For Immediate Release: March
13, 2008
Contact:
Matthew Davis, Environment
Maine Research & Policy Center, (207) 253-1965, cell: (617) 529-5855
Jym St. Pierre, RESTORE: The
North Woods, (207) 626-5635; cell (207) 576-3655
Another 8,000 Citizens Opposed to Plum Creek’s Plan for Moosehead
Environmental groups submit petition signatures to LURC
AUGUSTA - Environment Maine
Research & Policy Center and RESTORE: The North Woods today submitted
to the Land Use Regulation Commission (LURC) approximately 8,000 citizen
comments in opposition to Plum Creek’s proposal to develop in the Moosehead Lake region.
LURC recently concluded four weeks of technical hearings in
Augusta and four day-long public hearings held in communities around the state.
Hundreds of Maine citizens attended the hearings, expressing opposition to the
proposal, which would carve over 2,000 houses and residential units and a pair
of major resorts into new development zones scattered across more than 20,000
acres around Moosehead Lake.
Environment Maine Research & Policy Center and RESTORE:
The North Woods are calling on LURC to recognize its charge to both “safeguard
Maine’s tradition of public access” and “permanently protect the wilderness of
Moosehead Lake.”
“The stack of signatures that we submitted to LURC today was
hefty, but it represents just a sliver of the opposition to Plum Creek’s plan,”
said Matthew Davis, Organizational Development Director for Environment Maine
Research & Policy Center. “The fact is that most Mainers are opposed to
this kind of development in our state. And they especially don’t want to see
sprawling suburban-style subdivisions and resorts on our most treasured lands.”
Across the state, opposition to Plum Creek’s plan outweighs
support nearly two to one. A 2006 poll
conducted by Critical Insights of Portland found that 50% of Maine people
consider Plum Creek’s plan a “bad idea,” while only 27% believe it is a “good
idea.”
Jym St. Pierre, Maine Director of RESTORE: The North Woods, said
that “For three years Plum Creek has been saying it wants certainty, but when
we questioned the lack of detail in much of their plan, Plum Creek has insisted
it needs flexibility. The company’s development scheme would give it the
certainty of land speculation and the flexibility to skirt many of the normal
development rules. But what the people of Maine would get is uncertainty and
inflexibility for thirty years. That’s why thousands of citizens have signed
petitions saying ‘No Thanks.’”
Over the past three years, the environmental organizations
have spoken with over 50,000 people across the state. EnvironmentMaine
Research & Policy Center has collected a total of 9,000
petition signatures and comments by going door-to-door in dozens of cities and
towns. RESTORE: The North Woods has also collected thousands of signatures and
has given presentations about Plum Creek’s Moosehead proposal in communities
throughout much of the state.
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Environment Maine
Research & Policy Center is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to
protecting Maine's
air, water and open spaces. We investigate problems, craft solutions, educate
the public and decision-makers, and help Mainers make their voices heard in
local, state and national debates over the quality of our environment and our
lives.
RESTORE: The North Woods is regional
conservation organization dedicated to restoring and protecting the natural
integrity of the North Woods through advocacy, education and citizens’
activism.
