s announcement and subsequent actions taken by MDOT toward developing Sears Island render the promises made in 2007 by our government worthless.
Broken Laws
"But highly questionable governmental actions in pursuit of developing Sears Island continue. In March this year the Governor brought forward the sand dune bill that allows violation of sand #dune system protections on Sears Island and creates a dangerous threat in the future for any environmental law that may interfere with MDOT development aspirations. Though initially failing to pass in the House, the bill eventually became law after strong political pressure.
New Sears Island Road and Rail Corridor
"And now we come to the MDOT application for a federal grant specifically to develop Sears Island. Nestled within several documents associated with the grant application is page 2 of a two-drawing file titled, Sears Island Wind Port Concept Drawing 2024-04-29, copy attached or available at https://www.maine.gov/mdot/grants/infra/.
"The illustration depicts a new 'heavy load' access road and rail corridor as part of Sears Island development plans for the first time, at least in public.
"As proposed, the new approximately 2,300-foot-long rail and road access corridor passes through a thickly wooded portion of the island, crossing at least two perennial streams and disturbing additional wetlands along the way. Assuming a 100-foot width, the corridor would destroy more than 5.25 acres of intact natural landscape, in addition to the more than 100-acre upland ecological destruction at the facility site proper.
"Adding insult to injury, the proposed new road and rail corridor requires changing the conservation easement boundary in the vicinity.
"#FriendsOfSearsIsland Vice President Rolf Olsen received confirmation of the new road and rail access plan from Kay Rand in response to his query. Rand also substantiated that the new access corridor would cross a portion of the conservation parcel and necessitate a change in that parcel’s boundary.
"According to budget information included with the grant application, clearing, grubbing, excavation and borrow, grading, drainage, erosion control, paving and other work related to this access corridor will add $8 million to the cost of developing Sears Island. Mack Point already provides both a heavy load road and rail.
"The new Sears Island rail and road access corridor presents yet another failure by MDOT to incorporate an honest understanding of climate change into decision-making. As MDOT fiddles for federal grant money to pursue a mega facility on Sears Island, the Earth tilts toward catastrophic climate change.
"I will venture the opinion that, had the #MillsAdministration and MDOT focused offshore wind port research on Mack Point as promised in March 2020 (see attached press release), as promised in the Sears Island Planning Initiative, and as the historical record certainly suggests is the rational approach, including deeply exploring development possibilities there with #SpragueEnergy, they might already have secured permits and seen construction begun.
#Accountability Now"End the insulting double-speak. With honor and integrity, not intrigue and obfuscation, open-up and bring the full spectrum of facts to this decision. Accountability now!"
Steve Miller
#WindTerminal #SandDunes
#Searsport #AllianceForSearsIsland #ProtectWahsumkik #MackPoint #Wahsumkik
#EndangeredSpecies #ProtectTheDunes #GovernorJanetMills #WabanakiAlliance #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #PenobscotNation #Passamaquoddy #ProtectTheForest #CorporateColonialism #Wassumkeag -
OpEd: Opposing wind port on #SearsIsland protects #wildlife
"I strongly oppose the decision by Gov. Mills and the Maine Department of Transportation to locate a wind port on Sears Island in Waldo County. This is wrongly being touted as the least environmentally harmful location for a port, largely based on its requiring less dredging to establish access than using an available site at nearby Mack Point.
Placing a port on Sears Island would destroy upwards of 100 acres of woodland and a sand dune habitat and be very harmful to the thousands of migrant birds that pass through the island. Mack Point is already highly industrialized and offers little benefit to birds and other wildlife. Claiming that Sears Island is the least environmentally harmful is simply inaccurate.
One of the unmentioned reasons for the state’s desire to develop Sears Island is likely that it offers room for future port expansion, whether that be for assembling wind towers or anything else #MDOT wishes to do. MDOT controls 300 acres on the island and will surely find reasons to expand once it establishes a foothold.
"Sears island is highly important to birds and is one of the premier locations in the state for observing spring and fall migrant songbirds. It is sad that some of the state’s largest environmental organizations have not taken a firm stance against developing the island. Check out the Alliance for Sears Island website for more information, and I urge you to contact your state legislators and ask them to oppose a port on Sears Island."
John Wyatt
Winterporthttps://allianceforsearsisland.org/
#Maine #ProtectSearsIsland #WindTerminal #SandDunes
#Searsport #ProtectWahsumkik #Wahsumkik #EndangeredSpecies #ProtectTheDunes #GovernorJanetMills #ProtectTheForest #Wassumkeag #AllianceForSearsIsland #WednesdaysForWildlife -
Just like when the #Maine public voted AGAINST the #CMPCorridor through the #NorthWoods!
