Gubernatorial debate... tomorrow!
Hello, and welcome. First things first: I want to address the activity void that this blog has developed as of late. The Blunt web journal has been a bit silent over the last few... months. I admit, I've been very preoccupied, and have had slightly less time for Blunt Youth Radio. But don't worry: Blunt is doing just fine without me. At the end of mid-summer, Blunt recruited an entire new spiffy set of volunteers; from personal experience, these new volunteers are clever and hard-working, keeping Blunt's team as energetic and interesting as ever. Wanna listen? Next Monday, 7:30 PM - 8:30 PM, 90.9 and 104.1 or stream online directly from the WMPG website. Be there and listen!
Also, a large quantity of spam and dust bunnies seem to have settled down on this blog while I've been gone. Fixed that.
Exciting news! The Maine Gubernatorial Debate is being broadcast live tomorrow, Thursday the 14th, on WMPG. That's right, you read correctly. 8:00-9:30 AM, you know where to tune in. WMPG will be providing continuous coverage of the election, so click on that link for more info. So just what is this debate thing going on? And even if you forgot to tune in, what are the candidates' policies? And what does Nate, by his opinionated and argumentative nature think the candidates? Read on for a quick review!
Here's how the debate will run: From 7:00 AM to 10:00 AM tomorrow, Candidates Baldacci, Woodcock, Lamarche, and Merrill will meet at USM's Portland campus to discourse on energy and environmental policy in Maine, including discussion of how to support small-businesses while watching out for Maine's natural resources. These are very current and relevant issues that affect you, so if you're reading this, and the debate isn't on yet, make sure to listen in! The future of Maine's beautiful wilderness is at stake, so don't pass this opportunity up to get informed!
As a prologue to any opinion-based parts of this post, let me lay out the issue. Maine's natural splendor a key tourist attraction that brings in income necessary to the state. Health and habitat concerns aside, just economically it is a smart position to pay attention to preserving the environment of Maine. When you take habitat and personal health into account, chemical and pollutant regulation prove themselves to be doubly important. Asthma rates are high in Maine because of pollutants (especially from paper mills), but that's one of many problems: deforestation, the use of atmosphere-polluting fossil fuels (coal and oil), and general water quality are all on the list of hot issues when it comes to keeping Maine clean and healthy. Obviously, everyone would like to see Maine clean and running on 100% renewable energy, but the question is which candidate is going to actually step up to the plate and take action.
Now that the air is cleared *bad pun*, I think I'll take this moment to divulge into my own personal editorial.
Personally, I have a feeling that Woodcock, being the fiscal conservative, will focus a lot on the drain that any spending in this area might have in economics, and LaMarche will be pretty interested in pushing towards a free enterprise stance as to reduce bureaucracy for Maine's lower and middle-class workers (however, I do know she is quite focused on energy conservation and recycling programs, definitely a good thing).
As always, Baldacci, along with Merrill with the Green Party, the protection of Maine's environment is greatly important to them. Merrill I like, to a degree. She seems a little big on big plans, and low on nitty-gritty pragmatic implementation plans which are the ones which are important when it comes down to the wire as to who will help the State. While I greatly agree with her economic policy (her economic policy is absolutely beautiful, and a sharp contrast to woodcock's "cut budgets and appease heartless corporations with back-to-the-gilded-age legal reform" plan) I worry that LaMarche's first year or two in office would be getting acquainted with the system.
As to Baldacci. Baldacci has always struck me as someone with solid down-to-earth positions who does hard-work. The reason you don't see him in the front page of the paper like King (although I do believe King was a very good governor) is that Baldacci is too concerned with the actual duties of a Governor than to spend time with pie-in-the-sky ideas (I've never seen the laptop initiative as a project with an acceptable ROI). Baldacci has always had very sound, positive and effective policies on the environment. Not only that, he does good for the middle class and sticks up for the unions. Just look at how the unions have put their weight behind him.
