A Guardian Where Land Meets Sea.

• Author: Shelley, Peter
• Position: Conservation Law Foundation in Maine - Brief Article

CLF IN MAINE IS...

Protecting Coastal Areas

CLF successfully challenged a plan to expand an aircraft parking tot at the Owl's Head Airport, because it would have jeopardized ground water and the nearby Weskeag River. The plan included no provisions for environmental protection. Working with focal residents and an oyster aquaculturist, we forced the airport to include engineering measures for controlling water pollution, and to increase its capacity for dealing with hazardous materials.

On Snows Point, in St. George, we challenged plans for a residential subdivision that threatened critical habitat for migrating wading birds and shorebirds. We persuaded the town planning board to reduce the number of lots, increasing the natural buffer between development and birds.

In Lincolnville, a proposed subdivision threatened to block the scenic view of Penobscot Bay across Munroe's Field. The planning board had approved the proposal despite a local ordinance saying that subdivisions shouldn't cause undue adverse impacts on scenic views. When one of our members who enjoys the view complained about its imminent Loss, CLF filed suit. The court said our member had the right to challenge the planning board's decision. This ruling expands the right of all citizens to protect scenic resources in court.

We've been working with residents of Warren and Wiscasset who are concerned about proposed expansions and "improvements" to coastal Route One -- changes that would adversely affect the quality of rife in both communities. They include a proposed road widening in Warren, and a bypass in Wiscasset. CLF opposes these changes. We think that other approaches should be explored before adding highway capacity to scenic areas. These cases are part of a larger CLF effort -- to prevent transportation projects in the Route One corridor of midcoast Maine from promoting accelerated and unplanned development.

Restoring Estuaries

CLF is the New England Regional Partner of Restore America's Estuaries (RAE), a national group we helped launch. Last year, with our partners, we enacted the Estuary Restoration Act of 2000 -- the only serious piece of environmental legislation passed by Congress in 2000. It provides funds to support rehabilitation of damaged estuaries and salt marshes. Both are critical habitats for many varieties of marine and coastal rife. CLF volunteers also inventoried marshes along the entire Maine coastline. We found that there are more than 983 road...