The recent court case decided by the Maine Superior Court concluded on July 2 that “because NNEPRA failed to give abutters notice of its application (for a storm water permit) the permit is voided.”

So how did NNEPRA respond to this ruling so far? It has decided that since it has no permit, the best thing to do is to send a survey to all abutters to determine the color of the building.

Specifically, in a letter dated July 11th, Executive Director, Patricia Quinn sent a letter to all abutters, which reads in part:

“As you know, the Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority (NNEPRA) is planning to construct a layover building in the rail yard property located between Stanwood Street and Church Road in Brunswick. We are in the process of selecting a color for the building and want to be sure that the surrounding neighbors have an opportunity to provide input into this selection.”

It is interesting that while NNEPRA was unable to find all abutters when it filed its application for a storm water permit with the MDEP, it suddenly “found” all abutters to request the color of the building.

The Federal Rail Administration, in issuing its Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) in June 2014 includes the following quote on page 16, Paragraph VII:

VII. Commitments and Minimization Measures:

NNEPRA will be required to comply with all applicable federal, state, and local permitting requirements during the implementation of the Project, which will include:

§ Public Law 95?217, Clean Water Act of 1977, 33 USC § 1251?1376

§ Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, 16 USC § 470

§ Section 404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (CWA), 33 USC § 1344

§ Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970, as amended, 42USC § 4601 et seq.

§ Executive Order 11990, Protection of Wetlands, 42 FR 26961, signed May 24, 1977

This passage seems unequivocal about requiring NNEPRA to comply with all state and local permitting processes that apply, seemingly tossing any consideration of ‘pre-emption’ aside.

It is our understanding that NNEPRA only applied for the Storm water permit.

Question for NNEPRA: Were any inquiries made of MDEP to determine exactly which permits are needed?

The good news is that NNEPRA now knows who the abutters are so it should have no difficulty in notifying all of us.

And, oh yes, the color for the building should be either transparent or invisible.

J. Maurice L. Bisson
Brunswick