Portland Waterfront Rail Ops (Yard 8, Intermodal, etc)

A lot of lumber. And as I recall that's been going on since the beginning.

Whatever happened to all that talk about Torrefied wood? I believe there is a market in Europe for it.

newpylong wrote:...The obvious question is - why is an owner who is already so wealthy keeping something that contributes very little to their bottom line, especially if they are not willing to run it like a real railroad? There are scores of similar size operations throughout the country that are run smoother, have a better physical plant, and are financially viable. They saw their bread and butter traffic of the past 100 years drying up ahead of the implosion and were able to adapt and grow new traffic. ...

My guess is estate planning. Isn't Mr Mellon rather elderly? If he sold PAR he'd have to pay capital gains tax (presumably), then turn around within a few years and his heirs would have to pay inheritance tax. Better to pay just one tax?

So it looks like Fryeburg voters may have removed themselves from the competition for site of a new Poland Springs bottling plant:

https://www.conwaydailysun.com/news/loc ... 4994f.html

Bad news for Poland Spring in Fryeburg. Good news for Lincoln ....

Haven't heard anything about Rumford lately

Still in the running as best I can tell ...

30% voter turn out!!! That tells me the rest of the voters didn't give a rats *** one way or the other.

That's high for most local elections, sadly.

That's extremely high for a local election in an off-year, and phenomenally high for a special election taking place on a day other than the official Election Day in November. Fryeburg should be proud of having such a high turnout. There are many cities and towns around the country that don't reach 30% voter turnout even during big elections.

b&m 1566 wrote:30% voter turn out!!! That tells me the rest of the voters didn't give a rats *** one way or the other.

The article as written actually spent quite a few paragraphs addressing exactly this issue. They were able to conclusively prove in my eyes at least that the interest from voters was unusually high for a special election.

Nestle's tapping aquifers in Ontario and Quebec raised quite a fuss with locals and generated a lot of negative press. Probably a safe bet that the Fryeburgites became well aware of the sentiments of our northern neighbors and were stirred into action.

No, they still remember loosing the fight before, when they (PS) wanted a well.

Maine had a very severe drought this summer. We had one last summer, too. Lots of homeowners with private wells have had to have new wells drilled, or have had to spend big bucks on bottled water. That's just one of several compelling reasons why the folks in Fryeburg might've voted against the proposal.

Portland's question #2 about zoning was voted down on Tuesday. That's good news for the Americold plans