[HCCN] please forward...thanks for getting out this information to hancock county residents
ron greenberg
rongreenberg at wildblue.net
Fri Jul 1 00:41:09 UTC 2011
>
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>>
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>> Ecopolitics
>> Green Party of Hancock County
>> July 2011
>> In This Issue
>> Water Rights
>> Op. Ed. Pat LaMarche
>> Logo Contest
>> Letters to the Editor
>> Are We In Control of Our Own Water Destiny?
>>
>>
>> The State of Maine and the Department of Environmental Protection
>> have outlined regulations that protect our water supply from
>> degrading, from toxins, from chemical or physical alterations, and
>> from flow limitations. The primary emphasis has always been on
>> water quality. Regulations are in place to monitor water quality
>> to ensure that toxic substances and harmful chemicals are
>> maintained at acceptable levels for human consumption. In
>> addition, rivers and streams are measured to maintain flow
>> requirements.
>>
>> At present, there aren't monitoring systems in place that
>> predict the long term affects to our aquifers from corporate
>> extraction of public waters to be used for resale as bottled
>> water. Our communities aren't currently protected from
>> corporations taking our public resource for their private profit.
>> The Green Party of Hancock County Water Rights Platform hopes to
>> highlight methods of citizen initiatives to give communities
>> control. High-yield sand and gravel aquifers, like those in our
>> loyal area are a unique and limited resource. They generally
>> contain very clean water, and this water can be extracted from
>> these aquifers at very high rates. Because the rate of recharge to
>> these aquifers is very high, they are also particularly vulnerable
>> to contamination.
>> Unfortunately for towns like Fryeburg, Nestle (Poland Springs) had
>> installed its operation before the community was able to enact an
>> ordinance that would have prevented the extraction of water from
>> their town. Towns like Shapley and Newfield quickly learned from
>> that lesson and have thus far avoided corporations like Nestles
>> from setting up shop in their communities.
>> With Nestles having drilled test wells all over the state, a dozen
>> or so bills have been written for our state legislature hoping to
>> limit future extraction of water by large corporations.
>> Opposition to these restrictions have pitted Nestles theme of
>> potential job creation over the future of our water resource.
>> An Ordinance is a law enacted by a local government. In
>> small towns, we live and breathe these regulations.
>> Before a large corporation buys land and begins daily
>> extraction of huge volumes of water in a Hancock County community,
>> we are outlining a method for prohibiting those efforts. The
>> mechanisms by which residents can preclude the mass extraction of
>> water from their aquifers are by enacting ordinances.
>> Like any law, writing an ordinance means complying with a
>> specific form and language. But town officials are familiar with
>> these details and if the ordinance is to be "citizen based" the
>> learning curve to create one isn't all that difficult. Town
>> councils can adopt a moratorium to allow time for an ordinance to
>> be written. However, without such laws, our cities and towns are
>> at the mercy of developers.
>> Here are links to a few towns whose neighbors' water rights
>> have been abused and had the forethought to develop ordinances
>> that prevent the same fate happening to their communities.
>>
>> Shapleigh Newfield Wells
>>
>> The Newfield Story
>>
>> We've provided the following links to begin those investigations.
>>
>> SOH2O (Save Our Water): A Maine based organization which support
>> those communities which have already been devasted by Nestles
>> (Poland Springs Water) extracting water from their community
>> aquifers. http://soh2o.org/
>>
>> Maine Green Party Water Rights Platform: (click - policy positions)
>> http://mainegreens.org/index.php?sectionID=266&pageID=928&mode
>>
>>
>> "Tapped"
>> Lamoine Conservation Commission "Sustainable Water Use Forum"
>> videos www.hancockcabletv.com
>>
>>
>> Sand and Gravel Aquifer Maps:
>> http://www.maine.gov/doc/nrimc/mgs/pubs/online/aquifers/aquifers-
>> ad.htm
>>
>> For specific questions re: Aquifers: Aquifers
>>
>> Rights of Nature (rights based ordinances): http://www.celdf.org/
>> section.php?id=42
>>
>> Notary Town Meeting Regulations (citizen call for a town meeting):
>> http://www.mainelegislature.org/legis/statutes/30-A/title30-
>> Asec2521.html
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> N.I.M.B.Y
>> editorial
>> Not In My Back Yard.
>> If all politics are local, how do you build a sense of a broader
>> community? What happens to empathy and compassion for the guy
>> down the road? And how do we make the connection that what harms
>> our neighbors will ultimately harm us?
>> This issue of the Green Party of Hancock County newsletter is
>> dedicated to water. Whether or not you are currently experiencing
>> issues in your community over water rights or quality, there are
>> definite problems in Hancock County. This is perhaps the most
>> critical global issue we will face in the near future.