In case you couldn't tell, I'm for Baldacci. If you look at his track record, it's almost nothing but admirable. There have been a few iffy spending exceptions, such as not lowering the gas price by a few cents himself by bringing down the gas tax after calling Exxon on price gouging (Note to John: lower gas tax this term). But one key reason I support Baldacci; as an incumbent he has experience in office, and he personally has a good track record-- if he gets back in office, he won't spend time putting together an entirely new cabinet, getting to know the system, or trying to pull apart reasonable laws and funding which has been running for decades.
Putting it down flat - if we re-elect Baldacci, we get a reliable, hard-working public servant who works towards making health-care and taxes affordable while keeping the environment intact. If we elect someone else, we definitely get someone who's inexperienced. If we elect woodcock, we get someone who doesn't pay enough attention to Maine's resources, and says that's helping the economy. If we elect LaMarche, we get someone who cares about the Maine's environment and energy, but its clearly not among her tippy-top priorities. If we elect Merrill (which is unlikely anyway), I think we're going to get someone who put a lot of thought into ideas, but not much thought into putting them into action. LaMarche is good. Baldacci is better - he may not be flashy, but he does good work.
Of course, that's just my opinion. Listen to the debate, and tell me yours! Think Baldacci should be caring for the big box stores? Think Woodcock's got it right about cutting emergency service funding? (his election would mean much smaller budgets for our police and firefighters - think about that.) Got something to say about the governor's and the environment? Argue away! I'd love to hear it! Remember, election time is coming up: November 7th, so you'd better Listen in to stay informed about the candidates. When election time comes up, be sure you're making the right decision. Maine's future is at stake!
It's curious how a major blueberry processing outfit in Maine has a regulatory filing issue that results in no actual or intentional damage to the environment and gets hammered by the media (appropriately enough for the potential damage and violation and negligence) which results in the price of that commodity inflating and costing the residents of Maine millions as a result. Yet you hear nothing in the public about a local Maine business that in an annual ritual intentionally dumped thousands of gallons of raw sewage into the the Maine state public watershed. Why is that?
Sewage In Sebago Lake Public State Water Supply And Watershed
http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:u2WH9k-1pnEJ:www.cascomaine.org/select_mtgs/minutes/092005.doc+migis+violation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us
Migis Lodge Dumping septic waste at 30 Migis Lodge Road.
Elwin Thorpe indicated that he has not heard of any final resolution on this issue. Portland Water District (PWD) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) are handling this matter. Elwin indicated that dumping of commercial sludge on private property has never been allowed in Casco and that Migis Lodge has been advised that they are not allowed to do this. Elwin will contact the DEP to follow up on this matter. Barbara York made a motion to have the Town Manager write a letter to the DEP requesting a report on the status of the Migis Lodge violation. The motion was seconded by Calvin Nutting. There was discussion regarding the motion, the commercial hauler who was hired by Migis Lodge and a possible consent decree from DEP. The Board of Selectmen voted to approve the motion, 5-0-0.
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http://www.downeast.com/Articles-2007/Migis-Cleanup/
Tim Porta swears that never in his "wildest dreams" did he think sewage from his Migis Lodge in South Casco would end up in Sebago Lake, the water supply for 200,000 Mainers. Now three-and-a-half years after he and septic tank hauler dumped an estimated 3,000 gallons of kitchen and bathroom waste on a steep slope near the lake, Porta is finally paying the price for his lack of imagination.
Thanks to local protests, Migis will pay $29,000 roughly seven times the fine originally proposed for contaminating Sebago Lake with E. coli bacteria. However, negotiations are still under way with Dave Torres, of Dave's Septic Tank Pumping in Naples, who would be fined $14,055 under a revised settlement with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
When Chad Thompson of the Portland Water District investigated an anonymous tip on Nov. 23, 2004, he could hardly believe what he saw and smelled.
