Legal muscle lined up for Plum Creek (major wildland development) battle

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/060814plumcreek.shtml?survey1867

Plum Creek Timber Co.'s proposal to rezone more than 400,000 acres in the Moosehead Lake region promises to be the biggest development in Maine history, and the fight about its approval promises to be one of the state's most complicated legal battles.

In preparation for hearings that could be nine months or more away, two leading environmental groups already have hired two of Maine's best known trial lawyers to represent them before the Land Use Regulation Commission.

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The Plum Creek proposal calls for developing 4,000 of its 400,000 acres. The project includes plans for 57 different subdivisions and two resorts. "The process has never been used at this scale before," Pinette said.

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"Plum Creek has come up with a proposal that is astonishing in size and would have a tsunami-like impact," Richardson said. "There is not any development that even approaches it, not even close."

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