Talk with representative on Feb. 21
To the editor,
As the recently elected representative for House District 9 (Kennebunkport and coastal Kennebunk and Biddeford), I have been busy these past few months getting acclimated to the Legislature and my assignment to the Labor and Housing Committee.
During my campaign, I pledged to communicate regularly and responsively with people in my district. Folks may be wondering what our state legislature is working on right now, what my priorities are, and how they can stay connected on issues of concern to them.
For answers to these questions, and more, I am holding my first Talk with Traci virtual forum, being shown live on Facebook and conducted via Zoom on Sunday, Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. Learn about legislative proposals addressing the pandemic, jobs, housing, climate change, and other matters currently under review by the Maine Legislature.
With COVID restrictions still limiting my ability to hold in-person chats, it is more important than ever for me to hear what is on people’s minds. I’d also like to encourage everyone to get involved in our legislative process to advocate for issues you care about.
Participate interactively by Zoom to submit comments and questions, or watch the event live on Facebook on Feb. 21 at 4 p.m. To register, please visit www.facebook.com/RepTraciGere.
If you can’t attend this forum and have questions or concerns, please contact me at
traci.gere@legislature.maine.gov or 207-967-6175.
I look forward to talking with you.
Traci Gere, Representative, House District 9
Kennebunkport
Points to consider regarding Mousam dams
To the editor,
I grew up and resided on the Mousam River, ages 3 to 23, Intervale Road, Kennebunk, 1959 to 1980. Apparently, the Feb. 5 writers have no river property or lifelong river kinship as my family and I do. Mom, age 87, still lives on the river, as she has for over 60 years, so I am on the river occasionally now as I was almost every summer day of my youth, and many days in winter, too.
Here are some points, unspoken Feb. 5, that I hope Kennebunk Light and Power, government and residents will consider before regrettably ending power generation or the dams themselves
First, 150-year-old river impoundments like the Mousam are established ecosystems. This point has been made by several pro-impoundment biologists over the years. I would testify that at least two protected species are in the river now; the spotted turtle, nesting along Intervale Road at least, and a protected water lily, rooted in Mom’s property vernal pools; the pools themselves protected in Maine.
The blue heron, considered in Maine for full protection, routinely feeds in and may nest on the river . The fresh water mussel, considered for state protection, is abundant along the entire navigable seven miles, including on mom’s lot. Clearly dam removal will destroy these habitats; arguably illegal under current Maine law.
In the 1960s, Kennebunk’s public health officer, Dr. Ficker, posted Intervale Road ‘no swimming’ due to known PCBs and other toxins in the river from Sanford mills. I well recall the postings on Intervale telephone poles. Parents and kids in the neighborhood respected the warnings. No one swam in the river, nor ate the fish we caught daily.
Recently, I’ve read some river soils tests were done by the dams. I am not convinced enough testing was done. The entire seven-mile impoundment bed should be tested. Town records should show the entire impoundment was off limits due to pollution from the late 1960s through the 1970s at least. There is no way the contamination has abated. There is no study showing what toxins still exist, their concentrations, or where they are. On these facts alone removing a dam without thorough study is reckless at best; catastrophic at worst, given sediments will clearly flow to the federally protected Rachel Carson Wildlife Preserve at the Mousam’s mouth and to the sea.
And, what happened to the idea that local schools could use the hydro-plant and the impoundment for academic study, even improvements? I thought locals had spoken to retired legislator Tom Murphy on this, who did not dismiss the idea. As a child of the Mousam, I can testify it already holds endless subjects for ecology, ichthyology, entomology, geology, weather, hydrology, agriculture and engineering study. The dams and river are science and technology laboratories in waiting.
There are more considerations that space will not allow for here, so I will get to the bottom line. Dam opponents focus on preservation costs. Pro or con, there is no existing proposal showing precisely how required costs will be covered. If you are on the ‘save’ side like me, I think it time to form a nonprofit to make required funds a reality; possibly for buying the dams outright. I would look forward to hearing from like- minded dam supporters. This seems the best way forward, given KLP’s policy of dam closure.
Lifelong locals I know think loss of the dams and the impoundment will displace forever not only downtown’s historic landscape, but generations of treasured memories of normal Kennebunk life. Accordingly, I hope that the current ecology, landscape and culture will be preserved.
Harold Burbank
Canton, Connecticut
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