In a 100 years from now our grandchildren’s grandchildren will have inherited whatever decisions we make today, will have allowed them to have. Sears Island, Searsport, Maine, is one such site. It is likely if decisions made today do not value this undefiled, unique location, that in the near future, it will be covered with multiple deep sea ports and petroleum storage tanks, and store not only petroleum, but other hazmat materials.

The staging grounds proposed today to assemble off- shore windmills will be long gone, after just one long overdue hurricane smashes them to smithereens. Once DOT gets their industrial foothold on Sears Island, it will become like a slow-moving blob that consumes the city. To “do nothing” is a decision, and it can greatly affect the fate of Sears Island.

There are reasons why some of the largest insurance companies in the nation, such as State Farm, and USAA, will not provide homeowners along the coast of Maine, hurricane insurance. They pay highly educated analysts millions of dollars to do risk assessments for this type of cataclysmic event. It will be our great grandchildren that will get stuck holding the bag for our mistakes, as many of these projects are subsidized by the government.

Let us honor the reverence the Wabanaki have for this island. They inhabited this island for hundreds of years, and it is also very likely a hallowed burial ground.

 

Bonnie Ewald

Brooks