Keeping the spotlight on administrative agencies is often the best way to ensure that they perform as intended and in the best interests of the people. It’s not sexy and it doesn’t make for good headlines, but it’s true – as we at CLF saw this Valentine’s day.

As I detailed a few months ago in two blogs (Malpractice post , Patricia Aho post) and in Maine’s newspapers (Sun Journal article), outside the glare of the spotlight the Maine DEP deliberately waived Maine’s rights under the Clean Water Act to control and mitigate the water quality impacts to Flagstaff Lake of the hydropower project owned by Florida Power & Light. We challenged that decision (Aho Letter) and sought to hold the DEP accountable.

We also turned our focus, and spotlight, to a similar situation pending at Brassua Lake. (Brassua letter 1-24-12, Brassua letter 2-13-12). For those who have been been there, Brassua Lake is situated in the northern county of Somerset. It sits to the west of Moosehead Lake, to which its connected by the Moose River.

At Brassau, we were specifically concerned with the water quality certification (WQC), on two accounts:

1. First, in 2004, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) found that the original WQC was not legally sufficient. We asked Commissioner Aho of the Maine DEP to clarify whether it was or was not sufficient.
2. Secondly, as I wrote, “another FPL Energy hydropower project, Brassua Storage Project, raises similar concerns to those previously raised by the Department about the Flagstaff Storage Project, concerns still shared by the EPA and many stakeholders. A WQC application for the Brassua project has been filed, withdrawn and re-filed for a number of years now. Most recently, that application was withdrawn and re-filed on March 24, 2011, requiring a decision by March 24, 2012.”

We asked Commissioner Aho to advise as to whether the Department intends to waive its rights under the Clean Water Act for the Brassua WQC as it did for the Flagstaff Storage Project and the basis for such a waiver.

Our efforts were rewarded on Valentine’s Day when the DEP confirmed that rather than waive Maine’s right, the dam owner was forced to withdraw its application and refile it, starting the clock over and maintaining Maine’s rights to control its water quality standards (FPL Letter).

We plan to keep the spotlight on DEP and the LePage administration, to acknowledge and thank them when they do right by Maine’s environment and to expose and hold them accountable when they do wrong.