Our Maine based military is helping to keep things moving freely within the Penobscot River this week!

The Rockland based Coast Guard "Tackle" and the Southwest Harbor based Coast Guard Cutter "Bridle" and their crews have been working in tandem to break the ice during high tide, so that when the tide shifts, the outgoing current will carry it down river and out to sea.

As of Wednesday, these crews were about three miles south of Bangor, so, if they're not between Bangor and Brewer as of today, they should be by this weekend.  In some places the crews are dealing with up to 12 inches of ice!

The two crews support Operation Reliable Energy For Northeast Winters, which is a region-wide effort to keep waterways free of ice and use able so that communities have security, energy and emergency resources that they need to survive the winter.

Capt. Michael Baroody, commander of Coast Guard Sector Northern New England, said in the release, "Based on the slightly warmer temperatures this week, we are trying to get our cutters up the river as far as possible to reduce the ice jam flooding potential. The thickness of the ice made it necessary for us to send two cutters up, so we don’t run the risk of one getting stuck in the ice alone."

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