DCP Midstream Attorneys Try to Stop Maine Citizens From
Speaking at Town Public Meeting
by Ron Huber, Penobscot Bay Watch
Mainers react with anger and disbelief when attorneys for Colorado-based DCP Midstream Corp try to interrupt & close down the public comment section of a meeting on the company's controversial plan to install an oversized LPG tank on the shore of scenic Penobscot Bay.
At the June 11th meeting of the Searsport Planning Board, DCP Midstream attorneys Kelly Boden & James Kilbreth tried to block and even close down public comment on the Denver-based company's controversial plan for a 22.6 million gallon liquified petroleum gas tank in this tiny port town. The two lawyers' unsuccessful efforts were captured on video. Angry Mainers are calling for the company to replace the two attorneys with others who actually respect Maine law.
Area residents were already upset because DCP Midstream officials had succeeded in convincing town officials to delay the public comment section of the evening meeting for more than three hours, causing many citizens to have to leave before their opportunity to speak came up. The public comment section of planning board meetings in Maine are traditionally held at the beginning of the meeting.
But emotions reached a flashpoint when DCP attorneys Kelly Boden and James Kilbreth, working in tandem, apparently tried to shut the delayed public comment period down.
First, Boden walked to the front of the line of citizens waiting to speak. Told by Searsport planning board chair Bruce Probert to return to the end of the line, the DCP lawyer ignored the request, pushed past Camden resident Thomas Michaels, who was just beginning his testimony, and announced that she wanted to object to statements made by previous public speakers. Expressions of disbelief filled the air as enraged Mainers echoed the planning board chief in telling Boden to go away from the podium. Probert finally ordered the DCP lawyer to back off and called for calm.
Then, as Thomas Michaels resumed his testimony, noting the added costs the company's controversial tank would bring to towns around Penobscot Bay, and challenging DCP's refusal to produce a simple 3-D representation of the company's proposal, DCP's other attorney, James Kilbreth, walked to the front of the chamber and, referring to the hubbub created by Boden, told town officials "you better shut this [meeting] down". The Planning Board declined Kilbreth's "advice", and allowed Michaels and other citizens to testify. Recording of complete hearing here
"This disgusting behavior by DCP's lawyers is a warning call to Mainers," said Ron Huber of Penobscot Bay Watch, who noted that Kilbreth was recently found by Maine Supreme Judicial Court to have violated state ethics rules. " If DCP Midstream continues to allow these two to represent them on this project, then it will be clear that the company has nothing but contempt for Maine law and Maine people."
A link to video of the Searsport meeting can be seen at fishermensvoice.com/DCP Midstream attorneys