Here are some highlights from this month’s news stories and opinion pieces related to the environment, including Maine’s air, land, water, and wildlife, in this month’s News & Noteworthy from the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
June 2021
New Interior Secretary Deb Haaland visited Maine and spent time at Acadia National Park, including watching the sun rise on Cadillac Mountain!
The Maine Legislature passed a number of bills to protect Maine people and the environment from “forever chemicals,” including one signed into law by Governor Mills this week.
We continue to work with our partners and others to remove four dams on the Kennebec River that block passage for Atlantic salmon. This week, Trout Unlimited and the Atlantic Salmon Federation released news that Brookfield has harmed Atlantic salmon at the Lockwood Dam in Waterville. Read more in the Bangor Daily News.
Nature is a place of healing for many people, including Abdi Nor Iftin, who fled civil wars in Somalia. Read his story on afar.com.
A new report calls for 2.3 million acres of land in specific areas and habitats across New England to be protected in order to ensure protection of native plants and species dependent upon them.
Today it was announced that Governor Mills signed a bill into law that makes Maine the ninth state to adopt energy storage deployment targets.
Maine’s ban on single-use plastic bags begins next week, on July 1st. Here is a Bangor Daily News story that shares important information for shoppers to know as enforcement of this ban begins.
There is a lot of news right now, as the Maine Legislature enters its final days for the 2021 session. NRCM members and others headed to the State House yesterday to speak with legislators in support of recycling reform, specifically LD 1541. This bill would create an Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging law, saving taxpayers and towns more than $16 million each year. Read this recent Sun Journal op-ed in support of LD 1541. This Washington Post article also quotes NRCM Sustainable Maine Director Sarah Nichols in this piece about the EPR bill.
In other legislative action, the Maine Legislature approved a ban on aerial spraying of toxic herbicides on Maine’s woods. Read more in the Portland Press Herald.
NRCM Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim is quoted in this Maine Public story about a bill that would ban foreign government-owned companies from interfering in Maine’s elections.
With more and more people visiting national parks and other public lands, it is no surprise that attendance at Maine’s Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument reached 41,000 visitors in 2020. Those visitors spent $2.7 million in local communities near the Monument, too. Learn more about the Monument’s positive impact in this Maine Public piece.
Colin Woodard wrote a recent news story about NRCM and our partners’ intention to sue the owners of four dams on the Kennebec River that are violating the Endangered Species Act and blocking important spawning habitat for the endangered Atlantic salmon.
The Maine State House and Senate have voted to divest State funds from the fossil fuels, being the first state in the US to do so.
Retired US Army colonel Steve Ball writes about the healing power he finds in nature in this Bangor Daily News opinion piece, sharing his support for Land for Maine Future and other funding to protect public lands for all to enjoy.
Thomas Urquhart, former Maine Audubon executive director, has written a book about the battle for Maine’s public lands over the years. Learn more about Thomas’ new book, Up for Grabs: Timber Pirates, Lumber Barons, and the Battles Over Maine’s Public Lands, in the Bangor Daily News.
The Legislature is also discussing funding for the very popular and important Land for Maine’s Future program, which has protected land in all 16 Maine counties for residents and visitors to enjoy. It also protects working farms and waterfronts. Each time LMF funding has been on the ballot, Mainers have supported it in overwhelming numbers. This year, we need to get it on the ballot again, to help protect important natural places around the state. Read a recent op-ed from The Trust for Public Land and LL Bean.
In good news out of Washington, DC, President Biden’s administration this week suspended all Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil leases that were issued by the previous administration.
NRCM Staff Scientist and Healthy Waters Director Nick Bennett is quoted in this Bangor Daily News article about the comeback of river herring in Maine.
A former Republican state senator, Stacey Fitts, wrote this recent op-ed encouraging Maine to tap into our renewable energy potential.
Finally this week, we circle back to bills being discussed by the Maine Legislature. A bill to create a consumer-owned utility in Maine to replace CMP and Versant, passed through the Energy, Utilities, and Technology Committee with a 9-2 vote earlier this week.
May 2021
If you haven’t seen the alewife run at Benton Falls in Central Maine, you should put that on your list of things to do! More than three million alewives will pass through this stretch of river this year. Learn more from News Center Maine.
The Maine Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee this week voted to support a bill that would put the costs of recycling back onto manufacturers to save taxpayers and municipalities money. Learn more about this bill and how you can support recycling reform for Maine. Also, read this Forbes article, featuring NRCM’s Sustainable Maine Director Sarah Nichols.
One bill that won’t move on to full legislative votes is the bill (LD 1639) that would have closed a loophole in Maine law that allows toxic out-of-state waste to be trucked into State-owned landfills, like the one at Juniper Ridge in Old Town. That bill was tabled until the 2022 legislative session.
We’re going to end this week with a piece from the Bangor Daily News about the latest updates and news from the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument. If you haven’t visited yet, we encourage you to get it on your summer or fall list of places to visit. NRCM can help you plan your trip with our Visitor’s Guide, maps, and list of accommodations and restaurants. Enjoy!
There is a lot of news related to bills that are being discussed in the Maine Legislature, many of which are priorities for NRCM.
- LD 1639 is a bill that would close a loophole that currently allows out-of-state toxic construction and demolition debris to fill the State-owned Juniper Ridge landfill in Old Town. WMTW Channel 8 news spoke with NRCM’s Sarah Nichols about the importance of passing this bill. Learn more about this bill in a Maine Public news story.
