letter to the editor

CMBG and its facts

Tue, 07/18/2017 - 7:15am

Dear Editor:

In his inaccurate letter, David Emery understated the size of CMBG’s parking lots and minimized the seriousness of their DEP violations, but the worst aspect of the letter was this: He demonstrates far more concern for CMBG's expansion than for the health of Boothbay’s drinking water. This has been a theme in CMBG's defense of their flawed and oversized development.

Mr. Emery, like Bill Cullina, is well aware that no state or federal review of the phosphorus export from their 10,000 gal/day leach fields ever took place. DEP does not permit septic systems. DHHS does, but does not assess environmental impacts of the septic systems they permit. This is the truck-sized loophole CMBG was quietly taking advantage of when the Water District stepped in to explain the Gardens posed an existential threat to Knickerbocker Lake. Then, as now, CMBG hid behind their flawed permits rather than show the kind of moral courage it takes to be both honest and community-minded.

The Water District was forced by CMBG's stubbornness to hire two of New England's pre-eminent lake experts, whose expert report stated that CMBG's leach fields would add 16 to 32 pounds of phosphorus per year to Knickerbocker. This would be catastrophic for a lake already listed by the state as at-risk for phosphorus contamination. If 30 pounds doesn't sound like much, please note that the DEP limit set for CMBG's phosphorus export is just 1.87 pounds.

CMBG knew then that the phosphorus issue could kill both the lake and their development, and they responded to it by moving the leach fields, but apparently only out of their own self-interest.

As for Mr. Emery's claim of no "certified" transport of phosphorus-laden sediment flowing from CMBG’s construction to the lake, water sampling and photographs by the Water District put that to shame. If Mr. Emery would like to believe that his organization’s phosphorus will magically not reach Knickerbocker, that's his choice. But we would feel better if it the magical thinking of a CMBG board member served the community rather than his own investments.

It is a hallmark of this organization that nothing is more important to them than not admitting a mistake. It’s time that changed.

Jason Anthony

Bristol