Maine Islands Coalition Meeting Minutes November 13, 2009

In Attendance

MIC Members:
Roger Berle, Chair, Cliff Island
Marjorie Stratton, Co-Chair,Vinalhaven
Donna M. Damon, Rep, Chebeague Island
Malcolm Donald, Rep, Cranberry Isles
Beverly Roxby, Rep, Frenchboro
Alden Finney, Rep, Great Diamond Island
Rudy Graf, Rep, Isle au Haut
Mark Greene, Rep, Long Island
Eva Murray, Rep, Matinicus Island
Marjorie Phyfe, Rep, Peaks Island
Dexter Lee, Rep, Swan's Island

Islanders:
Mary Holt, Chebeague
Lynne Richard, Peaks Island
Jennifer Goff, Chebeague Island
Ted Hoskins, Isle au Haut
Elizabeth Weber, Great Diamond

Legislators:
Hannah Pingree, Speaker of the House, District 36
Meredith  Strang Burgess, House District 108
Andy O'Brien, House District 44
Chuck Kruger, House District 48

Panelists:
Dave McGlinchey, Executive Director, Vineyard Energy Project
Kathleen Leyden, Coastal Program Director, Maine State Planning Office
George LaPointe, Commissioner, Maine Department of Marine Resources
Suzanne Pude, Director, Maine Coast Community Wind Program, Island Institute

Island Institute:
Rob Snyder, VP Programs, Island Institute
Chris Wolff, Community Development Director, Island Institute
Jen Litteral, Policy Director, Island Institute
Gillian Garratt-Reed, Marine Programs Coordinator, Island Institute
Jessica Bellah, Island Institute, Frenchboro Fellow
Eli Bossin, Island Institute, Chebeague Fellow
Margaret Snell, Island Institute, Isle au Haut Fellow
Mary Terry, Island Institute, Casco Bay Fellow

MIC Members - Absent:
Nakomis Nelson - Islesboro
Mark Tierney - Little Diamond
Doug Boynton - Monhegan
Lisa Shields - North Haven

Meeting Called to Order

Roger Berle called the meeting to order at 12:35 pm and welcomed guests and committee members. 

Announcements
Roger Berle announced that MIC membership invoices are out.  He also suggested the next meeting take place in February in Augusta to coincide with the legislative session.

Policy/Legislative Updates
Jen Litteral, Island Institute Policy Director provided an overview of National and State Working Waterfront Legislation.  Both the House and the Senate are working on National Working Waterfront Legislation.  The Senate version is attached to a reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act.  Rep Chellie Pingree sponsors the House bill.  (See attached for an overview of H.R. 2548.)  The two versions differ in the definition of working waterfront. 

The State Working Waterfront Legislation is up for reauthorization in the fall legislative session.  George LaPointe, Commissioner, Maine Department of Marine Resources, noted that the State WWF pilot program has taken on 19 projects.  The issues to address in this area include covenant value of the property; the number of boats involved and associated value to the state; and how the proceeds of the covenant sale are used. 

Jen Littteral raised the issue of the MIC hosting a summit for gubernatorial candidates either in partnership with the Island Institute or independently.  Generally, the group agreed that this was a good idea and the timing of the summit should be after the primary election, perhaps in the early summer. (Please see attached summary of potential candidates.)

Gillian Garratt-Reed, Island Institute Marine Programs Coordinator provided an update the Herring fishery and Ground Fish Legislation.  The drop in herring catch will likely have an impact on the bait cost and availability for the lobster industry.  Discussion around freezing herring catch and identifying a viable herring substitute is on going.  George LaPointe noted a December 1 meeting at the Civic Center to discuss the supply and demand issue around herring and bait fish.  LaPointe stressed the need to carefully review the science and to include local scientists in the process to ensure there is good information regarding the health of the herring fishery.  (See attached Herring Update and Ground Fish Update.)

Gillian indicated that the new lobster licensing legislation for islands is now in rule making and public input is being gathered for program development.  The legislation and program will be implemented in January of 2011

Philip Conkling, Island Institute President gave a brief overview of the Governor's Task Force on the Economic Sustainability of Maine's Lobster Industry.  The Task Force has issued a set of recommendations including the development of a public-private research and marketing institution; harvest reform; definition of Maine lobster branding; and a Maine Lobster Harvest Campaign.  A pilot program for the Lobster Harvest program launched this fall promotes lobster as a fall season product.  Task Force work groups are now exploring these recommendations further.

