By Becky Bartovics, Sierra Club Maine Volunteer Leader
Sears Island is in the news again. While we support responsible development of Offshore Wind (OSW) to advance a clean energy transition, we must protect the natural environment that sustains life on the planet. We are advocating to protect Sears Island and instead transform Mack Point, an already developed brown site, into an OSW assembly area.
As the State continues to analyze these port areas, folks on the ground are organizing to protect our most important areas. We stand with grassroots partners to urge the town of Searsport to hold a meeting with area residents on the proposed development, should the development progress on either Mack Point or Sears Island. While Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) is still gathering information, there should be a commitment to as much public outreach as possible.
Since 1984 Sierra Club has participated in preserving this gem of an island in the upper end of Penobscot Bay through numerous efforts including lawsuits and EPA findings. It is one of the largest undeveloped islands on the East Coast, and it holds significant terrestrial and aquatic biological resources. One of the key reasons to preserve it now is the blue carbon sequestering value of its coastal wetlands and marine seagrass beds which surpass mature forests in per acre carbon accrual.
Click here to learn more and sign a petition from folks in Searsport and help protect Sears Island!
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After a protracted eleven year effort, in December of 1995, the EPA prevailed over the Maine’s Department of Transportation and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to shut down a proposed cargo port. In 2004, another proposal to build on Sears Island emerged in the form of a Liquified Natural Gas Port. Once again it was fought by grassroots activists and Sierra Club Maine and resulted in the Baldacci Administration’s Sears Island Planning Initiative (2007) and subsequent Joint Use Planning Commission. Finally an Executive Order in 2009 stated that ‘Mack Point shall be given preference as an alternative port to development of Sears Island.’ (History doc)
Currently as the state moves to meet its climate goals and deploy more offshore wind, MDOT has proposed three possible marshaling sites for OSW; Mack Point, a currently developed fossil fuel facility that could be repurposed for clean energy use; Sears Island, an undeveloped island in Penobscot Bay; and Eastport, an underused deep port.
MDOT convened the Offshore Wind Port Advisory Group (OSWPAG) in May, 2022 which is tasked with advising them on the analysis of various ports. Since then there have been three subsequent meetings, with more analysis forthcoming. We expect them to fully vet all options, including Mack Point and Eastport. Through FOAA’s by a coalition partner, we have learned that MDOT has signaled developing an Offshore Wind Marshalling Site (OSW) on Sears Island instead of the adjacent Mack Point, prior to the public process beginning. It appears that MDOT is focused most broadly on developing Sears Island and not doing the same level of analysis on either Mack Point or Eastport.
We will need port development to support the nascent floating offshore wind industry and address the climate crisis. And, at the same time, we need to focus development in the least environmentally harmful areas possible. We look forward to learning more, and we will continue to advocate for protection of Sears Island.