Connecting Nine Sebago Lake Region Towns, Watershed Groups & Local Businesses
In spring 2012, the founding members of the Healthy Waters Coalition began to gather and exchange information about water resources protection efforts in the Sebago Lakes Region and the issue of future transportation of oil sands in Maine. The coalition's founders began by making reports at town conservation commission meetings (April 2012). Over summer 2012, the founding members put together a webpage of information and attended information forums, before convening official meetings in fall 2012. The coalition's first event took place November 1, 2012--an information forum on oil sands and pipeline issues held at the Raymond Village Library in Raymond, Maine.
As of 2013, the Coalition includes representatives from nine different Sebago Lakes Region towns: Raymond, Casco, Otisfield, Sebago, Naples, Standish, Windham, Harrison, and Waterford in addition to the cities of Portland and South Portland, Maine. Members are volunteers and representatives from local government, town boards and committees, local watershed groups, including Sebago Lake Anglers’ Association, Panther Pond Association, Parker Pond Association, as well as other interests, such as Saint Joseph’s College, several local businesses and individual citizens. While the coalition was founded in Raymond, it quickly expanded to include members from other towns and throughout the Lakes Region. The coalition also works in concert with and receives technical assistance from several organizations, including Natural Resources Council of Maine, the National Association of Wetland Managers (formerly known as the Association of State Wetland Managers), National Wildlife Federation, Conservation Law Foundation and Natural Resources Defense Council, and US EPA Office of Waters and Wetlands, on matters concerning environmental law, policy, wetland and watershed science, wetland/water permitting regulations, and other expertise. The Coalition is a pro-info group. It weighs economic and ecological interests in a watershed context. Members of the coalition provided expertise and consulted on multiple resolutions or "bans" and related town ordinances on oil sands a.k.a. "tar sands," for towns like Raymond, Casco, and the city of South Portland.
In 2012 and 2013, some of the recent issues of concern have included the possible transportation of heavy oil sands, or diluted bitumen, through the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line, which passes through the Lakes Region near Sebago Lake. The Healthy Waters Coalition (HWC) is concerned about water quality, the health of wetlands throughout the Sebago Lake watershed, and about oil spill prevention and mitigation, as part of ongoing efforts at local and state levels to protect the watershed and the community…since the region itself is a “water community” with a watershed-based economy, part of the Portland Water District. Please check our Facebook page for additional updates and if interested, feel free to follow our founder, Leah, on Twitter (X) @StrangeWetlands for other water and wetlands-related content.
If you are interested in getting involved and volunteering on this coalition, please contact one of the co-coordinators:
William Fraser
Leah Stetson, Founder
As of 2013, the Coalition includes representatives from nine different Sebago Lakes Region towns: Raymond, Casco, Otisfield, Sebago, Naples, Standish, Windham, Harrison, and Waterford in addition to the cities of Portland and South Portland, Maine. Members are volunteers and representatives from local government, town boards and committees, local watershed groups, including Sebago Lake Anglers’ Association, Panther Pond Association, Parker Pond Association, as well as other interests, such as Saint Joseph’s College, several local businesses and individual citizens. While the coalition was founded in Raymond, it quickly expanded to include members from other towns and throughout the Lakes Region. The coalition also works in concert with and receives technical assistance from several organizations, including Natural Resources Council of Maine, the National Association of Wetland Managers (formerly known as the Association of State Wetland Managers), National Wildlife Federation, Conservation Law Foundation and Natural Resources Defense Council, and US EPA Office of Waters and Wetlands, on matters concerning environmental law, policy, wetland and watershed science, wetland/water permitting regulations, and other expertise. The Coalition is a pro-info group. It weighs economic and ecological interests in a watershed context. Members of the coalition provided expertise and consulted on multiple resolutions or "bans" and related town ordinances on oil sands a.k.a. "tar sands," for towns like Raymond, Casco, and the city of South Portland.
In 2012 and 2013, some of the recent issues of concern have included the possible transportation of heavy oil sands, or diluted bitumen, through the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line, which passes through the Lakes Region near Sebago Lake. The Healthy Waters Coalition (HWC) is concerned about water quality, the health of wetlands throughout the Sebago Lake watershed, and about oil spill prevention and mitigation, as part of ongoing efforts at local and state levels to protect the watershed and the community…since the region itself is a “water community” with a watershed-based economy, part of the Portland Water District. Please check our Facebook page for additional updates and if interested, feel free to follow our founder, Leah, on Twitter (X) @StrangeWetlands for other water and wetlands-related content.
If you are interested in getting involved and volunteering on this coalition, please contact one of the co-coordinators:
William Fraser
Leah Stetson, Founder