PARIS — Two local area businessmen have charged that the state Department of Environmental Protection is unfriendly to Maine businesses and may have been responsible for at least one large retailer pulling out of a multi-million-dollar deal in Oxford.

“DEP squelched the deal,” John Palmer of Oxford told nine legislators and representatives of the congressional delegation and Gov.-elect Paul LePage, referring to the Lowe’s home improvement store application.

The forum Wednesday evening allowed a dozen or so business people representing the Norway, Rumford, Lewiston and Bethel areas to convey their concerns.

Palmer, who co-owns Alternative Modular Homes in Oxford with his wife, Mary Anna, and who sat on the Oxford Planning Board at the time of the Lowe’s application, was not the only one critical of the DEP.

“It’s an agency that frankly is out of control,” said Darryl Brown, president of Main-Land Development Consultants Inc. in Livermore Falls, who agreed that a decision nearly three years ago by Lowe’s to not locate in Oxford was the direct result of the DEP’s lengthy and cumbersome application process.

Brown, who is also a consultant on the Oxford casino project, told legislators, “It’s an agency that needs to change. It’s an agency that needs to welcome new business to Maine rather than an agency to be feared.”

Brown said the DEP simply deep-sixed the project in part by not approving Lowe’s permit application until the very last day of the six-month statutory approval time.

In 2008, Lowe’s was expected to lease 11.8 acres of land owned by Gary and Bob Bahre on the Oxford-Norway town line to build a $12 to $15 million center that would employ 130 to 150 local people.

Bahre said at the time that he blamed the DEP for the multi-million-dollar project loss because the agency sat on the project application. The DEP denied the charge saying the permitting process is very complicated and a lot of information was being exchanged during the process. In the end, Lowe’s officials said the cost of construction, which had risen in part because of the time delay by DEP, caused it to pull out of the project.

The forum, sponsored by the Western Maine Economic Development Council and the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce, was intended to bring together legislators and business people, said WMEDC Director Linda Walbridge.

State Rep. Jim Hamper, R-Oxford, said he has heard many times about the difficulty of the DEP permitting process and although legislators support environmental protection, the process is “not there to help new businesses.”

Legislation is now being reviewed that may streamline the process to maker it more efficient and less costly, he said.

Other issues

Suzanne Grover, who along with her husband Rupert Grover owns Grover Gundrilling Inc., an international precision deephole drilling company, said Maine must open up its borders to business to improve the business climate.

“We have to open up our borders to bring in money,” she said. Grover said additional infrastructure such as rail and bus service, a change in workers’ compensation to revise its costs and add more carriers are also issues that need to be addressed in the new legislative session to bring more business into the state and keep existing businesses in operation.

“We’ve more or less closed our borders to everything,” she said.

Other business people like Aranka Matolscy, director emeritus of the Western Maine Art Group and executive director of the Mahoosuc Arts Council in Bethel, said legislators also need to be thinking about non-profit groups as they approach the new legislative session.

Saying nonprofits such as the arts organization can have a “huge economic impact” on the area, Matolscy said the nonprofit organizations are suffering from lack of corporate sponsorship and grant availability with the declining economy.

“It’s vital you support any initiative in the arts,” she said.

For Shirley Hamilton, of Maine Centers for Women, Work and Community at the University of Maine, the issue of expanding broadband and supporting entrepreneurial efforts was important to creating new businesses and retaining existing ones.

“Entrepreneurs, I believe, will help the economic recovery,” she said.

“The key is to work together to create an environment that brings more business to Maine,” said John Williams, executive director of the Oxford Hills Chamber of Commerce.

Walbridge said this is the first of more forums that will be held in an attempt to open up dialog between legislators and business people in the area.

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