"There was six to eight inches of sludge. It had obviously been dumped down a very steep slope and it definitely smelled bad," Thompson said. "It was definitely the most blatant environmental violation I've witnessed. It was just an amazing amount of raw sewage."
Was there any chance that someone might not realize the sewage would flow down the hill to the lake?
"No," Thompson said flatly. "That would be ludicrous. Because from the first load you would have just watched it flow down that slope."
Thompson and Mike Clark of DEP tracked the trail of sewage into a forested area, where it entered a stream, went underground, and surfaced again before entering the lake an estimated 1,000 feet from the dump site. Enough sewage made it to the lake so that the sample collected that first day contained an average of 1600 colony forming units (cfu) of E. coli bacteria. That's compared to a drinking water standard of 0, DEP notes, because contaminated water can cause serious illnesses, especially dangerous to children, which range from diarrhea to neurological illness. More than a week later, samples still contained 150 cfu.
Kitchen and bathroom waste had been dumped on that site, which also was used for leaves and other yard debris, for the 28 years he has owned Migis, Porta admits, and for the 10 years before when his parents owned the lodge.
Profiled in Down East in June 2002 as one of the oldest lodges in Maine, Migis is described (www.migis.com) as a "luxurious Main Lodge and 31 cottages nestled amid 100 acres of pine forest, stretching along 3,500 feet of Sebago Lake shoreline in southern Maine." Since 1916, it has "opened our doors to guests seeking a quiet retreat from the world." That retreat costs about $275-$330 per person per night.
"My whole livelihood is invested in this," Porta said. "Everything I own is right here and that's it. Guests who have come here year after year would be appalled if they thought I was dumping sewage in the lake. They wouldn't come."
Porta says he feels "terrible" about dumping the sewage, but Torres showed a distinct lack of remorse when asked about it a few weeks ago.
"I mean it's three years old. They won't let a dead horse lie. It's tiring," Torres said. "Actually, I'll be blunt with you
You can shove it. I'm done talking to people about it."
The DEP investigation revealed Torres had dumped on the Migis site for six years and also had transported non-hazardous waste without a state license for a total of nine years. Nevertheless, DEP issued Torres a two-year conditional license in May 2005. Then, because of an "administrative error," the department renewed his license in May for two more years with no conditions at all.
William Butler, administrator of the non-hazardous waste transporter program, said Torres' license application should have been flagged for his scrutiny before being renewed, but was not. Butler set up a meeting with Torres May 30 to ask him to surrender the license voluntarily, but Torres failed to show up.
"I will be sending David a letter next week summarizing his responsibilities under his current license and urge him to reconsider a conditional license," Butler said in an email.
There was considerable outrage in the Lakes Region about the dumping and strong feeling the initial fines proposed were just a slap on the wrist. Casco Town Manager David P. Morton wrote to local legislators, "Clearly the act of pumping sewage from tanks and having it flow into Sebago Lake is extremely onerous and offends the sensibilities
If this highly offensive transaction goes unchecked, without severe penalty, that will open the door to others to commit such offensive acts, recognizing that there will be little or no retribution."
Ron Miller, general manager of the Portland Water District also urged then DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher, to "press for the most stringent penalties allowable in this case. If the fine is so minor as to be an acceptable cost of doing business, firms like Dave's Septic Service will not be deterred from doing so again and again."
Commissioner Gallagher replied, "Certainly nothing is more important than protecting the integrity and health of our drinking water sources
I concur with your impression that enforcement efforts (should) be such as to act as a deterrent of future violations."
Yet under the initial consent agreement, which went to the BEP last October, Migis would have paid only $4,022 to the state, plus $1,683 to the water district for remediation and monitoring. Torres would have paid just $3,022 to the state and $1,683 to the water district.
However, thanks in part to a strong presentation by Peter Lowell, executive director of the Lakes Environmental Association in Bridgton (where I work as membership and community relations director), the BEP voted down the initial Migis consent agreement 6-2 and unanimously rejected the settlement for Dave's Septic Tank Pumping, sending them back to DEP for further review.
