Her group built a model to make their case that this proposed tank at 138 feet high is too big, dwarfing the other tanks and structures. None are taller than 50 feet.
"We wanted to show the Board of Selectmen first off what kind of scale we were talking about," Tanguay said.
Her group is also worried about the impact to tourism by increased truck traffic on area roads. DCP Midstream says up to fifty trucks per day would come and go from the facility during the winter when demand for propane is highest. DCP spokesperson Roz Elliott says that at 50 trucks per day that concern is simply unwarranted, citing Maine DOT estimates that show 3.8 million vehicles a year travel Route One in Searsport.
"That's less than a percent," she said.
Elliot accuses Thanks But No Tank of scare tactics and misinformation and says what the group fails to mention is that the 40 million dollar project will bring in 100 local construction jobs and 12-15 permanent jobs averaging 70 thousand dollars a year.
"I've talked to a young man yesterday from Searsport he's been out of work for a week and he's in the trades and he would love a construction job," explained Elliott.
But Tanguay says her group feels like they're fighting a David versus Goliath battle against a company with deep pockets and the ability to buy influence. Thats why they drafted language for a moratorium which would also set up a 9 member panel to regulate LPG Tanks. That panel would include the 3 members chosen by selectmen, 3 residents chosen at random from a pool of volunteers, and also 3 people Tanguay's group could choose.
"What is really really striking about this moratorium is it includes..it self appoints an individual of the opposition and names a person to lead an independent committee where they choose the members to redesign and review the comprehensive plan." Elliott said.
"I run a campground I weave rugs and the people around me do similar sorts of things so we didn't know how to do a moratorium," explained Tanguay "The point of the moratorium is to ask for more time to discuss this."
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection reviewed DCP Midstream's application and approved a permit finding no unreasonable adverse impacts on scenic character, air and water quality, roadways, utilities, or existing uses, but Tanguay is worried that the DEP does not have the towns best interest in mind and she is suspicious of the agencies head, Pattie Aho.
"We want a more extensive review we feel that because Pattie Aho was the principal lobbyist for the petroleum industry that she has a different view of our world than we have of our world."
Those are accusations Maine DEP spokesperson Samantha Depoy Warren called "unfounded and completely inappropriate."
In an email, Depoy-Warren explained that licensing staff reviews permits, and not the commissioner. Depoy-Warren also pointed out that Aho was not even named a nominee for commissioner when the DCP Midstream application process began and she did not even sign the application.
She also said that hundreds of pages of documents are reviewed through the permitting process and called the need for a more extensive review "outrageous"
Thanks But No Tank hosted a meeting Wednesday night at the North Searsport United Methodist church from 7:00pm to 8:00pm.
DCP Midstream will host a meeting at the Searsport Town Hall Thursday night from 5:30 to 7:30pm.