osprey with alewife (Photo credit: keithcarver)

RICHMOND, ME– Monday, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, Doug Watts and Kathleen McGee filed a 60-day Notice of Intent (NOI) to sue the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Water Act for EPA’s complicity in eradicating native alewives from Maine’s St. Croix River. The three parties assert EPA violates the Clean Water Act by refusing to strike down a 2008 Maine law that eliminates alewife access to their necessary spawning habitat, located above Grand Falls Dam near Princeton.

Maine’s law prevents a native run of 21 million alewives, the largest on Earth, from ever being restored to the St. Croix.

“The 2008 law is like ordering cardinals, bluebirds and chickadees be eradicated from Maine,” said Doug Watts, a wildlife photographer who has captured images of alewives for years.

Under this law, the Commissioners of Maine Departments of Marine Resources, and Inland Fisheries and Wildlife are directed to eradicate alewives and blueback herring from their historic spawning and nursery habitat in the St. Croix River basin. This is accomplished using stop logs to block the dam’s fishway, installed some years ago and paid for by US Fish and Wildlife Service.

“What the Maine legislature did in response to a few shrill voices is absolutely unconscionable and in total violation of the Clean Water Act,” said Ed Friedman, Chairman of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, one of the plaintiffs. “By ignoring this, the EPA has only added insult to injury. Neither fish species dependent on river herring, nor the endangered Gulf of Maine ground-fishing industry can afford the continued collapse of St. Croix alewives. We need healthy rivers to maintain a healthy Gulf and alewives make that connection.”

Earlier this year, U.S. Federal District Court Judge Nancy Torreson dismissed a complaint brought by the same parties directed at the State of Maine. There the plaintiffs challenged the 2008 Alewife law arguing Maine law was preempted by the federal Clean Water Act. In her decision, Judge Torreson stated, “The CWA is structured to provide an administrative process for working out any conflicts between a state law and the CWA, and the citizen suit provision provides a safety net for correcting any administrative missteps that might occur along the way.  This process must be given a chance to work.”

Since the original law suit was filed, the National Marine Fisheries Service began an evaluation of whether to list alewives as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

The three parties, represented by Earthjustice attorneys Roger Fleming and Erica Fuller, claim the EPA has ignored their non-discretionary duty to review a de facto water classification/quality change made when Maine blocked the river off to alewives and other native fish. States are required to submit water quality classification changes to the EPA for approval prior to the change becoming effective.

“Good law is based on sound fact,” said Fleming. “Maine misses on both counts here and the EPA is shirking its obligation to veto Maine’s action.”

This case specifically challenges, via the EPA’s failure to act, the 2008 Maine law ordering Maine fish and wildlife officials to prevent alewives from migrating past the Grand Falls Dam. The law was put in place at the request of sport fishermen who catch non-native species of bass in the St. Croix watershed and mistakenly believe alewives negatively affect their fishery. Prior to the implementation of a similar law in 1995, the St. Croix River contained perhaps the largest population of alewives in North America and now only a small remnant remains. Elimination of a pre-existing river use (alewives) is illegal under the CWA.

“In our original lawsuit, we attempted a direct approach, naming Maine as the defendant since they were the responsible party that passed the extinction law and actually blocked fish passage” said Erica Fuller. “We are not happy with Judge Torreson’s decision and will continue to pursue legal challenges until the alewife barrier is removed.”

“A vibrant Maine economy requires a healthy environment, in turn dependent on complete biodiversity in our rivers,” said Kathleen McGee. “The St. Croix must be opened to alewives to rebuild and assure strong economic and environmental vitality in eastern Maine and in the Gulf of Maine.”

Alewives are ecologically, economically, historically, and culturally important to the St. Croix River basin and the entire Gulf of Maine ecosystem. The St. Croix River once produced the largest population of alewives in New England. Today, however, only a small fraction of that former population is found in a short section of the St. Croix River. Alewives play a keystone role in the river and coastal ocean ecosystem, serving as food for many other species of fish, marine mammals, and birds. They are fished for by commercial and recreational fishermen, and are valuable to fisherman and related coastal economies as bait for lobster and recreational fishermen, and as forage for commercially valuable species like cod, halibut, and tuna.

Sorry about this. This is a real P—off for me since I have been trying to rebuild and consolidate my websites, including posting whale related jobs at worldwhalenews.com. The spam has been really excessive lately and I find myself creating spam filters almost every day.

Art MacKay

Sybil Wentzell on May 2, 2012 at 4:23pm. For more photos and information go to: http://birdingnewbrunswick.ca/photo/photo/show?id=6314467%3APhoto%3A100939&xgs=1&xg_source=msg_share_photo

Just in from Nature New Brunswick. These are magnificent birds. If you have a chance to see them take it. Remember you binoculars!