>> Imagine a world in which water becomes as prized a commodity as
>> oil. Without the forethought to protect this natural resource, it
>> could very well wind up in the hands of large corporations who
>> drain our aquifers in order to sell our water to the highest
>> bidders. Seems far off? Right now some bottled water sells for
>> more than oil. What would prices look like if that resource
>> becomes scare. Chants of Drill Baby Drill replaced by Pump Baby
>> Pump.
>> Whether or not you are a member of the Green Party, it is
>> important to support Green Party efforts to highlight concerns
>> like these, bring to light abuses, and present solutions. Over
>> the next few years, this state is going to be challenged in
>> determining long-term policy. We hope this newsletter makes those
>> issues clearer and delineates candidates by investigating the
>> issues they support.
>>
>> Help this newsletter survive
>> We asked the Koch brothers to fund us for our initial year - about
>> $250 - but they declined. So, we are left with ourselves. We'd
>> like to build a base subscriber list of 2,000 families in Hancock
>> County to receive this letter each month. We currently send it
>> out to about 250 homes. If each of the current subscribers simply
>> chucked in $1, we'd be set for this year. Please consider sending
>> us that dollar (or more). Send it to:
>> Ant Blasi, Chair
>> PO Box 53
>> Hancock, Maine 04640
>> We will post all "Sponsors" in all future newsletters. If you'd
>> like to remain anonymous simply note that.
>> If you have friends, neighbors or family who you believe would
>> appreciate these efforts, please forward them our e-newsletter to
>> enable them to "Subscribe."
>> Ecopolitics staff asks you to send news of Greens, Green
>> activities, and editorial info that we can print to keep
>> ourselves informed about growing the Green Party and movement
>> toward sustainable Ecopolitics.
>>
>> Making Changes
>> Together
>>
>> Join Us
>>
>> Next Meeting
>> Green Party of Hancock County
>> July 8th
>> Bar Harbor Municipal Building
>> 5pm
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> to continue to receive this
>> newsletter
>>
>> Subscribe
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Contact Us
>> Green Party
>> of Hancock County
>> POB 53
>> Hancock, Maine 04640.
>> Register to vote for the Green Independent Party at your town or
>> city hall. The Green Party is Maine's major political party that
>> allows us to elect people who are committed to sustainable
>> environmentalism thru Clean Election Campaigns.
>> Get involved.
>> Check out town meeting on your cable channel and/or attend meetings.
>> Call your town/city hall to get time and agenda.
>> It's your town too!
>>
>> Op Ed
>> by Roberty Shetterly
>> A Green Force of Nature
>>
>>
>> Pat Lamarche is a force of nature --- quick, acerbic, funny,
>> outraged, compassionate. She talks and tells stories ---
>> historical, anecdotal, and political --- almost faster than one
>> can hear. A Maine native who ran for governor of Maine in 1998,and
>> was the Green Party's Vice Presidential candidate in 2004. She is
>> now head of community affairs for the Safe Harbor Homeless Shelter
>> in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. It would be hard to imagine a better
>> advocate for the homeless or a more trenchant critic of poverty
>> and its causes in America. At the Blue Hill Library on the evening
>> of June 9th Pat talked and answered questions about policy
>> regarding the homeless. She decried the stupidity and incompetence
>> of people and systems set up to serve the homeless as being
>> insensitive and often cruel and humiliating --- systems that blame
>> and punish the victims, systems that talk about providing
>> "services" when they should be providing necessities. Competent
>> systems, she said, would be run by people who had been homeless
>> themselves, understand the merciless degradation, and who would
>> advocate for the primary solutions: affordable housing, a living
>> wage, universal health care, and better education. A
>> compassionate, just society, she said, would not allow
>> homelessness to exist because it would have its priorities
>> straight --- it would not be spending more money every five days
>> on war than it has spent in 50 years for the Peace Corps. Like so
>> many of the deep problems in this society, the answers are
>> obvious, fair, and less expensive than what's being done now.
>>
>> Pat is the author of Left Out in America: The State of
>> Homelessness in the United States, Upala Press, 2006, Portland,
>> Maine. She writes regularly for the Huffington Post on poverty and
>> homelessness, and also writes a weekly political column for the
>> Bangor Daily News.
>>
>> This Op Ed was contributed by Robert Shetterly. Robert Shetterly
>> lives, with his partner Gail Page, also a painter, in Brooksville,
>> Maine.
>>
>> Logo Contest
>>
>> Design the logo for the masthead of the
>> Green Party of Hancock E-newsletter.
>>
>> Winning entries will be featured over the next year. Simply
>> design a logo, include the copy - Green Party of Hancock County,
>> and send it to us. Winners will be listed in the next issue.
>>
>> Catagories:
>>
>> 12 and under. 12-18. Over 18.
>>
>> Include your name, your age, e-mail address or address, and a
>> short description of why you support the Green Party.
>>
>> Via e-mail: Attach jpeg to: info at hancockpointkayak.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Late Breaking News
>>
>> Congratulations to the
>> Town of Sullivan for choosing a conservation model when designing
>> the new public access waterfront area.
