Please contact Environment and Natural Resources Committee members and urge them to vote “ought not to pass” on LD 1478, An Act to Reestablish Recreational Use of a Historic Trolley Line in the Town of Gray.
The public hearing is Thursday, January 14 at 1:00 pm. The Committee needs to hear from you that this bill is a bad idea.
LD 1478 creates exemptions in Maine’s Shoreland Zoning Act and Natural Resources Protection Act to benefit one small, private project: a new railway line that would run directly through a high-value habitat for breeding birds and other wildlife.
The site contains a 500-600 acre wetland that is a major flood water holding area, helping to prevent flooding of nearby areas. The marsh is protected as significant wildlife habitat for inland waterfowl and wading birds, and provides breeding habitat for bitterns, rails, waterfowl and songbirds. Habitat for the state endangered New England cottontail is also on the site.
Setting Dangerous Precedents
LD 1478 is bad public policy. It’s inappropriate to create an exemption for one particular, private project, the owners of which haven’t looked thoroughly at less damaging alternatives. It would also create bad precedent because owners of other projects that can’t meet existing standards might want the same treatment.
This site is simply not a good location for the project as proposed. The answer is not to create exemptions in our natural resources protection laws, but to rethink the project and locate it to an area where wildlife habitat and flood protection values are not as high.
Here’s How You Can Help:
Please contact Environment and Natural Resources Committee members and urge them to vote “ought not to pass” on LD 1478, An Act to Reestablish Recreational Use of a Historic Trolley Line in the Town of Gray.
The public hearing is Thursday, January 14 at 1:00 pm. The Committee needs to hear from you that this bill is a bad idea.
Thank you for being part of the solution!
Jenn Burns Gray
Maine Audubon Staff Attorney and Advocate
jgray@maineaudubon.org
(207) 781-2330 x224
To sign up for Maine Audubon’s Action Alert e-mails, please click here.
