Rails-to-trails track removal sparks protest

“This is just another Baldacci boondoggle foisted on the people of Washington County," said a protester in Machias, where the railroad tracks were being removed to make way for the Downeast Sunrise Trail. Contractor Vaughn Thibodeau of Bangor has begun pulling up the rails and ties, in preparation for an 85-mile-long corridor for ATV riders, bicyclists, snowmobilers and other users, stretching from near Ellsworth to Pembroke.

Led by activist Nancy Oden of Jonesboro, local residents came out on June 25 to express their unhappiness at the removal of the railroad and their concerns about the loss of a link for improving Washington County's economy and about the possibility of environmental damage during the work, and potential problems for landowners adjacent to the trail. "Baldacci says we need more rail, we are going to prioritize [funding] for railroads," said Oden, "and then they are tearing up our railroad -- 87 miles from Washington Junction in Ellsworth to Ayers Junction in Pembroke." The governor has supported state funds to extend the route of Amtrak's Downeaster passenger train, as well as to upgrade freight rail service in southern Maine. "This is another DOT [Department of Transportation] scheme for Baldacci's contractor friends from Bangor," Oden alleged. Vaughn Thibodeau, the main contractor, is co-owned by Rep. Michael Thibodeau of Winterport.

Two immediate allegations of the protesters are that the contractor has been crushing the eggs of turtles as the tracks are removed and also has been leaving the ties, which allegedly may be considered hazardous waste, in piles alongside the railbed, including in adjacent wetlands. Neither of the Department of Conservation employees present said they knew anything about the turtles and their eggs being crushed. Large piles of used ties were seen left along the railbed in Whitneyville, where the company started work. In Machias, at least one pile of ties was dropped into a wetland area. When asked whether it was company policy to leave the ties in the wetlands, a representative of Thibodeau, who would only identify himself as Gil, answered, "No comment." When the ties in the wetlands were pointed out, Charles Corliss of the Maine Department of Conservation, who is the trail's project manager, said, "It is up to the company to dispose of them in whatever way they see fit, within the law." Neither he nor Scott Ramsey, another Department of Conservation employee, made an effort to have the ties removed. Ramsey said that the ties could be "used on other railroads, or used as landscape timbers or burned." Ramsey admitted that he knew that the state DOT had sprayed weed-killers along the right-of-way every two years, but "they could be used for landscaping, if people want to."

Vaughn Thibodeau has been cited previously for not observing environmental laws, most recently in April of this year, when the company entered into an administrative consent agreement and enforcement order with the Bureau of Environmental Protection on another of their projects, along with a related company, Thibodeau Realty & Development Corporation.

When asked about the rationale for tearing up the rail, Ramsey said it is for "economic development." When pressed, he said that, as far as he knew, the state had made no study of what economic benefit would accrue, nor any survey of how many people might use the trail. When asked if there were more economic benefits to the trail than to a rail line to the idle Louisiana Pacific plant in Baileyville, he said, "I have no idea. The railroad might be replaced some day if the price of fuel went up."

Two protesters, who said they had worked for the railroad, said that it could be rehabilitated for about the same cost as the new trail and that "it would do more good than some trail for boys and their toys." Studies have found that some return of rail service along the line would be viable, with a small subsidy from the state. One company attempted to get permission from the state to start a passenger service along part of the line but was turned down.

Oden, commenting on potential damage to adjacent property, asked Ramsey, "I have been told by [state officials] that would be entirely the responsibility of the landowners. You know many of these four-wheelers don't stay on the trail. Who will take responsibility for that?" Ramsey said that in other areas "we have seen a lot of self-policing by the users. They don't like the bad stuff going on anymore than you do. We also will depend on the warden service some, and we can offer equipment like ATVs to the local police, if they want to help." When asked about concerns by blueberry growers, who have seen damage in recent years from ATVs and snowmobiles going across their fields, he responded, "Well, they're already here, obviously. There are a few bad guys in any group and we have to try to get control of them." He also said that, in the Waterville area, local police had found they had more success "when they can meet them on their own turf."

"This should have been decided by the referendum, by the voters of Washington County," said Oden. "I guarantee the people would vote against it." As a 48-foot tractor trailer full of wood chips raced by on the narrow, winding road, one protester observed, "Now, that should be on the rails."