The State Legislature is about to vote on the Port Authority. The vote will probably happen on Thursday. If you live in Maine, please call all the state legislators you can to ask them to rethink the destructive step they are about to take. Friends of Frenchman Bay asks that you especially call if you are from District 48, which is around Freeport, to be in touch with the Speaker. Here is the letter from FFB: Dear Friends of Frenchman Bay, LD #1400 passed through the Transportation Committee unanimously, and will come up as early as this Thursday for a Senate vote. It can then be walked over to the house for a "gavel vote" and passed. We have 2 Senators who will vote against the bill; Shenna Bellows and Ben Chipman. We would need 13 to vote No to stop it in the Senate. We sent a letter outlining the reasons why LD#1400 should not pass to both houses. They may not get the letter before Thursday, as we are mailing some today and the rest tomorrow. We will email it tonight to all of them. In the bottom part of the email are the links to the House of Representatives and the Senate. Any telephone calls to our senators (most important at this point) and representatives would really help. I'm sorry to bring such difficult news. We continue to work a hard as possible in the David vs. Goliath fight, but we need your help tonight and tomorrow! 21 January 2018 To: Maine State Legislature Re: LD#1400 From: Friends of Frenchman Bay friendsoffrenchmanbay.org Friends of Frenchman Bay ask you to vote AGAINST LD#1400 to create a Bar Harbor Port Authority (BHPA).We are a Community Association with members from all towns surrounding Frenchman Bay, which many of you have viewed with reverence from the summit of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. Proponents of LD#1400 have said “let the people decide,” but we share the Bay with Bar Harbor voters and yet have no voice or vote in the outcome . This is bigger than even a Regional issue—it is a National issue because it will harm the Park and our environment! Passage of LD#1400 would allow the construction of a large cruise ship berthing pier at the old Blue Nose Ferry Terminal site in Bar Harbor, something that cruise ship companies, some members of the Bar Harbor Town Council, and, it appears, Maine Department of Transportation (MDOT) want. The cruise ship industry is one of the least regulated and environmentally damaging. A berthing pier would increase the already alarming number of ship visitations (180 planned in 2018) and not limit the ships to two per day. The docked ships would have no “plug in” at the pier because that would add $10 million per berth to the projected $30 to $40 million cost. Surrounding the Bay each day, we see the black smoke arising from large cruise ships at anchor. In one hour, each idling ship spews out the same amount of carcinogenic pollution as 22,000 idling diesel trucks. At berth this smoke will go directly into Acadia National Park. Larger ships at a berthing pier are 17 or more stories high and carry more people than those living in the town of Bar Harbor. Citizen outcry against this plan prompted the appointment of the Ferry Terminal Property Advisory Committee (FTPAC) of 40 Bar Harbor residents. On 17 November 2017, the FTPAC recommended: • A public multi-use marina, with optional cruise ship tendering, rejecting a berthing pier • Advised the town to pay $1 million more for the site, rather than accept “the strings attached” option from the State of Maine, which almost guaranteed a berthing pier •Said that the people of Bar Harbor did not want increased cruise ship visitation Town Council (TC) members voted unanimously to accept the FTPAC recommendations on 17 November. However, in December 2017, the TC Chair stated publicly that the vote was only to receive, not adopt, the report. A town marina does not require a Port Authority. A Port Authority for Bar Harbor is a Trojan Horse, ensuring an eventual cruise ship berthing pier. A Change.org petition asking the Maine State Legislature to vote against LD#1400 has garnered more than 2,500 signatures. Articles on this issue have appeared recently in the Boston Globe and the New York Times. Our clean air, pristine waters, night skies, and wild beauty will be destroyed forever by a major infrastructure in Frenchman Bay and destroy a unique way of life not found in other places. LD#1400 is fundamentally an unfair bill which will kill the goose that lays the golden eggs, and we, who don't live in the Town of Bar Harbor, have NO VOTE but YOURS on the matter. Your NO vote will save Frenchman Bay, Acadia National Park, and all who live and visit here. Friends of Frenchman Bay and Residents of Hancock, Lamoine, Sullivan, Sorrento, Gouldsboro, Bar Harbor, Winter Harbor, Trenton http://legislature.maine.gov/senate/128th-senators/9332 http://legislature.maine.gov/house/hbiolist.htm Even if you make phone call it can help. Thank you! Pamela McCullough Renata Moise