Penobscot Bay — The results are in. This morning's deployment by DCP Midstream Corp  of red and yellow balloons above the Searsport site where the company hopes to erect a gigantic LPG tank shows conclusively that it would be an objectionably instrusive addition to the world class scenic visual assets of Penobscot Bay.

Yet, bad for DCP as the balloon test results are, they pale in comparison with the scenic disruption the actual tank would cause.  For while the balloons generally outline the top third of the proposed  liquified petroleum gas tank rising above the tree line, missing from the picture is the middle third of the mammoth tank that would be starkly visible once the 30 acre site is stripped of most of its irreplaceable coastal forest.

Nor does the balloon deployment demonstrate how the nighttime view of the starry western sky would be degraded. For not only would the tank be festooned with blinking lights, it would also be accompanied by a flare tower sending Mordor-like flames roaring into the sky whenever minute temperature shifts roiled the gasses in the superchilled tank.

Opponents of the tank plan mocked the company's spectacular fail. "DCP proposes grafting a world class eyesore on our bay's  world class scenic vistas," said Penobscot Bay Watch leader Ron Huber. "Blinded with greed, indifferent to the local economy, they just don't get it."

In a  letter to the Searsport Planning board - which must rule on  the company's tank application - a member of grassroots civic group Thanks But No Tank! dismissed the balloon ploy as another of "DCP's pathetic and desperate attempts to explain their way out of producing a 3D scale model (agreed to and, in fact, promised well over a year ago)"   (In a claim that has drawn universal scorn, the  billion dollar company asserted that creating a digital 3D scale model of its proposed tank and related buildings and pipelines would be too expensive and time consuming.)

"An insult to the citizens and the [Searsport] Planning Board alike."  Marietta Ramsdell said. "DCP does not want the Board or the public to see the magnitude of the tank and terminal."