| If you’ve been out to Sears Island recently, you saw that MDOT and their contractors have been busy. MDOT’s consultants Moffatt and Nichol, with subcontractors Comprehensive Land Technologies and Seaboard Drilling began conducting “geotechnical work” on the Sears Island transportation parcel as part of investigations to develop the island for an offshore wind port (OSW). We first learned about these efforts from Sears Island visitors walking on the island that observed equipment being brought in on the access road and saw trees being cut. MDOT never provided notification to the public, or stakeholder groups, including any of members of the Alliance for Sears Island or the organizations within this coalition prior to commencing this work. Because MDOT failed to provide any information about what was happening on the island, we went out there to see for ourselves the extent of the work last week. These geotechnical investigations appeared to be fairly extensive, with significant clearing, grading and tree cutting done in order to reach the drilling sites. The drilling sites themselves were cleared with a 25’ diameter circle area. We located seven boring locations, and documented the construction of the paths and tree clearings. We are currently trying to determine whether or not there have been impacts to wetlands. |
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| Tree clearing and access path construction.Photo credit: Jill Howell, Upstream Watch |
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| Crossing constructed to access drilling location.Photo credit: Jill Howell, Upstream Watch |
Since being out on the island, MDOT provided us with additional information, as well as the permit application submitted to the Army Corp of Engineers in July 2024 for “preliminary land-based and marine-based geotechnical exploration program at Sears Island, Searsport, Maine.” The work area is depicted on the Site Plan below, which was provided in the permit application. |
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| (Left) Drilling equipment at a boring location and (right) equipment staging area.Photo credit: Jill Howell, Upstream Watch Despite knowing that the OSW port proposal has been a contentious issue and that the public have repeatedly asked for greater transparency from MDOT regarding this project, MDOT failed once again to keep the public and interested stakeholders informed. These geotechnical investigations come after two recent setbacks to MDOT and their OSW port proposal for Sears Island, including a BOEM Gulf of Maine offshore wind lease auction that attracted “scant interest”, and denial of the State’s $456 million federal grant request. Though it pales in comparison to the destruction that would result from construction of the port, this exploratory geotechnical work made a major impact on the island. We refuse to accept that in order to address the climate crisis and move away from fossil fuels we must sacrifice sacred natural spaces for renewable energy development. This is not the path forward, and we will continue to advocate for this island, demand that renewable energy projects be sited on land that can be redeveloped, and keep watch of our state agencies. Jill Howell |
Clearing, Grading and Tree Cutting on Sears Island
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Alliance for Sears Island 