It was a joy to read of Sen. Ed Muskie’s “Clean Water Bill” passing some 50 years ago. Clean air and clean water are things we all need.

We’re blessed to have great organizations to keep us aware of the issue — like the Sierra Club, Maine Conservation Voters, and the Natural Resources Council of Maine — to help us all focus on these issues.

These days we read about Auburn Mayor Jason Levesque and his council pretending that their substitution of a similarly named and regulated zoning name to replace a zoning regulation that 2,400 Auburn people had sought to repeal handled the situation. (It didn’t.)

He has proposed plans for Lake Auburn which I think would destroy its clean drinking water status and require a $40 million-plus filtration system, and an incremental $2 million (and growing annually) expenditure every year.

There are two options remaining for Auburn citizens. First, a recall of the mayor and the councilors who do his bidding, or second, a study of Lake Auburn done by skilled and honest people not selected by our mayor, but perhaps by the strong environmental organizations that Maine has been fortunate to have.

In the meantime, anyone who damages the lake of our neighborhoods before the citizens have had a chance to fully express their concerns would need to remove any construction, repair the area fully to the approval of all in the neighborhood, and pay for any and all environmental damage — which could, of course, include a $40 million filtration system for the lake.

Jim Wellehan, Auburn

« Previous

Craig MacMillan: Most armed citizens carry for protection, not ill intent

Next »

Gloria Holland: SHAREcenter could occupy vacant mall space