Public feedback process for decision on #OffshoreWind port a charade, #environmentalists claim
State officials are accused of long favoring #SearsIsland, the largest undeveloped island in #PenobscotBay, as the future site of the port.
Author: Kate Cough of The Maine Monitor
Published: 12:51 PM EDT August 14, 2023PORTLAND, Maine — "Environmentalists are decrying a year-long process meant to gather public feedback on where to build a #deepwater offshore wind port, calling it a 'charade.'
"They say state officials failed to adequately engage the public or #tribal communities and effectively decided where to construct the port long before the process began.
"The Maine Department of Transportation [#MDOT]has been making an internal case for Sears Island while 'giving an illusion of an impartial analysis of port possibilities to the public,' said #MattCannon, the state conservation and energy director for #SierraClubMaine, in comments at the final meeting of the Offshore Wind Port Advisory Group.
"'Some,' he said, 'see it as a breach of public trust.'
"State officials have said they’re considering several locations for the 100-acre port, including #Eastport, #MackPoint and Sears Island, and don’t expect to choose a final location until next year. The officials insist they have not made a final decision.
"But participants in the process, which began in May 2022, say the state has long advocated for Sears Island, the largest #undeveloped island in Penobscot Bay.
"They believe officials have not seriously considered other options for the port, which would be the staging area for equipment needed to build and maintain #Windturbines in federal waters in the #GulfOfMaine.
"Those suspicions hardened after documents released via a public records request submitted by #IslesboroIslandsTrust earlier this year revealed internal discussions seeming to indicate an official preference for the island. #FriendsOfSearsIsland manages the #trails on the conserved portion of the island.
"The documents included a '#Stakeholder Management Plan' written by state-hired consultant Kay Rand. The document said the goals were, in part, to 'develop and execute a stakeholder outreach strategy that would enable #GovernorJanetMills to … announce a commitment to pursue development of Sears Island as the #RenewableEnergy Port of the Northeast.'
"The document is dated Sept. 8, 2021 — eight months before the stakeholder group held its first meeting — and mentions pursuing Sears Island as the port at least four times."
#Environment #EndangeredSpecies #ProtectSearsIsland #WindTerminal #SandDunes
#Searsport #ProtectWahsumkik #Wahsumkik
#EndangeredSpecies #ProtectTheDunes #WabanakiAlliance #Wassumkeag #CorporateColonialism -
#Maine applies for federal funds to build wind port on #SearsIsland
"Sears Island as DOT's preferred site for an offshore wind port has sparked a heated debate among some local residents, state lawmakers and others who argue the industrialized #MackPoint should be the location of #Maine's proposed #WindHub."
Maine Public | By Nicole Ogrysko
Published May 17, 2024
"The Maine Department of Transportation (#MDOT) has applied for $456 million in federal funds so that it can begin constructing a floating offshore wind port on Sears Island.
"If approved, the federal grant would cover about two-thirds of the nearly $760 million that the state of Maine estimates it will need to build the port and a heavy-lift semi-submersible barge that's needed to launch the floating wind turbine foundations.
"The remaining funds would come from other federal and state grants and anticipated payments as areas are leased to wind developers in the coming years.
"The department said there are currently no other sites being considered on the East Coast that could support the construction and deployment of floating wind turbines near the eight lease areas that the federal government recently identified as potential sites for offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.
"According to a timeline included in a lengthy list of project materials released Friday afternoon, DOT said it will spend the next 18 months applying for permits for the wind port through the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (#MaineDEP) and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
"If everything is approved, the state estimates wind port construction starting in 2027 and wrapping up in 2029."
#ProtectWahsumkik #JanetMills #Wahsumkik #WabanakiAlliance #SandDune #Searsport #EndangeredSpecies #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism #ProtectTheDunes
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When Pretzel Logic Twists No to Mack Point Into “Yes” to Forward-thinking Climate Projects
#ProtectWahsumkik and volunteers associated with #SierraClub #Maine Chapter, as well as many Alliance allies and many of you reading this, performed an incredible job exposing #LD2266’s blatant abuse of governmental authority and supporting protection of critical ecological features on Sears Island.
Published by
allianceforsearsisland
on April 26, 2024"For example, developing the offshore wind facility at #SearsIsland requires removing all vegetation and wildlife from some 75 or more upland acres, approximately 25% of which are significant freshwater #wetlands, recently mapped and documented by Maine Department of Transportation’s (#MDOT) consultants, that provide nutrients and habitat for both terrestrial and marine species. Developing the facility at #MackPoint requires no or extremely little loss of wetlands."
#WindTerminal #SandDunes
#Searsport #Wahsumkik
#EndangeredSpecies #ProtectTheDunes #GovernorJanetMills #WabanakiAlliance #CulturalGenocide #EnvironmentalRacism