Panel Presentation - Ocean Energy Siting Legislation -
What does it mean to Maine?
Discussants
Kathleen Leyden, Maine State Planning Office
George LaPointe:  Maine Department of Marine Resources
Suzanne Pude:  Island Institute, Maine Coast Community Wind
David McGlinchey, Vineyard Energy Project

Kathleen Leyden began by saying that the Maine coast has a premiere wind resource and the State policy is to encourage wind energy generation.  In June of 2009 a legislative mandate was issued to the Department of Conservation and the State Planning Office to work together to identify up to five demonstration sites in Maine's coastal waters by December 15, 2009. The Ocean Energy Task Force has worked to identify the sites called for in the legislation as well as working to review permitting requirements for offshore wind projects

Demonstration sites are places where new technologies can be tested.  In follow up to the legislative mandate, the state identified seven areas as possible demonstration sites for testing wind power equipment.  After review, five sites have been chosen.  The sites are located within Maine coastal waters, in waters more than 200 feet deep, have average wind resources of greater than 17 mph, and are not in areas with obstructions. 

Leyden emphasized the importance of involving the community through public meetings, workgroups, and comment periods.  More information is available on the State website http://www.maine.gov/doc/initiatives/oceanenergy/oceanenergy.shtml.  (See below PowerPoint presentation for additional information.)

Stressing the need to share the resources, George LaPointe spoke to how marine resources, resource users and the developers of demonstration areas for testing off shore wind technology need to learn together and ease into the relationship. He indicated that the challenge is to create a shared use situation given that the ocean bottom is already in use. The impact on marine and avian life is important to take into account. 

Suzanne Pude described the Maine Coast Community Wind work.  The high cost of energy and the use of on-island generated power is an issue for some off shore islands.  Given the robust wind resource, wind and wind/diesel hybrid generation is a possibility.

Over the past two plus years, the community of Vinalhaven has worked toward the siting of three 1.5 mega watt turbines.  They are now generating energy under test conditions.  A ribbon cutting ceremony will take place on Tuesday, November 17.

Monhegan is now exploring the use of wind to generate energy.  The community is looking at smart grid technology to make the best use of the wind energy including home heating options.

Pude noted that the goal is to re-capture the wind resource using an approach that builds capacity, invites strong public participation, and creates educated stakeholders. The work has engaged local communities in ways that may serve as teaching tools for the coast. 

David McGlinchey has worked to develop the Vineyard Power energy cooperative and promote renewable energy and energy efficiency throughout the community. He has been involved with the State of Massachusetts Ocean Planning Process, which is separate from the Cape Wind project sited in federal waters.  Speaking about his experience with wind siting off the coast of Martha's Vineyard, David McGlinchey shared his views on what has worked well and what might have worked better. 

Massachusetts launched an ocean planning process with a focus on commercial energy development.  The focus is on near term technologies of monopole turbines on the seabed and oilrig technology.  Once potential areas were identified, shipping and fishing data was overlaid to determine suitable site locations.

Two areas off the Vineyard were selected as viable siting areas: an area south of Gayhead Cliffs and another off the Elizabeth Islands.  The plan is to site 166 turbines in the south and southwest area off Martha's Vineyard. 

Fishermen are concerned about impact on the fisheries and residents are concerned about view-shed issues.  McGlinchey note the challenges increase as the proposal moved from testing to locating a field of turbines.  At this point, a draft plan is out and a final draft plan is due out at the end of December.  The next step is to create leasing and permitting processes.

Please visit: http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=eoeeasubtopic&L=3&L0=Home&L1=Ocean & Coastal Management&L2=Massachusetts Ocean Plan&sid=Eoeea

McGlinchey noted that talking with the fishing community early and having a plan for outreach is a key factor to build understanding.  The mistake was not addressing community misperceptions directly and quickly.  In addition, the view vistas were not originally an overlay factor. 

