Rep. Lynn Copeland Courtesy Photo
SACO — An amended bill that directs Gov. Janet Mills to take all steps she deems necessary to assist and support the City of Saco’s role as nonfederal sponsor for a Camp Ellis and Saco River shore damage mitigation project was thought to be headed to the Maine Legislature for a vote this week.
L.D. 946, sponsored by Saco Rep. Lynn Copeland, began as a bill that would have made the state the nonfederal sponsor of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and therefore responsible for any cost overruns and ongoing maintenance of the project that is designed to combat erosion.
Some time ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed construction of a 750-foot spur to the existing jetty at the Camp Ellis beach, which was built in 1867 and expanded in 1890. In 2007, Congress set a $26.9 million limit on the project.
At Camp Ellis, 38 homes have been lost to the sea over the last several years.
The bill comes at a time when Saco is re-establishing its relationship with the USACE — the city recently delivered a letter to the agency as a step on the path of forging a Planned Partnership Agreement with the federal agency to mitigate the erosion issues.
The amended bill sponsored by Copeland includes directing relevant state agencies to assist Saco in its entry into a project partnership agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the Camp Ellis project, along with other communities on Saco Bay in the construction of that project and in implementing other beach and beach remediation projects in and around Saco Bay.
Copeland said she amended the bill after she was told by the federal delegation that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers wouldn’t allow the state to become the nonfederal sponsor, “so I switched gears to get the state to back up Saco, if help was needed.” She said the amendment to was well received and, in the end, the 11 members of the Environmental and Natural Resources Committee present unanimously voted that the bill ought to pass. She noted the bill, a resolve, was cosponsored by an array of York County legislators, including Sens. Susan Deschambault and Donna Bailey, House Speaker Rep. Ryan Fecteau and Reps. Erin Sheehan, Maggie O’Neil, Lori Gramlich and Lydia Blume, along with Cumberland County legislator Rep. Sofia Warren of Scarborough.
David Plavin, vice president of the SOS Saco Bay, said he supports the amendment.
Copeland, in a telephone interview last week, said the vote could come as soon as Wednesday, May 19, which is after the Courier’s weekly print deadline.
“This has economic, environmental and community impacts,” she said, “There are real issues there. The time is now.”
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