Lawmakers heard more than five hours of testimony Wednesday from both sides of a debate over preserving Sears Island in the Town of Searsport.
A pair of bills from state representative Reagan Paul would extend a conservation easement across the island and restore sand dune protections in a 330-acre parcel set aside for development.
The Winterport Republican said it's time to end decades of controversial port proposals for the island in the town of Searsport. The latest plan is a floating offshore wind port by the Maine Department of Transportation that has so far failed to attract federal funding.
"And yet MDOT refuses to face reality, doubling down on failure and proving this is not about offshore wind, it is about pushing industrial development at any cost," Paul told members of the legislature's Environment and Natural Resources Committee.
Local conservationists support the proposal and said the highest and best use of the island is as a wild area. Any commercial development, including the wind port, can be done at nearby Mack Point, a fuel and materials terminal.
But opponents including state agencies, environmental groups and labor unions, argue it would be a mistake to give up the commercial parcel on Sears Island. The Maine DOT still considers the property the best location for a port to develop offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine, a cornerstone of the state's clean energy and economic development aspirations.
Searsport Town Manager James Gillway said that two thirds of the island are protected, the result of a years-long negotiated compromise that would be undermined by extending protections.
"Hundreds of residents, dozens of state employers, hired contractors worked diligently and spent hundreds of hours of their time in planning for Sears island," Gillway said. "And this bill simply disregards that effort and hard work."
