PARIS – Motorboats, ATVs and snowmobiles will continue to be allowed on Hall Pond after a bill that would have restricted such uses was rejected by the Maine Legislature on Wednesday.
The bill, L.D. 421, failed despite support from groups such as the Paris Board of Selectmen and the Norway-Paris Fish & Game Club.
The pond is in Paris, but serves as the sole drinking water supply for Hebron.
Hebron Water District General Manager Lewis Williams has been actively seeking restrictions on the pond. He said Wednesday he was very disappointed to learn the legislation failed.
“My obligation to the drinking water program is to continually find ways to protect that water supply,” he said, adding that even a vehicle with a five-gallon fuel tank can contaminate the pond.
His next step, Williams said, will likely be to petition the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife to restrict the use of outboard motors on the 50-acre water body. He said only the Legislature, however, can regulate ATVs and snowmobiles, “except for on municipal property.”
Sen. Bruce Bryant, D-Dixfield, was among a minority on the Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife who disapproved of the proposed legislation. In a phone conversation Wednesday, he said he feels it’s important to protect public access to Maine’s lakes and ponds.
The bill, he said, would have set a precedent threatening that access.
Bryant said he did propose a compromise that was rejected by the committee.
He called for creating “carry only” access at the southern end of the pond and establishing a 400-foot buffer around the intake for Hebron’s water supply there.
Motor boats, ATVs and snowmobiles would have been allowed access at the north end of the pond in the summer and winter, he said.
If Williams approaches the Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife with a petition to ban outboard motors, it won’t be his first such effort.
In September, he was successful in getting the department to ban passenger cars and trucks from the pond in winter.
Rep. Bruce Hanley, R-Paris, sponsored L.D. 421. He could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
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