RANGELEY – Rangeley area residents met with Poland Spring representatives Thursday evening to discuss the possibility of the company’s opening a pumping station in nearby Dallas Plantation.
After speaking for a short time about Poland Spring’s commitment to natural resource preservation, representatives Tom Brennan and Mark Dubois addressed questions from the crowd of about 50 people at the Rangeley Inn. Most questions focused on the ways in which the additional pumping station might affect daily life in Rangeley.
Alison Hagerstrom of the Greater Franklin County Development Corporation explained that the jobs created by the proposed bottling station in Kingfield, which may rely in part on Dallas Plantation water, would improve the “big picture for the economic viability of this county.”
But many townspeople voiced concerns about how the pumping station would benefit Rangeley area residents, specifically. Rangeley resident and Maine guide Reggie Hammond noted that, “We’re not an industrial area. Tourism is the name of the game here,” he said, “and I don’t think there’s anybody here that’s looking for a job.”
He added that, “from the amount of money that your parent company is going to make, the few jobs we’re going to gain here is just minuscule.”
That sentiment was echoed by many in the crowd, including Lillian Ellis.
“We’re a service industry here,” she said, “and tankers going down Main Street, especially in the daytime, will have an impact on tourism. We don’t really have any other industry here,” Ellis said.
According to Luke Brochu, also of Rangeley, the lack of industry in Rangeley is a point in favor of a pumping station.
“Not everybody here wants to flip burgers and change bedsheets for folks from away,” he said. “Personally, I’d prefer to see smokestacks. And Poland Spring is a much cleaner industry than that.”
Brennan stressed that communication about issues like the ones brought up by Ellis and Hammonds might play an important role in determining how, and where, the company chooses to open a pumping station.
Rangeley Town Manager Perry Ellsworth said it’s important that people be able to ask questions. “This is an emotional issue. It becomes an emotional issue when a big company sticks a bigger straw than I have into my bottle water,” he said, referring to the larger volume of water to be pumped out of the region.
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