When I think of Penobscot Bay, I think of lobsters. Although lobstermen and women around the bay are doing well this year, they are worried about threats to their livelihood if industrial wastes are discharged into this watershed. We're still living with the legacy of mercury pollution left by the firm, Holtrachem (now Mallinckrodt) over 20 years ago. In 2015, Searsport was the center of a white-hot debate over how to dredge its harbor for commercial shipping. 

The U.S. Corps of Engineers wanted to dredge over 900,000 cubic yards of spoils, barge down the bay, and dump it off the northern tip of Islesboro. I kept waiting for my Senator, Mike Thibodeau, to lead the effort to nix the Corps’ plan and implement a better alternative known as the “Dawson Plan.” But he did not. It took a grassroots push by citizens to write letters to Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) and the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Citizens spoke out at public meetings to persuade DEP to table the proposal and require additional testing of the sediments to determine actual levels of contamination. 

Jonathan Fulford publicly supported the Dawson Plan and argued strongly for it. He understands the long-term consequences of short-sighted solutions that do not protect the productivity of Penobscot Bay. 

I will be voting for Fulford on November 8 because we need a person of vision and courage to do what’s right for our region. Lobsters don’t vote. But I do!

Meredith Ares lives in Searsport