- Another important piece of legislation, LD 1541, would create an Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging law that would save taxpayers and municipalities money and make packaging manufacturers responsible for the costs of recycling their packaging materials. This Portland Press Herald editorial in support of LD 1541 explains more.
- A bill (LD 194) that would make it illegal for foreign-owned corporations (like Hydro-Quebec) from interfering in Maine elections is the subject of a recent Kennebec Journal op-ed by Senator Rick Bennett (R-Oxford).
- A recent Sun Journal op-ed by former Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Commissioner Ray “Bucky” Owen and former IF&W Deputy Commissioner Paul Jacques supports passage of LD 1626, the tribal sovereignty bill. NRCM submitted testimony in support of tribal sovereignty.
The other big news this week is related to the four dams on the Kennebec River between Waterville and Skowhegan, owned by energy giant Brookfield, that are standing in the way of Atlantic salmon’s access to important spawning habitat further up river. NRCM, the Conservation Law Foundation, and Maine Rivers filed an intent to sue Brookfield for its repeated violations of the Endangered Species Act.
Speaking of fish, if you’ve lived in Maine for any length of time, you likely know that there is a fish consumption advisory for fish caught in Maine lakes. This Bangor Daily News piece explains what mercury is and why it is a risk to our health.
New Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold a Cabinet position, will be giving the commencement address at Maine’s College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor early next month.
Sarah Nichols testified in support of an Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging bill (LD 1541) that has been a priority for NRCM. Read more about what this bill would do to help Maine’s taxpayers, municipalities, and environment in this Portland Press Herald story about the bill’s public hearing earlier this week.
Kathryn Olmstead, an NRCM board member, has authored a new book about Aroostook County. You can read more about this book in our upcoming Explore Maine publication and in this Bangor Daily News piece.
David Farmer shares why he thinks supporting the Land for Maine’s Future program is one of the best things we can do in this Bangor Daily News opinion piece.
Funding for the Land for Maine’s Future program—which protects Maine lands, working waterfronts, working farms, and more—ran out in 2012. The Maine Legislature has a chance this year to pass a bill to get a bond on the November ballot to provide funding for LMF as well as much-needed maintenance at Maine’s State Parks. Read this Portland Press Herald op-ed in support of LMF funding by Ben Whalen, who co-owns Bumbleroot Farm in Windham.
You can also read about the need for funding for Maine’s State Parks from Ray and Danielle Ruby in this Bangor Daily News op-ed. Ray and Danielle and their young family have visited all of Maine’s State Parks. Read more from them on NRCM’s blog.
NRCM’s Melanie Sturm is quoted in this Sun Journal story about the legislative hearing for a bill to create a Maine Forest Advisory Board.
April 2021
Maine’s electric car charging infrastructure took another step forward this week with the first phase of Efficiency Maine’s high-speed EV charging network now complete.
The U.S. Senate voted today to reverse the Trump Administration’s rollback of important methane rules. We are thankful that Maine’s U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King both supported this reversal. Read a Washington Post editorial from earlier in the week about this vote, which they said, “might be the Senate’s most important climate vote ever.”
In more federal news, the new Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, shares in this Outside news piece, that public lands in the United States should represent all Americans. She plans to listen to historically underrepresented communities as she makes plans for America’s public lands.
We aren’t the only ones opposed to the controversial CMP corridor (actually, the majority of Mainers oppose it). Tucker Carlson slams the project in one of his recent Fox News’ shows.
NRCM, Environment Maine, and others oppose the continued use of neonicotinoids, which are an insecticide that can cause harm to bees. There is currently a bill in the Maine Legislature to ban their use. Learn more in this recent news story.
Paige Emerson shares her inspiring story of getting out to enjoy all that Maine’s outdoors has to offer. She started an Instagram account (@chubbyhikerreviews) to share great hikes and trails with her followers. Read more in this WABI-TV story.
Mainers paraded through Old Town this week to protest the loophole in Maine law that allows toxic out-of-state waste to be dumped at State-owned landfills like the one at Juniper Ridge.
NRCM CEO Lisa Pohlmann is quoted in this Portland Press Herald article about Hannaford’s announcement this week that it will no longer send any of its food waste to landfills.
Todd Martin, NRCM’s grassroots outreach coordinator, is quoted in this Sun Journal piece about how to make every day Earth Day.
It took a long time to pass important solar legislation at the Maine Legislature, but since that happened in 2019, there has been $100 million in solar investments! Read more from the Portland Press Herald.
While most people know that the Land for Maine’s Future program protects public lands for people to enjoy, did you also know it protects working waterfronts, crucial for many Maine industries. Read more in this op-ed from the Island Institute.
WGME-13 spoke with NRCM’s Kristin Jackson and Tom Madden of Lone Pine Brewing and the Maine Brewshed Alliance to learn how Maine breweries are working, along with NRCM, to protect Maine’s clean water through the Brewshed Alliance and other initiatives.
And finally, this week, learn more from the Sun Journal about NRCM’s former advocacy communications director, Judy Berk, and what she is doing during her retirement to continue to protect Maine’s environment.
The Bangor Daily News reported on our lawsuit to stop CMP’s controversial proposed transmission line through Western Maine.
