The Plum Creek Timber Company paid the expenses for groups that supported its efforts to get approval for a large scale development project in the Moosehead Lake region. While these groups may have wanted much of what Plum Creek was proposing, the amount of money paid to these groups suggests they may have been acting more as agents of Plum Creek rather than as independent organizations. The question is if the groups, through their testimony and submissions, stated what their members wanted or what Plum Creek told them to say.
The payments to groups such as the Piscataquis County Economic Development Council, the Maine Snowmobile Association and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce should have been disclosed to the land use commission, said Cathy Johnson, north woods project director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, one of a few groups that have filed court appeals to block the project.”It’s the applicant paying to get testimony that’s purporting to be independent but in fact isn’t,” she said ….
Plum Creek agreed to pay the attorney fees for a group that included the snowmobile association and organizations representing ATV riders, outdoor guides and bow hunters. The fees ended up exceeding $100,000, Meyers said, although he didn’t know the exact amount.
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