State and federal Natural Resource Trustees intend to provide funding in the amount of approximately $800,000 for one or more restoration projects in the Penobscot River watershed. The funding is the result of a settlement related to multiple oil spills that occurred at the former Chevron and Texaco marine oil terminal facilities on the Penobscot River in Hampden. The Trustees are responsible for selecting natural resource restoration projects that would restore, replace or acquire the equivalent of the natural resources that were injured by these spills, and are seeking input and project ideas from the public.
The Natural Resource Trustees are the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation & Forestry, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife, Maine Department of Marine Resources, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The natural resources injured by the spills include intertidal riverine, wetland and floodplain habitats that support a variety of resident and migratory fish and wildlife, including sea run fish. Types of projects that would benefit these species and their habitats include, but are not limited to, wetland restoration, dam removal, culvert replacement, fishway installation, floodplain forest and streambank restoration and land conservation. Restoration projects must be in the Penobscot River Watershed.
Anyone may submit a restoration project idea. For more information, including the selection and evaluation considerations please go to: www.maine.gov/dep/spills/nrda/chevron-penobscot/
The deadline for submissions is [font=font36821]Thursday, January 31, 2018.[/font]
For more information, please check the web site or contact Scott Whittier via email at Scott.Whittier@maine.gov or via phone at (207) 287-7674.
Dec. 13, 2017
↧