The Natural Resources Council of Maine’s Media Relations & Advocacy Communications Director Colin Durrant shares his thoughts on the latest news related to Maine’s land, air, water, and wildlife each week. Here are this week’s stories:
April 22, 2020
Earth Day
The 50th Anniversary of Earth Day of course garnered a lot of media coverage, including an op-ed in the Bangor Daily News from our CEO Lisa Pohlmann about the lessons of Earth Day, this round-up of thoughts from the state’s environmental leaders including our CEO Lisa Pohlmann, and highlights of how the state’s environmental community was celebrating the anniversary.
According to the latest ethics filings, CMP and Hydro-Quebec have spent an astounding $9 million on their massive political campaign to defend their controversial transmission line proposal.
The Sun Journal ran a package of stories including the solar potential in Maine, featuring our very own Sophie Janeway and reducing food waste featuring tips from Sarah Nichols!
Climate Action
Our clean energy attorney Sue Ely was quoted in this Portland Press Herald article about clean energy under the pandemic and the need to invest in clean energy solutions as we recover. This LA Times analysis of how spending billions on clean energy in the last stimulus worked out has some good insights about how this could be a guide for our recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, and this Boston Globe op-ed from climate expert Leah Stokes lays out a good road map for accelerating our transition to clean energy.
The American Lung Association’s annual State of the Air report shows that while there has been improvement in air quality, too many Mainers still live in counties with poor air quality and conditions are being made worse by climate change. Check out this interview in Maine Public to learn more.
A Sedgewick solar farm got a planning board approval and the Bangor Daily News has a nice profile about how our partner Maine Audubon is working to support solar.
Bowdoin posted a nice Q&A with student Beckett Slayton who is a member of the Maine Climate Council transportation working group.
Environmental Rollbacks
The Trump Administration continued to further threaten public health with its environmental rollbacks and refusal to base decisions on science. An Isleboro physician wrote an op-ed highlighting how the Trump environmental rollbacks will worsen public health.
Farms
Buzzfeed has a beautiful photo essay of local Maine farmers working to support a resilient local food system during the pandemic.
April 8, 2020
Lewiston is welcoming news of three proposed large-scale solar arrays, and Rockland considers signing on as a partner in Skowhegan solar project. Oil and gas companies are collapsing, but wind and solar are growing. Renewables are the future!
MOFGA’s director had a great op-ed laying out how we can protect family farms in Maine during the pandemic to ensure they are resilient and sustainable for the long-term.
The Trump Administration moved forward with its rollback of Obama-era clean car rules and said it would halt enforcement of environmental protections. This excellent op-ed by a Brunswick physician covers all the reasons why the Trump Administration’s efforts to try and take science out of decision-making are bad for our health and bad for our environment.
The Portland Press Herald ran a piece looking at how Maine’s fisheries have changed over the past two decades, as well as how our lands and waters have changed over time.
There were a couple good pieces in national news outlets about how the plastic and fossil fuel industries are taking advantage of the pandemic to try and ramp up plastic production and cause confusion about plastic bag bans.
Despite CMP’s desperate efforts to stop a citizens initiative from moving forward, the Secretary of State reiterated that opponents had gathered way more than enough signatures.
The Portland Press Herald covered the departure of our long-time clean energy director, Dylan Voorhees. You can listen to an interview with him on our podcast.