The initial fines reflected only a single year of dumping, but the higher fines proposed now reflect the longer period Porta and Torres have admitted dumping on the site, according to Peter Carney, DEP director of procedures and enforcement. After a 30-day public comment ending June 8, the Migis consent agreement was expected to be approved by the BEP at its June 21 meeting.
"With this new settlement proposal, the DEP is now sending the right message," Lowell said. "We cannot tolerate contamination of our lakes and water supplies, especially with a pollutant as dangerous to human health and the environment as septage."
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http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:18SlWt9-XjYJ:www.maine.gov/tools/whatsnew/attach.php%3Fid%3D40023%26an%3D1+migis+violation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=4&gl=us
DEPARTMENT OFENVIRONMENTALPROTECTION
Monthly Enforcement Reportfor actions during June 2007
Solid Waste:Migis Lodge Realty, LLC, Migis Lodge, Inc., Timothy G. Porta, and Joan S. Porta, South Casco, Maine.Migis Lodge Realty, LLC, Migis Lodge, Inc., Timothy G. Porta, and Joan S. Porta (collectively "Migis") violatedprovisions of the Maine Hazardous Waste, Septage and Solid Waste Management Act and Water Pollution Controllaws. Specifically, in November 2004 an inspection of the Migis property revealed that appoximately 3,000 gallonsof septage generated by the lodge was disposed of in a wooded area on the property. The septage entered a springseep that flows into Sebago Lake reslting in the discharge of septage into Sebago Lake. Further investigationrevealed that disposal of septage on the property had been conducted annually betweeen 1984 and 2004. To resolvethe violations, Migis paid $29, 000.00 as a civil monetary penalty.
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http://oaspub.epa.gov/enviro/sdw_report_v2.first_table?pws_id=ME0002512&state=ME&source=Surface_water&population=560&sys_num=1
SDWIS Violation Report - MIGIS LODGE
SOUTH CASCO, ME 04077
207-655-4524
Primary Water Source Type Population Served
Surface_water 560
This report was created on AUG-16-2007
Results are based on data extracted on JUL-26-2007
NOTICE: EPA is aware of inaccuracies and underreporting of some data in the Safe Drinking Water Information System. We are working with the states to improve the quality of the data.
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The tables below list all violations that the state reported to EPA for this water system. Health-based violations are listed first, followed by monitoring, reporting, and other violations.
Health Based Violations: amount of contaminant exceeded safety standard (MCL) or water was not treated properly.
Type of Violation Occured Between: Begin Date Occured Between: End Date Contaminant Analytical Result Violation ID
Treatment Technique (SWTR)
JUN-01-2004
JUN-30-2004
SWTR
--- 20304
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Public Notif received
JUL-26-2004
St Compliance achieved
JUL-26-2004
St Violation/Reminder Notice
JUL-12-2004
St Public Notif requested
JUL-12-2004
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Type of Violation Occured Between: Begin Date Occured Between: End Date Contaminant Analytical Result Violation ID
Treatment Technique (SWTR)
JUL-01-2000
JUL-31-2000
SWTR
--- 19902
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Compliance achieved
SEP-05-2002
St Violation/Reminder Notice
AUG-19-2002
St Public Notif requested
AUG-19-2002
St Tech Assistance Visit
AUG-19-2002
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Monitoring and Reporting and Other Violations: system failed to complete all samples or sample in a timely manner, or had another non-health-based violation. A significant monitoring violation means the system failed to take a large percentage of the required samples. Non-significant monitoring violations indicate that the water system failed to take some of the required samples, but did do some of the required sampling.
