Another Schoodic threat is soundly defeated

In September, lobstermen and other residents decisively crushed a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal proposed for Prospect Harbor, in Gouldsboro, near the fishing village of Corea. The development also would have affected Acadia National Park, Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge and Schoodic National Scenic Byway.

The Corea terminal would have lain inside the Acadia National Park purchase boundary that Congress set in 1986. It extends from the center line of the Penobscot River and bay to the Washington County line in Gouldsboro Bay, incorporating the Corea site. Within this border the national park is authorized to acquire conservation easements on islands and on certain mainland properties near Schoodic. The LNG site lay three miles from a park-held easement at Prospect Harbor’s western side, opposite Corea. Acadia park visitors on Schoodic Head and Cadillac Mountain would have easily seen the industrial structures and the thousand-foot tanker ships motoring in and out.

Units of Petit Manan National Wildlife Refuge dot the coast east and west of the site, which includes a long natural beach. The tankers would have passed near the refuge’s islands and mainland components that were permanently set aside as habitat. Fixed industrial structures would have abutted the biologically rich Corea Bog, itself slated for inclusion in Petit Manan.

Schoodic National Scenic Byway, designated in 2000 by the U.S and Maine departments of transportation, runs on Route 186 through Winter Harbor and Gouldsboro. The byway program’s purposes are “to preserve and enhance selected roads” that pass through areas with special visual and other qualities. Heavy service vehicles could not have accessed the LNG terminal without using the byway.

Acadia, Petit Manan and Schoodic Scenic Byway are the federally designated lands, waters and roads that support tourism and provide access to some of the nation’s most beautiful scenery. These assets, whose protection was hard won over a century, help safeguard both the lobster fishery and coastal village life, vital ingredients of the region’s economy and culture. Putting heavy industry where a national park overlaps a national wildlife refuge, in an area served by a national scenic byway, would have been contrary to their interrelated conservation purposes – and a terrible precedent. Moreover, land trusts hold conservation reserves and easements in the area.

To its credit the developer, Cianbro, voluntarily withdrew its proposal when local residents, including Friends of Schoodic, objected strongly. For its part, Friends of Acadia benefited from an intermediary who quietly conveyed its concerns to the company’s top ranks.

In 1996 Friends of Acadia mounted the coalition that prevented an ill-designed timber cut at Schoodic. That action led to a good cut. And in 2001, the organization stopped the state’s forcible takeover of 26 acres that have since become core national park property at Schoodic Point. With the citizens’ defeat of the industrial terminal, it would be nice if Schoodic had a breather. But most conservation victories are mere preludes, and further attempts to diminish the area’s character are likely – be sure of it.

It’s an equally sure bet that people who love Schoodic would again send the message that this part of coastal Maine, with its three interwoven protective designations, will not accept inappropriate development.

Ken Olson is president of the nonprofit organization Friends of Acadia.