EDC boost cause of saving PI Lighthouse lens

An ongoing battle over the attempt to save and retain the 133-year-old Fresnel lens in the Presque Isle Lighthouse now has the support of the Economic Development Corporation following Thursday?s meeting. The lines have been drawn repeatedly between the United States Coast Guard and Presque Isle Township, the entity acquiring the lighthouse in 1998. Had the acquisition occurred one year later, the township would have received both the lighthouse including the Fresnel lens light, as the law changed in 1999 to keep the two together. That is the spirit of the law which is being subverted by Coast Guard actions on this issue.

As it is, the Coast Guard retained all rights to navigational aids including the Fresnel lens at the top of the lighthouse tower.

At the CDC/EDC meeting, vice president and also PI Township supervisor Peter Pettalia laid the issue before the board. He wanted the EDC to support a resolution for a letter of support to be sent to instrumental people including U.S. Sen. Carl Levin, Rep. Bart Stupak, and U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabinow.

?I?D LIKE the letter to read that we believe from an economic standpoint, this is a viable lens because it aids in county development to have a working Fresnel lens on the lighthouse within the park system,? Pettalia said.

Past requests from the township have met with brickwall-obstinence with the Coast Guard citing rhetoric not applicable to the PI Fresnel lens, according to Pettallia. Petallia read portions of a letter sent to Sen. Levin by the Coast Guard stating:

??It is Coast Guard policy to replace historic lenses because they are obsolete technology that they deteriorate in harsh lighthouse environment without continual and costly maintenance by specially trained staff.?

??It requires high level maintenance to keep the lenses functional and safe.?

??Compounds such as the original lead glazing (litharge) for the lens prisms are no longer available.?

??The PI lens is in a particularly bad state of deterioration and has been determined it cannot be repaired.?

PETTALIA SAID:

?The light is still used as a navigational aid for small boaters.

?Following requests under the Freedom of Information act, the Coast Guard could not come up with facts to back up their claims of 60 hours per year to maintain the lens.

?Litharge, used to pack the lens pieces, is actually still available on the Internet and in fact is on the shelf of a local hardware store in Alpena.

According to board member Linda Taylor the litharge is available for non-residential application.

?The 133-year old lens has gone literally with no maintenance and is still functional according to Taylor.

?We have a controlled environment in the tower with working vents and a heating system,? Pettallia added. ?The only a

ctual damage to our lens came from the toolbelts of those Coast Guard maintenance workers which created a chip in the lens.? According to Pettallia, there is no expensive trained staff from the Coast Guard, and Taylor told board members they only came to change the lightbulb once per year.

?We believe this is a major historical attraction in Michigan, a jewel historically, to be working. Many people come there just to climb the tower to see a working Fresnel lens,? Petallia said. ?There are only a couple operable Fresnel lenses remaining on the Great Lakes ? it is undoubtedly a tourist attraction,? Taylor added.

In a unanimous vote, the EDC board voted to have Mary Ann Heidemann create a letter of support to be sent to appropriate contacts on the issue.