HARPSWELL — Harpswell and Wiscasset environmental activists were among 25 groups in New England honored by the Toxics Action Center during a ceremony Saturday in Boston.

The environmental activism nonprofit organization, which helps people organize campaigns to protect environmental resources, selected the award recipients from a pool of 100 nominees throughout New England in celebration of the group’s 25th anniversary.

Chris Duval is among those who helped organize Harpswell residents in opposition to a proposed liquefied natural gas ( LNG) terminal in the coastal town.

“It’s really hundreds of people who should share in (the award),” said Duval, who was one of the founders of the group Fair Play for Harpswell. “It was really an allconsuming event for us for eight or nine months.”

The Fairwinds LNG project, a joint proposal by ConocoPhillips Co. and Trans- Canada Pipe Lines Ltd., proposed that the gas import terminal be located at Mitchell field on Harpswell Neck.

“We were opposing two giant multi-national corporations and the town government that were all for this project, as was the state government,” said Duval, who runs a marketing firm in Portland. “ So, the deck was stacked against us, to put it mildly.”

The Harpswell Board of Selectmen, which took no formal position on the proposal, scheduled a townwide vote for March 10, 2004.

In that vote, 72 percent of Harpswell’s 4,800 registered voters turned out, rejecting construction of the terminal by a 56 percent to 44 percent margin, according to reports from that time in The Times Record.

“(The LNG terminal project) was out of character for the area,” Duval said. “A massive industrial project did not belong in Harpswell.”

Duval said that a coalition of Harpswell fishermen also joined the effort, arguing that the pipeline would damage the local lobster industry. Those in favor of the project touted the economic benefits, amounting to $8 million per year in lease fees and property taxes.

Reports in The Times Record indicate high tension surrounding the vote, with a call to police on the day of voting to report a bomb at the polling place.

Selectmen consulted with sheriff ’s deputies and voting continued despite the bomb threat. A bomb detection team found no explosives at the polling place.

Supporters of the terminal project urged that the town should hold another vote on the proposal, but the Board of Selectmen unanimously turned down the call for a second vote in July 2004.

“I’m glad to say I think we’ve settled down,” Duval said.

The Back River Alliance of Wiscasset also received an award for a campaign that thwarted construction of a coal- burning gasification power plant along the Sheepscot River.

In both cases, the Toxics Action Center provided guidance to opposition groups to organize against the proposals.

“They helped us organize and canvass door to door,” Duval said.

Other Maine campaigns awarded Saturday included a 2005 campaign against aerial pesticide spraying in Machias and a 2008 Camden campaign against pesticide use on townowned land.

Duval said he was pleasantly surprised to receive the award.

“I was thrilled to see it,” Duval said. “ It’s nice to be recognized for the volunteer work that so many people did.”

The Toxics Action Center, founded in 1987 founded in Massachusetts, has seven offices around New England, including a location in Portland.

Saturday’s ceremony took place at Northeastern University in Boston.

dfishell@timesrecord.com