Type of Violation Sampling Period: Begin Date Sampling Period End Date Contaminant Violation ID
Monitoring, Routine Major (TCR)
AUG-01-2003
AUG-31-2003
Coliform (TCR) 20204
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Compliance achieved
DEC-08-2003
St Public Notif received
DEC-05-2003
St Violation/Reminder Notice
NOV-03-2003
St Public Notif requested
NOV-03-2003
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Type of Violation Sampling Period: Begin Date Sampling Period End Date Contaminant Violation ID
Monitoring, Routine Major (TCR)
SEP-01-2001
SEP-30-2001
Coliform (TCR) 19802
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Compliance achieved
JAN-25-2002
St Violation/Reminder Notice
DEC-13-2001
St Public Notif requested
DEC-13-2001
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Type of Violation Sampling Period: Begin Date Sampling Period End Date Contaminant Violation ID
Monitoring, Regular
JAN-01-2000
DEC-31-2000
Nitrate 19701
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Compliance achieved
SEP-05-2002
St Tech Assistance Visit
AUG-19-2002
St Violation/Reminder Notice
SEP-13-2001
St Public Notif requested
SEP-13-2001
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Type of Violation Sampling Period: Begin Date Sampling Period End Date Contaminant Violation ID
Monitoring, Routine Major (TCR)
JUN-01-1999
JUN-30-1999
Coliform (TCR) 18499
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Compliance achieved
AUG-25-1999
St Public Notif requested
AUG-17-1999
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Type of Violation Sampling Period: Begin Date Sampling Period End Date Contaminant Violation ID
Monitoring, Regular
JAN-01-1999
DEC-31-1999
Nitrate 19600
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Compliance achieved
SEP-05-2002
St Tech Assistance Visit
AUG-19-2002
St Public Notif requested
DEC-05-2000
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Type of Violation Sampling Period: Begin Date Sampling Period End Date Contaminant Violation ID
Monitoring, Routine Major (TCR)
JUN-01-1998
JUN-30-1998
Coliform (TCR) 14098
Follow-up Action Date of Response
St Compliance achieved
AUG-25-1999
St Public Notif requested
JUL-30-1998
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For more information on:
Violations more than 10 years back: Ask the operators of your water system, contact your state or file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. Watersheds (the land areas drinking water comes from): Learn more about the health of this watershed. Drinking water in your state: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/me.htm
Drinking water in general: Visit EPA's Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water web site or call the Safe Drinking Water Hotline (1-800-426-4791). EPA has also prepared fact sheets about various regulated drinking water contaminants.
Advanced tools for accessing EPA drinking water data: http://www.epa.gov/safewater/data/getdata.html
Research Data: As well as monitoring the levels of drinking water contaminants for which EPA has set standards, EPA, states, and water systems also carry out studies of contaminants that may need to be regulated in the future. For more information about these, please see the National Contaminant Occurrence Database and the Microbe and Disinfection Byproducts study database.
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Thanks to a protest by LEA, Migis Lodge of SouthCasco will pay a $29,000 fine roughly seven times more than the fine originally proposed for contami-nating Sebago Lake, the water supply for 200,000 resi-dents of Southern Maine, with E. coli bacteria. After a 30-day public comment period ends June 8, the consent agreement (an out-of-court settlement) is ex-pected to be approved by the Maine Board of Environ-mental Protection (BEP) at its June 21 meeting. "With this new settlement proposal, the DEP is now sending the right message: 'We cannot tolerate con-tamination of our lakes and water supplies, especiallywith a pollutant as dangerous to human health and the and the environment as septage,'" said Peter Lowell,
However, negotiations are still under way with Dave Torres, of Dave's Septic Tank Pumping in Naples, who would be fined $14,055 under a new consent agreement. Torres refused to dis-cuss the incident or the proposed fine with LEA. Migis Lodge and Torres broke numerous envi-ronmental laws on November 23, 2004, when they dumped an estimated 3,000 gallons of waste from the main lodge on a steep slope above Sebago Lake. The waste came from the kitchen and five bathrooms, including toilets.
