18 May 2015: DEP Dismisses PPM’s Petition for Release from Dam Ownership

Last week, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection dismissed and returned to Paul Kelley and Pleasant Pond Mill LLC (PPM) its pending Petition for Release from Dam Ownership or Water Level Maintenance. The May 13, 2015 letter from Kathy Howatt, Hydropower Coordinator to Mr. Paul A. Kelley Jr. cited numerous reasons for its decision including a statement made by Mr. Kelley in an email sent to mediator John Sheldon on March 26, 2015 that PPM “never in fact owned” the Clary Lake dam, and the fact that Mr. Kelley has dissolved and cancelled PPM as a Maine Corporation (mediation is now officially over, see Mediation Report Filed with Superior Court). The letter further points out that the Department has not made any determination regarding the actual ownership of the dam but they do feel that the petition has either been voluntarily withdrawn through Kelley’s own actions, or no longer complies with statutory and rule requirements to be considered still valid. Here is a copy of the letter which we received earlier today:

Within days of  learning of Mr. Kelley’s statements and the cancellation of his company, on April 7th the Clary Lake Association through its attorney Ronald Kreisman filed a legal brief calling for DEP to find that PPM now lacked the “title, right and interest” and the corporate “good standing” necessary to continue the petition process and seek authority from the State of Maine to walk away from the Clary Lake Dam, and the water level order. The CLA views last week’s petition dismissal as positive development and applauds the Department for their firm and decisive action in this matter. PPM and Mr. Kelley have 30 days to appeal the Department decision.

Here are links to the document CLA attorney Kreisman submitted to DEP. The first is the letter only and the second includes the attachments, which is much larger: