Dear Editor:

Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens has become weirdly desperate in their attempt to convince the public to support their planned expansion. Rather than fixing the significant flaws in their plan, they have chosen to do or say whatever it takes to win.

For example, CMBG has become fond of claiming that oak trees pose a greater phosphorus threat to Knickerbocker Lake than CMBG’s parking lots. Specifically, CMBG claims in a recent advertisement that their “stormwater treatment using porous paving does a better job of removing phosphorus than a forest covering the same area.”

Think about that for a second.

Not only is this pseudo-science both wrong and misleading, but the logical extension of CMBG’s absurd claim is that the best thing for the Knickerbocker watershed would be to clearcut the forest and replace all of it with porous pavement.

There isn’t a water quality expert in the world who would agree. As an example, Paul Hunt of the Sebago Water District recently told the Knickerbocker Lake Association that “The best way to protect your drinking water is to keep the watershed forested.”

To be clear, no one at CMBG – no one – is qualified to educate the public on the science of drinking water quality. For that, we have to turn first to the Water District and then to the experts they and the town have consulted regarding the likely harmful effects of CMBG’s development on Knickerbocker Lake.

Regarding these large ads that the Gardens pays for every week, the public should ask why CMBG no longer writes letters to the editor of this and other newspapers. My guess is it’s because they kept losing the argument. It’s not hard to expose CMBG’s logic for what it is: distorted and silly. (See parking lots vs. oak trees…) Therefore, CMBG has been spending thousands of dollars every week in an advertising campaign which instead of engaging the public merely bleats at us through a loudspeaker. CMBG has deliberately made it harder to respond.

This is no longer a friendly local nonprofit talking to the Boothbay community in a thoughtful conversation. This is a large developer following the disinformation playbook of distraction, accusation, and confusion.

Boothbay deserves better.

Jason Anthony

Bristol