>> This waterfront is located in lower Taunten Bay, just north of the
>> Route One Sullivan Bridge,
>>
>>
>>
>> Interesting Links
>>
>> Green Horizon
>>
>> Maine Green Independent Party
>>
>> Hancock Country Transition Towns
>>
>> National Resources Council of Maine
>>
>> Koch Products Boycott
>>
>> Hancock County Planning Commission
>>
>> Clean Water, Clean Shores
>>
>> Latest on Wisconsin Labor Issues
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Add the link to your Green organization - send it to us
>>
>> Green Party of Hancock County
>>
>>
>> Letters
>> to the Editor
>> A response to our article on
>> vernal pool legislation
>>
>> The Legislature voted to support slight tweaks to the current law
>> without weakening protections to our habitat. I was happy to join
>> all of my colleagues in supporting LD 1031, which passed
>> unanimously in the House and Senate.
>>
>>
>> Brian
>> Senator Brian Langley
>> 3 State House Station
>> Augusta, ME 04333-0003
>> SenBrian.Langley at legislature.maine.gov
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> LePage
>>
>> Notwithstanding my status as a card carrying Dem activist,
>> committed to re-electing Pres. Obama and overturning the right
>> wing majority in the House, I was pleased and impressed with the
>> recent Green Party newsletter and the clarity it brought to the
>> destructive environmental agenda of Maine's governor LePage.
>>
>> The Green Party's assertion that the governor's view of Maine is
>> "diametrically opposed" to that of the people of Maine, was
>> unequivocably illustrated by specific examples and details. I was
>> educated on the spot by the dissection of LePage's views on land
>> use, pesticides, the protection of our waterways and building and
>> energy codes, and the explanation of how each of them is counter
>> to the views of the majority of Maine's citizens.
>>
>> My congratulations on a job well done.
>> Dan Lourie
>> Bozeman, MT
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Maine AllCare Report from Brooklin Green
>>
>> Real health care reform, as opposed to the financial products
>> offered by insurance companies, continues to simmer here in Maine,
>> as well as around the nation. Early in May, Representative Charlie
>> Priest (D- Brunswick) introduced LD 1397, a single payer health
>> care bill. LD 1397 provided universal access to a comprehensive
>> set of health care services by all Maine residents. Two of its key
>> components included the separation of employment from health care,
>> and the establishment of a single, independent Trust Fund to
>> manage the finances.
>> The Joint Committee on Insurance and Financial Services received
>> testimony from 23 individuals and organizations, and all but two
>> spoke in support of the bill. In spite of the many favorable
>> testimonies offered by doctors, nurses, business people and
>> advocates, the bill got no further than the committee hearing. Nor
>> did it receive any recognition by the media. By contrast, LD 1333,
>> the expansion of opportunities for health insurance companies to
>> sell new policies without the need to meet Maine consumer
>> regulations passed the legislature and signed by the governor
>> without study, or significant discussion.
>> This rush to promote and in fact, enlarge a failed system - one
>> that does not cover over a 130,000 Mainers while its costs are sky-
>> rocketing year after year - shows the enormity of challenges
>> before us.
>> Maine AllCare, an all-volunteer, not-for profit and non-partisan
>> organization is working to inform and educate the Maine public and
>> policy
>> makers about the need to bring universal, affordable health care
>> to every person. If you are interested and able, please consider
>> supporting maine AllCare.
>> For more information about how you can help please visit
>> www.maineallcare.org or call Joe Lendvai at 359-8306, Chair,
>> Communication Committee, Maine AllCare.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Energy Codes
>> Eviscerated
>>
>> The House approved (by a 76-71 final vote) a bill (LD 1416) that
>> creates a massive loophole in Maine's Uniform Building and Energy
>> Code. We picked up two Republicans (Rep. Strang-Burgess and Rep.
>> Dan Dow) from a prior 76-69 vote, but we lost three Democrats who
>> should have been with us, leaving us just three votes short of
>> defeating it. As a result of this frustrating defeat, all towns in
>> Maine with a population of less than 4,000 will be exempted from
>> the energy code designed to make sure that new homes are built to
>> meet basic minimum energy performance standards. The result will
>> be a patchwork (see map), where homes in 400 smaller Maine towns
>> can be built carelessly with wastefully high energy bills, and
>> those in larger towns will be built meeting energy standards that
>> save homeowners money from day one. NRCM's energy project leader
>> Dylan Voorhees and outreach coordinator Emmie Theberge worked
>> tirelessly to defeat LD 1416, which the Lewiston Sun Journal dubs
>> the "Substandard Rural Housing Guarantee Act of 2011."
>> Pete Didisheim
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Send letters to the Editor: info at hancockpointkayak.com
>>
>>
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>>
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>> Green Party of Hancock County, Maine | POB 53 | Hancock | ME | 04640
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