17 June 2013 [UPDATED] Investigative Reporting: DEP in the (unwelcome) spotlight

hear-see-speak-no-evilMany of you have no doubt seen the recent articles in the Newpapers (Portland Press Herald, KJ, etc.) about DEP’s alleged “speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil” approach to environmental regulation these days as in “looking the other way”, “sitting on their hands and doing nothing”, and generally “dragging their feet” on various issues. The allegations mostly involve land use and chemical industry issues with Big Money behind them. The highlight of the first article is how DEP failed to meet a deadline for submission of documents related to water levels associated with a hydropower licensing action on Long Falls dam on Flagstaff Lake, to the decided detriment of the town of Eustis. DEP claims it was an oversight. Here’s part 1 and 2 of a 3 part series:

Here is another article along the same vein by the same reporter, Colin Woodard:

The paper has printed an editorial (on the front page even) which is pretty good:

[mw-ip-deny deny=”76.179.6.54,71.173.72.205″]For those of you who attribute lack of movement on the Clary Lake water level petition to DEP intentionally dragging their feet, I disagree. There is one very good reason why this petition is taking so long: one very loud and ornery man with a grudge: I blame Paul Kelley for the delays, plain and simple. There is no “Big Business Lobby” on the other side of this petition to explain why things are taking so long. [/mw-ip-deny]