FRIENDS OF SEBAGO LAKE JOINS MAINE SUPREME COURT BATTLE.
Friends of Sebago Lake has joined three other Maine conservation groups in support of citizens trying to stop severe kills of American eels at hydro-electric dams on the Kennebec and Androscoggin Rivers.
In December 2007, Friends of Merrymeeting Bay filed suit before the Maine Supreme Court to force the Baldacci Administration to modify dam licenses at dozens of hydro electric dams to provide safe passage for migrating American eels. Thousands of pregnant, female American eels up to 4 feet long are sliced and maimed by the metal turbine blades of these dams every year. The State of Maine does not deny this, but refuses to do anything to stop it.
On April 14, 2008 Friends of Sebago Lake, Penobscot Bay Watch, the Forest Ecology Network and Peace Action Maine filed their amicus curiae brief before the Maine Supreme Court in support of the legal challenge of Friends of Merrymeeting Bay. Attorney Lynne A. Williams of Bar Harbor wrote and submitted the amicus brief for the groups.
The Maine Supreme Court case centers on the Baldacci Administration's claim that Maine citizens have no legal right to seek court review of the state's refusal to bring its outdated and illegal state dam licenses into compliance with state water quality standards and the U.S. Clean Water Act. In its argument to the Court, the State says it can suspend the U.S. Clean Water Act on a river for 50 years if it feels like it -- and citizens cannot go to the courts to demand the State obeys its own laws.
"The Baldacci Administration is suspending the U.S. Clean Water Act and saying that Maine citizens and Maine's courts should be helpless to stop them," said FOSL president Roger Wheeler. "This behavior has not been seen since the 1960s when Maine's polluting industries said they had a legal right to kill our rivers."
FOSL's amicus brief states:
"We believe that the system of checks and balances between the three branches of government is threatened in this matter. The right to judicial review of an agency decision is on par with the presumption of innocence until guilt is proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Furthermore, the right to appeal is specifically expressed in the BEP rules. The lower courts have a right, as well as a responsibility, to review the decisions at issue in this matter. By declining to do so, these courts have further consolidated power in the executive branch. Given [these] decisions contain numerous errors of fact and law, loss of the right of judicial review constitutes a significant threat to our work as activist organizations. It puts us at the mercy of political appointees who are given immunity from review in this matter."