From: Rockland Village Soup

BEP to get briefed about Dragon

AUGUSTA (Sep 21): The Maine Board of Environmental Protection will be briefed this Thursday on the status of environmental permit applications from Dragon Products, following a request from citizens that the board get involved.

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Neighbors for a Safe Dragon, a local group that refers to itself as a citizens oversight organization of the cement manufacturing plant in Thomaston, asked the BEP to assume state environmental permitting jurisdiction over Dragon in August. The BEP is a 10-member volunteer board appointed by the governor. Its purpose is to provide "informed, independent and timely decisions on the interpretation, administration and enforcement of the laws relating to environmental protection and to provide for credible, fair and responsible public participation in department decisions," according to state statute. The BEP regularly considers consent agreements and environmental policies.

In August, the Neighbors asked the BEP to take over the permit process from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, saying that Dragon's applications have "languished for over a decade" at the DEP. The Neighbors said, "…we believe that the board can resolve key issues that DEP appears unable to deal with."

While the BEP responded this month that the time to request such a jurisdictional shift had long passed, the BEP board chairman requested that the BEP be briefed about the permits when it gathers for its regularly scheduled meeting Thursday at the Ground Round in Augusta.

Members of the public and representatives of the company may attend the public meeting; the BEP said it would hear no arguments from the parties. "If, following the staff briefing, the board wishes to consider assuming jurisdiction over the applications on its own initiative, the board may schedule time at a subsequent meeting to hear arguments regarding whether the criteria for board jurisdiction are met," the BEP said.

Dragon, along with its attorneys of the Portland-based Pierce Atwood, wrote in a letter to the BEP that the Neighbors' request is grossly out of date and is unsupported by the facts. Dragon urged the BEP to reject the request.