The key in addressing community conflict is to provide ownership in the project.  The Massachusetts plan did not originally define the community benefit clearly.  Mitigation funds are difficult to distribute in ways viewed as fair by the entire community.  A democratic direct way to provide benefit addresses mitigation to some degree. 

For more information regarding Vineyard Energy Project, please visit: http://www.vineyardenergyproject.org/

In light of the panel discussion, MIC members discussed transition distribution of energy to the islands.  The issue of cabling between islands and the mainland is a challenge as undersea cable costs are approximately $1 per mile.  There are costs for infrastructure upgrades.  It was noted that these costs would come to bear at some point regardless.  They might well be addressed now as technology is being developed.

The impact on avian life and bats was discussed.   Generally, the impact on birds is minimal with the newer technology.  The impact on bats is less well understood.

The group discussed how best to allocate ownership of the power generated including fixed pricing for islanders, co-ownership, or island ownership of a specific turbine.  Island energy co-ops are another possibility.

The discussion came back to fishing and how best to share the resource through co-location and partnerships.  Wind turbines and the associated infrastructure raise issues of electromagnetic fields, cables on the seabed, restricted access, possible wild fish farm/generation areas, and sharing of information. 

 

Legislator Update
Speaker Pingree noted that this legislative session is short and will focus on issues from the last session and tackle the budget deficit.  State revenues have continued to decline making for some very difficult budget decisions.  School consolidation will be tweaked.  The area of energy continues to be exciting and productive. 

Representative Strange Burgess commented on the need to continue providing home weatherization, the challenges of the health and human services work within a tight state budget, and the issue of ethanol legislation.  She thanked the MIC for helping to get the word out around ethanol issues and noted she has received good feedback.

Maine Islands Coalition Planning
Rob Snyder addressed the group describing the current Island Institute Strategic Planning Process that will lay out a plan to allocate Institute resources for the next three years.  The last Strategic Plan was created three years ago focusing on requests to broaden efforts around affordable housing, sustainable agriculture and lobster and ground fish policy.   As the Institute takes on this next planning process, staff have interviewed islanders, held community meetings and spoken with constituents and partners.  Rob invited the MIC members to discuss how the Institute could support and partner with the MIC around policy issues.  He asked members to speak from the MIC view of what has worked well, what could work better and what issues should be the focus.

MIC members raised the following issues:

1. Use technology to allow more islanders to participate in the MIC meetings without leaving their islands
2. Work to increasingly interest islanders in the policy process
3. Work together to get the MIC message and information out to the community:

           Use the Working Waterfront and provide a column that includes:
                              A summary of recent meeting
                              An agenda for upcoming meeting
                              An article around work of the MIC and Institute
                              Provide articles for local newspapers
                              Explore local access TV for islands

1. Work to publish the minutes sooner and to have them be more complete
2. Continue to invite experts in policy areas
3. Continue to invite legislators and give them an opportunity to speak

                  Why do legislators come?
                  What can we do to ensure they continue to attend?

1. Look for a grant to create a DVD about the islands that is educational and tells the island story, including common problems as well as individual island issues
2. Host a "meet the candidates" session/meeting as discussed earlier in the meeting
3. Continue to create personal relationships with legislators and government officials

                  Perhaps be part of the new legislator bus tour

1. Identify the most significant island issues and have MIC set goals with plans to discuss those issues

                  School population
                  Overall health of the islands
                  Economic Development

1. Convene meetings around particular issues and spend more time deliberating a policy stance
2. Look at sub-groupings or committees to extend the work of the MIC

                  Economic Development
                  Schools
                  Wellness
                  Solid Waste

1. Networking between islands to see what works and share best practices
2. Leadership work - a focus on emerging leaders and cultivating younger islanders as community leaders
3. Jobs and housing to keep young people on island
4. Look at local, state, and federal regulations for island businesses and work to make it easier for islanders to create small local businesses
5. Weatherization and certification programs for islanders to keep the work on island
6. Creation of an on-line bulletin board for communities to share job opportunities and skills

 

Topics for the next meeting were discussed.  The MIC anticipates the next meeting to be in February in coordination with the State Legislative Session.

 

The meeting adjourned at 4:05 pm.