When Chad Thompson, a water resource spe-cialist at the Portland Water District (PWD), went to investigate an anonymous tip, he could hardly believe what he saw and smelled. "There was six to eight inches of sludge. It had obviously been dumped down a very steep slope and it definitely smelled bad," Thompson re-called. "It was definitely the most blatant envi-ronmental violation I've witnessed. It was just an amazing amount of raw sewage."
When the water in the lake was tested it con-tained E. coli bacteria -- an average of 1,600 colony forming units (cfu). According to DEP, the drinking water standard for E. coli is 0, be-cause contaminated water can cause serious ill-nesses, especially dangerous to children, which range from diarrhea to neurological illness. More than a week later, samples still contained 150 cfu. On October 5, 2006, Lowell urged the BEP to reject the initial fines proposed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Migis would have paid only $4,022 to the state, plus $1,683 to the PWD for remediation and monitoring.
Dave's Septic Tank Pumping would have paid just $3,022 to the state and $1,683 toPWD. After Lowell's presentation, the BEP voted down the Migis consent agreement 6-2 and unanimously rejected the settlement for Dave's Septic Tank Pumping, sending themback to DEP for further review. The initial fines reflected only a single year of dumping, but the higher fines proposed now re-flect the longer period of time Porta and Torres have admitted dumping on the site, according to Peter Carney, DEP director of procedures and enforcement.
Torres dumped on the Migis site for six years and also transported non-hazardous waste with-out a state license for a total of nine years, ac-cording to the consent agreement. DEP issued Torres a two-year conditional license in May2005, but because of an "administrative error," the department recently renewed his license with no conditions until 2009. William Butler, ad-ministrator for the of non-hazardous waste trans-porter program, said Torres' license application should have been "flagged" for his scrutiny be-fore being renewed, but was not. "We're going to ask him to surrender that li-cense so that we can assign the appropriate con-ditions to a new license," Butler said. "If he dis-agrees, our only recourse would be to try to re-voke it
I guess if we're unsuccessful in get-ting him to surrender his license, the only thing I've got left is to tell him, 'OK, I guess I'm go-ing to be doing inspections once a month, Dave. And you're going to have to be prepared to share records.'"
The current Migis fine covers 1984 through2004, Carney said. Earlier violations were as-sessed at a lower amount because DEP doesn't know if the septage reached or contaminated the lake. Dumping on that site "was a process that was ongoing and it had nothing to do with saving money or anything," Porta said. "I didn't even think one way or the other about it
Never in my wildest dreams did I even consider the fact that any of this would get to the lake." Saying he felt "terrible" when he realized the septage had contaminated the lake, Porta added, "My whole livelihood is invested in this. Every-thing I own is right here and that's it. Guests who have come here year after year would be appalled if they thought I was dumping sewage in the lake. They wouldn't come."
Employees from Migis Lodge assisted PWD workers in spreading lime on the sewage in an effort to mitigate its effects on the lake, said Paul Hunt, environmental manager for the water district. "We don't have an opinion about the amount of the fine," Hunt said. "What we have an opinionabout is the effect of the fine. And our goal re-mains the same that this won't happen again. And if this increases the chances that another person will think twice before doing it, than it's the right thing to do." Negotiations still under way with Torres over $14,055 fine
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http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:s3NNdOwrj4MJ:www.mainelakes.org/documents/Summer%2520Newsletter%25202007.pdf+migis+lodge+violation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us
Thanks to a protest by LEA, Migis Lodge of SouthCasco will pay a $29,000 fine roughly seven times more than the fine originally proposed for contami-nating Sebago Lake, the water supply for 200,000 resi-dents of Southern Maine, with E. coli bacteria. After a 30-day public comment period ends June 8, the consent agreement (an out-of-court settlement) is ex-pected to be approved by the Maine Board of Environ-mental Protection (BEP) at its June 21 meeting. "With this new settlement proposal, the DEP is now sending the right message: 'We cannot tolerate con-tamination of our lakes and water supplies, especiallywith a pollutant as dangerous to human health and the LEA executive director.
