[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 108 (Thursday, August 1, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S7926]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE (for herself and Ms. Collins):
  S. 2859. A bill to deauthorize the project for navigation, Northeast 
Harbor, Maine; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I introduce two bills for harbors in Maine, 
one to deauthorize the Federal Navigation Project in Northeast Harbor, 
and the second to redesignate the Upper Basin of the Union River 
Federal Navigational Channel as an anchorage. The bills, cosponsored by 
Senator Collins, will help strengthen the economic viability of these 
two popular Maine harbors.
  Because of changing harbor usage over the last 45 years, the Town of 
Mount Desert has requested that Northeast Harbor be withdrawn from the 
Federal Navigation Project. This removal will allow the town to adapt 
to the high demand for moorings and will allow residents to obtain 
moorings in a more timely manner. The Harbor has now reached capacity 
for both moorings and shoreside facilities and has a waiting list of 
over sixty people along with commercial operators who have been waiting 
for years to obtain a mooring for their commercial vessels.
  The Harbor was authorized in 1945 and constructed in 1954 as a mixed-
use commercial fishing/recreational boating harbor--and it still is 
today. It was dredged in the early 1950s to provide more space for 
recreational boating and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has informed 
the town that Northeast Harbor would be very low on its dredging 
priority list as it has become primarily a recreational harbor. The 
town says it realizes that, once it is no longer part of the Federal 
Navigational Project, any further dredging within the harbor would be 
carried out at town expense.
  The language will not only allow for more recreational moorages and 
commercial activities, it will also be an economic boost to Northeast 
Harbor, which is surrounded by Acadia National Park, one of the 
nation's most visited parks--both by land and by water.
  My second bill supports the City of Ellsworth's efforts to revitalize 
the Union River navigation channel, harbor, and shoreline. The 
modification called for in my legislation will redesignate a portion of 
the Union River as an anchorage area. This redesignation will allow for 
a greater number of moorings in the harbor without interfering with 
navigation and will further improve the City's revitalization efforts 
for the harbor area.
  I have worked with the New England Division of the Corps to draft 
these bills and the language has been approved by Army Corps 
Headquarters in Washington. I look forward to working with my 
colleagues for their passage, either as stand alone bills or as 
separate provisions in the Corps reauthorization bill, the Water 
Resources Development Act of 2002, that Congress is currently drafting.
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