Thanks But No Tank
2013 People’s Choice Award
for exceptional efforts mobilizing and engaging citizens to protect Searsport and surrounding coastal communities from potential harm posed by a proposed LPG tank and terminal.
This year, NRCM received 26 People’s Choice nominations from across the state. We then had the difficult task of narrowing it down to just five finalists. Congratulations to this year’s People’s Choice finalists! They are Tom Barrington of Bath for his stewardship of many Bath land preserves and for co-founding what is now the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust; Alan Pooley of Brooklin for his years of caring for the Damariscotta River watershed area including gathering data on horseshoe crabs that led to the nomination of Maine’s first Marine Protected Area, Great Salt Bay; Pixie Williams of Otisfield who was one of the first certified volunteer lake monitors in the state and who at age 88 continues to gather data about Maine’s lake and ponds from her kayak each summer; and Paul Kando of Damariscotta for his volunteer work with the Midcoast Green Collaborative where he provides low-cost energy efficiency assistance. Each of these finalists received a certificate of recognition. Thanks to those who took the time to nominate these finalists, and to everyone who nominated candidates and who took the time to vote. We hope you will participate again next year!
The winner of our People’s Choice Award is determined by vote by NRCM supporters. We are delighted that the 2013 People’s Choice Award went to “Thanks But No Tank.” Thanks But No Tank, or TBNT, is a grassroots organization created in response to a 22.7-million gallon, 14-story high, liquefied petroleum gas tank and terminal proposed for Searsport. TBNT is made up of residents and small business owners who live and work in the Searsport area who became concerned about the impacts the proposed LPG tank could have on their homes, businesses, environment, and quality of life. TBNT members provided outreach, education, and testimony to their community, sharing their concerns about the safety of the project and possible implications from traffic as well as excessive visual, light, noise, and air pollution. To NRCM, TBNT represents citizen activism at its best. This kind of on-the-ground community group carries considerable sway with decision makers. In the end, the Searsport Planning Board denied the permits required by the LPG company, and this is certainly thanks in large part to the efforts of TBNT. We are pleased to give our 2013 People’s Choice Award to Thanks But No Tank. Congratulations!