On my way back from Point Lepreau this morning (1 May, about 11 AM) ,  there was a Great Egret in the Dipper Harbour Marsh. Very close to the road, and easily seen. Later (around noon), I stopped at the Irving Nature Park, Saint’s Rest Marsh in Saint John. The Snowy Egret continues in the ponds near the parking area at the end of the pavement (before the beach).  Richard Blacquiere, Hampton, NB

Related articles

• The Great Egret(serenityspell.com)

  ---

• Keeping Those Herons & Egrets Straight in My Mind!(naturexplored.com)

  ---

Lloyd’s Underwriting says NB Power ‘ignored’ expert advice during refurbishment

By Robert Jones, CBC News

Posted: Apr 26, 2012 5:47 AM AT

Last Updated: Apr 26, 2012 10:30 AM AT

Read 21comments21

NB Power shares more responsibility in the delays at the Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station, according to documents filed in court. (CBC)

Related Stories

AECL, NB Power sue for $524M in reactor costs

Leonard seeks funds for Point Lepreau mistakes

A group of insurance companies being sued by NB Power for failing to pay for problems at the refurbishment of its Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station say the utility is far more responsible for delays at the project than it has been admitting.

The insurance companies, all operating under the banner of Lloyd’s Underwriting, say in court documents that NB Power officials ignored expert advice to halt the installation of the reactor’s calandria tubes after several failed leak tests early in 2010.

Instead, all 380 of the ill-fitting tubes were installed and later had to be removed, a mistake that added a year and hundreds of millions of dollars to the problem plagued project.

“NB Power recklessly and willfully agreed with AECL to continue to install new calandria tubes in the face of known leak test failures,” the companies say in defence of a decision not to pay an insurance claim made by the utility.

“NB Power ignored expert engineering advice and breached its policy obligations to minimize loss or damage.”

The project is now three years late and more than $1 billion over budget.

The insurance company accusations are the first time NB Power has been directly implicated in delays at Point Lepreau. Both the utility and the New Brunswick government have long maintained AECL is solely to blame for all problems on the project.

NB Power issued a statement on Thursday responding to the statement of defence.

“NB Power was aware of the allegations filed as part of the insurers’ defence and is prepared to dispute these allegations as part of the ongoing legal action. Allegations of this nature are not uncommon for a project of this magnitude,” the statement said.

‘Totally ignoring this expert advice’

In 2011, Gaetan Thomas, the president and chief executive officer of NB Power, told reporters the company played no role at all in the decision to install leaky tubes.

“AECL is the expert,” said Thomas. “The decision was accepted as per the contractor’s recommendation.”

But in court documents filed earlier this month insurance companies say a group of both NB Power and AECL officials made the decision to forge ahead with tube installations despite advice from other AECL experts to stop.

“On Feb. 3, 2010, the (AECL) Office of the Chief Engineer recommended to the Refurbishment Project Team, comprised of both NB Power and AECL personnel that calandria tube installation be immediately suspended,” according to the document.

“Despite, and totally ignoring this expert advice the Refurbishment Project Team continued to install the new calandria tubes.”

The tubes didn’t fit properly because AECL polished the holes they rest in with wire brushes that scratched the surfaces and made air tight seal impossible in many cases.

Both AECL and NB Power had insurance policies covering damage and delays caused by damage and are attempting to collect under those provisions. NB Power is suing for a minimum of $324.5 million with AECL claiming an additional $204.6 million.

But the insurance companies maintain the damage and delays were caused by negligence, not accidents and have refused to pay

An identical refurbishment started in Korea a year after Point Lepreau finished a year earlier in part because crews stopped installing calandria tubes when they didn’t fit, the insurance companies claim.

Downeast LNG is Last Remaining LNG Import Terminal Proposal in North America << Liberty Natural Gas LNG import terminal, proposed for offshore New Jersey and New York, has withdrawn from federal MARAD permitting, and has withdrawn its associated pipeline from FERC permitting. This leaves Downeast LNG as the sole remaining LNG import terminal project proposal in the federal permitting process in all of North America. See: FERC pipeline permit withdrawal http://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/docket_sheet.asp Liberty Natural Gas LLC Deepwater Port License Application Withdrawal (link below will download a PDF file) http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=USCG-2010-0993-0112

Bob Godfrey, Save Passamaquoddy Bay.org

Aerial shows Mill Cove, site of proposed terminal. Art MacKay

Related articles

• BOB GODFREY: Calais LNG is gone. Downeast LNG is the last shoreside holdout in a pointless pursuit.(bayoffundy.ca)

  ---

• LNG: Downeast LNG seems to think shale gas freezes up in the winter? Come on Dean!(bayoffundy.ca)

  ---

• LNG: Calais LNG – Hope springs eternal.(bayoffundy.ca)

  ---

• LNG: Developer says Passamaquoddy Bay is an empty 10-lane highway and he’s going to fill it!(bayoffundy.ca)

  ---

• Split Rock – The Spirit of Quoddy(bayoffundy.ca)

  ---

Glossy Ibises (Photo credit: Sergey Yeliseev)

Reports of Glossy Ibis (Ibis falcinelle)in New Brunswick have been coming via Nature NB over the last week or so. Don Gibson of Fredericton reports three at Wilkins Field, Fredericton North.

I just posted a great shot of some white-sided dolphins at West Isles. People get confused about this name. They stand on the wharf in St. Andrews and wonder why these Islands are called “West” Isles when they are to the east! Do you know why this is so? Give us the reason or your best guess in the comments and you will win … drum roll … a round of applause and a place in “Art’s Place-Name Hall of Fame”.

This great aerial is by Tim Foulkes.