The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has managed, in an unprecedented manner, to alienate every stakeholder along the Androscoggin River.
The terms of a deal between the state and the paper mills over discharge licenses have been appealed by everyone involved. The mills, Florida Light and Power, and state and national environmental groups have all attacked the plan, which would give the mills an unduly long 10 years to clean up their act along the river.
Secret side agreements between the DEP and the mills have fallen into shambles. As first reported last week by the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, government officials worked privately with the mills to develop the side agreements. DEP employees traveled to mill offices, where notes and other materials were kept on private computers. No official, state record of the events of the meetings or the discussions was made.
DEP has defended its actions, which have put it at odds with the Attorney General’s Office, which is normally consulted during legal negotiations but was left out this time. Now, the side deals have been scuttled, and DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher has said that more public input would have been appropriate, even though it’s not required by law.
But the explanation obscures the difference between public participation and public records. It seems perfectly clear that the DEP operated in a manner to keep its interactions with International Paper in Jay and the NewPage Corp. in Rumford away from public scrutiny.
Lawyers for several environmental groups and for FLP have been crawling all over the DEP, tightly monitoring the work of the agency in regard to the Androscoggin River. They have used Maine’s Freedom of Access Act to obtain public information about cleanup plans for the rivers.
DEP is well aware that its work is being closely watched. By meeting on mill property and using the private companies’ equipment, it appears that the agency has tried to hide its work and avoid FOA’s legal requirements for disclosure.
A strong light needs to shine on the deal-making and pressure politics working against holding the Androscoggin River to the same environmental standards as other rivers in Maine.
More public input and participation in the process should be a priority for the state regardless of whether they are required by law. The government does the public no favors by including it in policy deliberations; that’s an obligation.
But the real issue with the side agreements was the coordinated attempt to circumvent access by the public to the information. How the side deals, now dead, were reached will remain secret. The Attorney General’s Office, which should have been involved in the negotiations, was excluded, as was the public.
The Department of Environmental Protection has become heavily politicized and has worked to subvert the public’s right to know. Gov. Baldacci, who has long said he runs an open administration, should hold the department accountable for this breach of trust with the public.
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