However, negotiations are still under way with Dave Torres, of Dave's Septic Tank Pumping in Naples, who would be fined $14,055 under a new consent agreement. Torres refused to dis-cuss the incident or the proposed fine with LEA. Migis Lodge and Torres broke numerous envi-ronmental laws on November 23, 2004, when they dumped an estimated 3,000 gallons of waste from the main lodge on a steep slope above Sebago Lake. The waste came from the kitchen and five bathrooms, including toilets.
When Chad Thompson, a water resource spe-cialist at the Portland Water District (PWD), went to investigate an anonymous tip, he could hardly believe what he saw and smelled. "There was six to eight inches of sludge. It had obviously been dumped down a very steep slope and it definitely smelled bad," Thompson re-called. "It was definitely the most blatant envi-ronmental violation I've witnessed. It was just an amazing amount of raw sewage." When the water in the lake was tested it con-tained E. coli bacteria -- an average of 1,600 colony forming units (cfu). According to DEP, the drinking water standard for E. coli is 0, be-cause contaminated water can cause serious ill-nesses, especially dangerous to children, which range from diarrhea to neurological illness. More than a week later, samples still contained 150 cfu.
On October 5, 2006, Lowell urged the BEP to reject the initial fines proposed by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Migis would have paid only $4,022 to the state, plus $1,683 to the PWD for remediation and monitoring. Dave's Septic Tank Pumping would have paid just $3,022 to the state and $1,683 toPWD. After Lowell's presentation, the BEP voted down the Migis consent agreement 6-2 and unanimously rejected the settlement for Dave's Septic Tank Pumping, sending themback to DEP for further review.
The initial fines reflected only a single year of dumping, but the higher fines proposed now re-flect the longer period of time Porta and Torres have admitted dumping on the site, according to Peter Carney, DEP director of procedures and enforcement. Torres dumped on the Migis site for six years and also transported non-hazardous waste with-out a state license for a total of nine years, ac-cording to the consent agreement. DEP issued Torres a two-year conditional license in May2005, but because of an "administrative error," the department recently renewed his license with no conditions until 2009. William Butler, ad-ministrator for the of non-hazardous waste trans-porter program, said Torres' license application should have been "flagged" for his scrutiny be-fore being renewed, but was not. "We're going to ask him to surrender that li-cense so that we can assign the appropriate con-ditions to a new license," Butler said. "If he dis-agrees, our only recourse would be to try to re-voke it
I guess if we're unsuccessful in get-ting him to surrender his license, the only thing.......
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http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article.aspx?storyid=42857
Casco Lodge At Center Of Sebago Lake Sludge Controversy
In a rare move, the Bureau of Environmental Protection has overturned a negotiated fine issued by the DEP against the famed Migis Lodge. A septic company hired by the resort spread raw sewage and grease on a sludge field near Sebago Lake that had been used for years.
The Portland Water District and Department of Environmental Protection investigated, and they found that the move presented an e-coli hazard for Sebago Lake, which is the greater Portland area's source of drinking water.
The DEP issued fines to the Migis Lodge and the septic company totalling about $10,000. But the Lakes Environmental association appealed the fine, saying it wasn't harsh enough, and the BEP agreed.
"I think the only thing you can do at this point is to impose a stiffer fine. The damage has been done, things have been corrected, I'm sure Migis Lodge is not going to do this again and the septic pumper has been licensed, and so all of that is water over the dam," said Peter Lowell from the Lakes Environmental Association. "So the only thing you can do is impose a fine that's stringent enough to send that message," Lowell said.
The case now goes back to the DEP to reconsider.
The Portland Water District wants to stress that the drinking water supply is safe and was not affected by the sludge.
Posted by
jason robarAugust 20, 2007 10:41 AM
MAINEJOBS
