No convincing answers

Wiscasset selectmen voted 3 to 1 Tuesday night to put a proposed ordinance change on the November 6 ballot that will allow plans for a gasification plant to go forward.

Speaker after speaker came up to the podium with the same request - please delay the vote until we have a chance to research this. This was no delaying tactic because people felt like being disruptive - they suggested many ideas about how to get more information on this proposed $1.5 billion coal refinery - which, as developers National RE/sources say, once built, will last 50 years. Fifty years - but we can't wait a few months to travel to other plants to look at how loud the noise is, how bad the smell is - if there's any at all - and what people living next to the plant think about it? One woman said her husband is on his way to Florida on business and will stop to see the plant in Polk County - it would have been helpful to hear his impressions before putting this on the ballot.

Another speaker, Greg Shea, suggested our selectmen visit a plant - something that was done in another state when a similar proposal was before public officials. He suggested the town do a financial analysis to help people decide whether they want to vote for or against the ordinance chance. "You run the risk of having it defeated in November because people are scared. Delaying this until January may save this project," he said.

"We don't want to vote on something we know nothing about," Lee Plyer said. And it's not just the public who needs more information. Plyler tried to pin each of the selectmen down on why the vote can't be held in January. David Nichols' answer, that the public would have a chance to vote on the project again, after the ordinance change, showed an appalling lack of knowledge. Selectman Bill Curtis said the selectmen want to let the developers know that people support it before they spend money on a feasibility study. Chairman Duane Goud said he wants to know what people think in November. Selectman Nicole Viele had left by the time the vote was taken.

Selectman Alex Robertson's answer, "I can wait," was greeted with applause.