U.S. Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) had lunch at Sarah's in Wiscasset Friday with Lincoln County Regional Planning Commission officials, Lincoln County EMA director Casey Stevens, and officials of several towns impacted by sea level rise.

Among attendees was Boothbay Harbor Selectmen's Chair Wendy Wolf. Boothbay Harbor has been working with the LCRPC to build resilience into its downtown area. Wolf said the town's sewage treatment plant remains a major concern.

Wiscasset Town Manager Marian Anderson cited concerns including the sewage treatment plant on the Sheepscot River and areas near Mason Station that are ripe for redevelopment. Damariscotta Town Manager Matt Lutkus and Selectman Robin Mayer attended. That town's downtown parking lot floods regularly and a pump out station lies right on the river. Lutkus and Mayer said they are concerned the action the town is planning may not be enough for the long term.

King said he was sure it would come to no one’s surprise, the problem is funding.

“Here’s the hard part: How to pay for it. We’re already spending our children’s money, mostly on things we shouldn’t be spending it on, like salaries. It makes sense to borrow for infrastructure. But the problem we have now is that we don’t know how bad the problem will be. We might spend millions planning for an 18-inch rise and end up with three feet.”

King said that on a trip he took to Greenland, officials there thought there would be six to eight feet of rise by the end of this century. No one in Lincoln County is planning for that. Most American models predict a three-foot rise by the end of the century. Lutkus said Damariscotta planned for two feet above the storm of record.

How to pay for whatever is done was an issue Wolf, in particular, was vocal about. “We export a great deal of our most valuable resource – our fresh water – with no tangible benefit to the state. We should have some sort of tax on exported bottled water to help pay for some of these issues.”

King said he was not certain it would be possible to pass any spending bill for the coastal areas because central states would see no benefit to themselves. “I was surprised to hear a representative from Arkansas argue against a measure to protect the Great Lakes. He said that the Great Lakes didn’t do anything for Arkansas.” The Great Lakes are the largest source of fresh water in the U.S. and Canada. “If we can’t get Iowa to vote for this kind of bill because it doesn’t affect them, we’ve lost the idea of a unified country,” he said.

King said he is willing to make the attempt. “I feel a speech on the floor of the Senate coming on,” he joked. “I think we need to work to protect the funding to do the analysis and create an infrastructure resilience program partnership between federal government, states, and municipalities. I’ll need more ammunition. Send me all the photos you have that I can blow up to show people the extent of the problem.”