Washington County task force supports LNG development

MACHIAS – Members of the Washington County Economic Development Task Force who gathered for a special meeting voted Saturday to “support the development of LNG [liquefied natural gas] in Washington County.”

The vote was 8-0, with two abstentions.

Members voting in favor of LNG development were: Rep. Ed Dugay, D-Cherryfield, task force co-chairman; Rep. Anne Perry, D-Calais; Sen. Kevin Raye, R-Perry; Dianne Tilton, Sunrise County Economic Council executive director; Chris Gardner, Washington County commissioner; Cynthia Huggins, University of Maine at Machias president; Robert Jamison, Vicus Technology, Eastport; and Scott Beal, Domtar Industries, Baileyville.

Abstaining were Bill Cassidy, Washington County Community College president; and David Whitney, a Machias businessman.

Three different proposals for LNG facilities – at Pleasant Point, Robbinston and Calais – are being considered for those coastal communities.

Now that the task force is at the point of determining what will be forwarded to the Governor’s Office and the state Legislature, the group also reviewed its procedure for recording votes.

They determined that the official outcome of a vote rests with the members present at the meeting.

Three votes had taken place at the group’s previous meeting on Jan. 4, and all were understood to be unanimous – to support the Downeast Heritage Museum, to support WCCC’s boat school at Eastport and to support the proposed racino for Washington County.

But one of the 23 members of the group – all appointed last summer by Gov. John Baldacci – wanted his position on the racino vote to be recorded as a “no.” That was Jack Cashman, Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

The group then last week held a second vote on the racino issue by e-mail, allowing for other members who were not at the Jan. 11 meeting to weigh in. Cashman voted no, and a second negative vote came from Patricia Bouchard, Workforce Investment Board executive director.

On Saturday, the group decided that members who want to have their votes counted need to cast them in person at meetings. Members not at meetings would not get a chance to change a vote’s outcome by e-mail.

The second racino vote took place last week because the first outcome, “unanimous,” contrasted with the official position of the Governor’s Office.

Although the task force, which began its work in August, is authorized to meet through May, its members are readying their own set of recommendations for those in Augusta to act on.

Using the 70 recommendations offered last fall by David Flanagan, appointed last summer by Baldacci to study the county’s economic landscape, the group developed its own list of recommendations – also, coincidentally, numbering 70.

Flanagan is an attorney and former utilities executive from southern Maine who now is consulting with the federal Hurricane Katrina review commission.

The two lists are largely parallel to each other, yet have their differences. While Flanagan touted the benefits of promoting Washington County as a place for retirees to relocate, the group was divided over the effects of “second-house development” at a time of already-escalating valuations for coastal towns.

In addition to determining where the task force’s priorities are, the group considered a request from the Passamaquoddy Tribe for support in the tribe’s pursuit of landing the Brunswick Naval Air Station for redevelopment once it closes.

There is a timetable of deadlines regarding the process to “acquire excess federal property,” tribal attorney Craig Francis noted in a Jan. 4 letter.

“The Tribe thinks that this opportunity is one that can solve a great deal of economic problems for the Passamaquoddy Tribe, the Town of Brunswick and the State of Maine,” he wrote.

The task force agreed to respond and support the tribe’s effort in this area.