Talk of the Towns 11/13/15

Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities

Program Topic: Celebrating Acadia in 2016—Centennial Year

Key Discussion Points:
A. What are we celebrating?
Centennials of Acadia National Park and US National Park Service
B. What is the brief history of Acadia
Highlights and tensions?
Parallels to history of Mount Desert Island and national system?
C. What do we know about Acadia National Park in 2015
Key assets
Current challenges
Relation to the community, local economy?
What did we learn when the federal government shut down Acadia?
Role of Friends of Acadia
D. How are we celebrating?
How are the celebrations being planned and coordinated?
What organizations are involved?
What are some of the 2016 events you would like to highlight?
E. What opportunities does the centennial make possible to engage with the park and its mission, and what are the implications for the wider community?

Guests:

Jack Russell, Co-chair of the Acadia Centennial Task Force
Stephanie Clement, Friends of Acadia and member of Acadia Centennial Task Force
Lynne Dominy, Chief of Interpretation, Acadia National Park, Centennial Lead for park service (by phone) 207 288-2375.
Julie Veilleaux, Co-Owner, Window Panes in Bar Harbor, FOA Board of Directors, Acadia Centennial Task Force, coordinator of Acadia Centennial products effort (by phone) 207-266-2262

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Maine Currents 11/11/15

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

(Part 2 of 2) Rockland 2015 is starting to sound a bit like Searsport 2012. A large out of state corporation has spun off a local-sounding LLC – Rockland Energy Center Limited Liability Corporation – and is proposing to build a gas plant in the city. Few specifics have been released, leaving Rockland residents with many unanswered questions. “Renew Rockland”, a group that describes itself as “local residents who have come together to respond to changing energy needs and concerns about our local environment” compiled unanswered questions collected at the few previous meetings where this issue has been discussed, and held a forum last week to try to address them. Panelists at the forum on “Rockland’s Energy Future” had expertise in engineering gas plants, alternative energy, climate change and health. The resulting discussion has implications far beyond Rockland.

Addendum: On Friday of last week the Bangor Daily News reported that city administrators met with representatives of the gas company on October 27th, just 2 days before this forum took place. As you’ll recall if you listened to part 1 of this special, one of the 1st questions that we asked at the forum was when was the last time the gas company was in contact with the city. City Councilor Larry Pritchett (who also serves on the city’s energy committee) responded “I think if you say ‘in contact’ you know, there’s been questions to city staff. There hasn’t been anything that looks like negotiations.” Stephen Betts of the BDN reported that the assistant city manager said city officials met with Rockland Energy on October 27th “to relay the concerns citizens had about issues such as emissions and noise. [The Asst City Mgr] said the city also informed the company that when it does submit its formal plans, the city will be hiring an independent party to review the proposal. She said the city would expect Rockland Energy Center to pay for that cost, and the company is amenable to that arrangement.” We asked City Councilor Larry Pritchett about this apparent discrepancy earlier today and he said he was unaware of the October 27th meeting and questioned the accuracy of the date as reported in the BDN. We attempted to reach the BDN reporter to confirm, but as of air time haven’t heard back. We’ll continue to follow up on this story.

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