We highlight news stories and opinion pieces related to Maine’s land, air, water, and wildlife in our monthly News & Noteworthy.
December 2023
NRCM Staff Scientist Nick Bennett and Dan Kusnierz, the water resources program manager for the Penobscot Nation, wrote a strong op-ed about why the proposal for a mine in the Katahdin region is too big a risk for Maine. The op-ed appeared in the Bangor Daily News. And the next day, the Bangor Daily News editorial board agreed with NRCM and the Penobscot Nation and wrote their own editorial opposing the mine.
Later this month, the Board of Environmental Protection will vote on Advanced Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Truck rules to help increase electric vehicle adoption and availability in the state as well as reduce the largest source of climate-changing pollution in Maine, gasoline-powered vehicles. Hear from NRCM’s Josh Caldwell in this article, and then read his recent blog about why these standards are so important. He also spoke with WGME-TV. Read an op-ed by the VP of Sustainability for Sugarloaf, Sunday River, and Pleasant Mountain ski resorts, in support of the clean cars II rule.
We can all use reasons to be cheerful, can’t we? Did you know there is a website dedicated to and called that? They featured a story and some of our photos to highlight the historic Penobscot River Restoration Project, of which NRCM was a founding member. Read all about it here.
At a recent meeting of the Wilton select board, NRCM Regional Outreach Coordinator Marc Edwards asked the town to sign on in support of a $30 million Maine Trails Bond. The board voted to authorize the Town Manager to sign the town on in support!
The National Parks Conservation Association shared its blog about why NPCA opposes the proposal by Wolfden Resources to rezone part of Maine’s beloved North Woods in order to build a metal mine at Pickett Mountain, in the Katahdin region close to Baxter State Park and the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument.
Maine Public shares news that the Atlantic salmon population in the Sandy River is growing, which is important since the cold waters of the river are important for these fish as the climate and water temperatures continue to rise. NRCM has been working with our partners to try to open up the Sandy River to salmon wanting to travel there to spawn. Right now those salmon have to get through several dams on the Kennebec River, and we are trying to get those dams removed to protect the endangered Atlantic salmon.
The Maine Climate Council issued its progress report on Maine Can’t Wait, the state’s climate action plan created in 2021. NRCM is pleased to have Climate & Clean Energy staff members participating in working groups of the Maine Climate Council. They will be working to update the two-year-old Climate Action Plan in the coming months.
November 2023
Down East magazine featured NRCM CEO Rebeccah Sanders in their “Favorite Maine Place” feature this month. Read the full feature here.
The importance of Maine’s outdoor recreation to our state’s economy can’t be stressed enough. A new report says that in 2022 alone, the outdoor recreation economy in Maine great 16.5%. It now accounts for $3.3 billion in economic activity.
NRCM and our partners released a statement in support of a new port to support Maine’s offshore wind industry.
It was announced last week that some tribes in Maine will receive federal funding through the America the Beautiful grants to help protect watersheds and wildlife. The Penobscot Nation will receive $5 million for habitat assessment and improved fish passage. The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians will receive $1.6 million for a river restoration project in the St. John watershed.
In the November 9, 2023, issue of the Portland Press Herald, the paper’s editorial board shares their view that the Katahdin region is no place for a mine. Read the full editorial here.
Some fantastic news this week: The Trust for Public Lands and the Penobscot Nation announced a plan to return to the Penobscot Nation almost 30,000 acres of forestland near Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument.
October 2023
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection voted to have staff at the DEP move ahead with the Clean Cars II and Advanced Clean Trucks rules proposed earlier this year. Read this Bangor Daily News article to hear more from NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Outreach Coordinator Josh Caldwell. Then watch this WMTW news video, which includes an interview with NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Director Jack Shapiro.
Thanks to everyone who joined us in Bangor on October 23 for our rally and the Land Use Planning Commission’s public hearing for the proposal by Wolfden Resources to create a zinc mine at Pickett Mountain in the Katahdin region. Here is some news coverage of the hearing, which showed overwhelming opposition to the mining proposal. Of the members of the public who testified, 50 opposed the mine and just 6 support the plan. Learn more and hear from NRCM CEO Rebeccah Sanders in this Maine Public piece.
ICYMI: Last week, the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management announced that the wind energy site in the Gulf of Maine excludes Lobster Management Area 1, an important fishing area for the vast majority of Maine lobstermen and women. Hear from NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Director Jack Shapiro about this news in a recent Portland Press Herald story and this piece from News Center Maine.
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection is discussing a proposed set of strong clean car and truck standards that will protect Mainers’ health and reduce climate-changing pollution. Read more about why these new standards are right for Maine in this op-ed in the Bangor Daily News.
Read this op-ed by owners of two of Maine’s premiere traditional Maine sporting camps. Jen Brophy, owner of Red River Camps in Debouille Township and Igor Sikorsky, owner of Bradford Camps on Munsungan Lake, in opposition to the proposal by Wolfden Resources to build a zinc mine at Pickett Mountain, in the heart of the Katahdin region. The risks of a mine are too high for people whose livelihoods are based in Maine’s pristine natural resources and outdoor recreation.
Later this month, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection will meet to discuss the proposed Advanced Clean Cars II and Clean Trucks standards. This week, the Portland Press Herald editorial board weighed in with its support of the standards. Read the editorial here.
Did you know that last week was Maine’s very first Food Waste Awareness Week? And, did you know that, according to a News Center Maine story, “up to 35 percent of all locally produced food in Maine ends up in the trash, rather than on people’s plates”? Learn what you can do in your own home to reduce food waste.
And, there was some great news out of Franklin County recently. A dam at Walton’s Mill in Farmington was removed in order to allow endangered Atlantic salmon to pass by the former dam site on Temple Stream, part of the headwaters of the Sandy River.
