[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 94 (Tuesday, June 24, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Page S8442]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Ms. SNOWE:
  S. 1320. A bill to modify the project for navigation, Union River, 
Maine; to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
  Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce three bills for 
harbors in Maine, two of them that will deauthorize the Federal 
Navigation Projects in Tenants Harbor and Northeast Harbor in Mt. 
Desert, and the third will redesignate the Upper Basin of the Union 
River Federal Navigational Channel in Ellsworth as an anchorage. The 
bills will help strengthen the economic viability of these three 
popular Maine harbors.
  My first bill, S. 1318, pertains to Tenants Harbor, ME. Officials of 
the Town of Tenants Harbor have requested that the harbor be 
deauthorized. The original project was authorized in 1919, and was 
dredged that same year so that steamboats could access the Harbor. The 
channel has a width of 375 feet and extended out to 1,100 feet from 
Steamboat Wharf. Times have certainly changed as no steamboat has 
landed in the Harbor for 75 years. Over the years there have been 
mounting problems with the Army Corps of Engineers' mooring permit 
process as people seeking permits for moorings that have existed for 30 
years continue to be notified that the mooring locations are prohibited 
because they fall within the Federal navigational channel. 
Deauthorizing the FNC would be of great help to the town in 
appropriately managing the Harbor to maximize mooring areas.
  My second bill S. 1319 concerns Northeast Harbor in Mt. Desert, ME. 
The Town of Mount Desert has requested that Northeast Harbor be 
withdrawn from the Federal Navigation Project because of changing 
harbor usage over the last 45 years. 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 third bill, S. 1320, addresses the Union River in Ellsworth, ME. 
The 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 2003, that Congress is currently drafting.
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