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Bar Harbor Sued Over Effort To Reduce Cruise Ship Traffic

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By NPT Staff - January 4th, 2023

A lawsuit that seeks to overturn a limit on cruise ship arrivals in Bar Harbor has been filed in federal court/NPS file

Bar Harbor, the main gateway to Acadia National Park in Maine, has been sued over local efforts to reduce cruise ship arrivals.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court last week was spurred by a citizen's petition seeking to limit daily cruise ship traffic to no more than 1,000 passengers and crew. The Town Council adopted the limit at its November 8 meeting.

"This Complaint challenges, under the Constitution and the laws of the United States, the legality of efforts to all but close the port of Bar Harbor to cruise ships engaged in the interstate and foreign commerce of the United States," the lawsuit charges. "The 1,000-person disembarkation limit, which covers passengers and crew, is antithetical to the Supremacy and Commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution and the resultant comprehensive federal regulatory scheme that governs the operations of cruise ships and maritime facilities."

A lawsuit was not unexpected. According to the Mount Desert Islander, the Penobscot Bay and River Pilots Association, which helps guide the cruise ships into Frenchman and Penobscot bays, in mid-December notified Town Manager Kevin Sutherland that they were going to challenge the decision.

Cruise ship traffic has been an issue at Bar Habor for some time. As long ago as 2015 cruise ships that disgorge thousands of visitors during fall stops at Bar Harbor were viewed as creating problems as passengers try to get to the top of Cadillac Mountain.

The lawsuit was filed by the Association to Preserve and Protect Local Livelihoods, B.H. Piers, Golden Anchor, L.C., B.H.W.W., L.L.C., Delray Explorer Hull 495 LLC, Dlery Explorer Hull 493 LLC, and Acadia Explorer 492, LLC.

In the 33-page filing they claim the ordinance is discriminatory.

"The Initiated Ordinance will exclude cruise ship visitors, but not visitors arriving by any other conveyance, from the Town, purportedly to conserve Town resources and enhance the lives and safeguard the health, safety, and welfare of the Town’s residents. The Initiated Ordinance discriminates against interstate and foreign commerce, and its application of the 1,000-person limit only to cruise ships and cruise ship visitors is not the least discriminatory means available to achieve the purported purpose of the Town Council of Bar Harbor," part of it reads.

The filing also notes that Bar Harbor leaders in 1998 decided to pursue the cruise ship industry for economic development. In response, businesses that owned tender boats that could be involved in growing the cruise ship business invested nearly $18 million in boats and equipment, according to the lawsuit.

"At all relevant times hereto, the anticipated volume of this cruise ship tourism involved disembarkation of anticipated 2,000 to 4,500 cruise ship tourists (average daily) on cruise ships that call on the port of Bar Harbor," the filing noted.

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