BAR HARBOR, Maine (AP) - The Maine Legislature is sustaining a veto of a bill to create a port authority in a popular coastal tourism community.
Opponents of the bill, which would’ve created the authority in Bar Harbor, feared the possibility of a large cruise ship pier coming to the area. Republican Gov. Paul LePage vetoed the bill earlier this month, and lawmakers sustained that veto on Tuesday.
LePage has called the proposal a needless creation of bureaucracy. Officials with Bar Harbor have argued that creating a port authority could help prevent congestion and debt.
Friends of Frenchmen Bay, a local group that opposed creation of the authority, cheered the decision. Spokeswoman Pamela McCullough says the proposal “would have benefited only the out-of-state cruise ship industry.”
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