Read these noteworthy news stories and opinion pieces related to Maine’s land, air, water, and wildlife and the work of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
September 28, 2023
Last weekend many of you were at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity. Thanks to all who stopped by to say hi to us in the Environmental Concerns tent. In Southern Maine, people gathered at Back Cove in Portland to learn about and test drive some electric cars and trucks. NRCM’s Josh Caldwell was there and was quoted in this piece from WGME-TV 13.
Emily Green of the Conservation Law Foundation recently wrote in a Portland Press Herald op-ed, “…the Advanced Clean Trucks program was carefully designed with the full array of vehicle models and uses in mind. Maine is ready for this program, a reasonable approach to cleaning up our medium- and heavy-duty transportation sector.”
Congratulations to former NRCM Board member Jack Gibson of Norridgewock! Jack received the Lifetime Outdoor Achievement Award from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife earlier this month.
In a recent Portland Press Herald op-ed, Steve Heinz of Cumberland shares his concerns about Brookfield, the owner of many dams on Maine rivers, and the importance of the company’s fixing the issues that are resulting in harm to fish in those rivers. NRCM continues to work to remove four of Brookfield’s dams on the Kennebec River between Waterville and Skowhegan, to open up important habitat for the endangered Atlantic salmon.
September 21, 2023
Read this week’s Portland Press Herald op-ed by Chief Clarissa Sabattis of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Chief Kirk Francis of the Penobscot Nation about why we cannot let an inexperienced mining company loose in the Katahdin region, with potentially devastating impacts on the land, air, water and wildlife.
State Representative Bill Bridgeo also shared his views this week about why this proposed mine is bad for Maine’s brook trout and salmon fisheries.
September 15, 2023
Today, NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Director Jack Shapiro and Rebecca Boulos, the executive director of the Maine Public Health Association, co-author an op-ed in the
Portland Press Herald about the opportunity Maine has to help our climate and our health by passing strong clean car and truck standards.
Also today, the Land Use Planning Commission announced the addition of one public hearing in Bangor (the other hearings will be in Millinocket) about the proposed rezoning of land in the Katahdin region on which Wolfden Resources would like to create a zinc mine. Learn more about our work opposing this proposal and how you can get involved.
The Confluence Collective is a group hoping to help diversify flyfishing, reaching out to women, people of color, and the LGBTQIA+ community. Learn more about their Outcast Campout weekend and more in this Maine Public story.
September 8, 2023
Wild Atlantic salmon are back in Maine’s rivers with their highest numbers in more than a decade. This is great news for this endangered fish. NRCM wants to see those numbers increase, which is why NRCM and our partners continue to work to have four dams on the Kennebec River removed.
During the legislative session, NRCM and more than 300 businesses, towns, land trusts, and organizations signed on in support of a Maine Trails Bond, which would be used to develop and maintain Maine’s trails for multiple uses like biking, walking, ATVing, and snowmobiling. That bond discussion is being held over until the 2024 session, but in the meantime, some towns are working on promoting and expanding outdoor recreational uses on trails. The city of Ellsworth, which millions of people pass through each year on their way to visit Acadia National Park, has more than 20 miles of trails. Learn more about how they are promoting their trails and get a copy of a map of those trails. And just last week, the Rail Corridor Use Advisory Council voted in support of recommending that 34 mile of abandoned railroad tracks be turned into a trail for cyclists and hikers/walkers. This would connect Brunswick to Augusta!
Another priority for NRCM and many others was to pass a bill in support of offshore wind procurement in the Gulf of Maine. Maine Audubon’s CEO Andy Beahm shares his thoughts about why the time for offshore wind is now in this Portland Press Herald op-ed.
In our August 17 update below, we mentioned that the Department of Environmental Protection held a public hearing on stronger clean car and truck standards for Maine. Learn more about that hearing and hear from supporters of these standards, including NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Director Jack Shapiro.
Did you know that the Maine Legislature passed a law to ban sales of mercury-containing compact fluorescent light bulbs starting in January 2026? Read more and hear from NRCM Sustainable Maine Director Sarah Nichols in this WABI news story.
Let’s end the week with some good news….I mean GREAT news! Reports show that Atlantic Puffins off the coast of Maine are having their second consecutive rebound year, after one of the worst years for puffin populations in 2021.
August 17, 2023
Today in Augusta, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection is holding a public hearing about proposed Clean Car and Clean Truck rules to help boost sales of zero-emission vehicles in Maine. NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Director Jack Shapiro was interviewed for this Bangor Fox news story earlier this week. Read more about the reason these new standards are good for Maine and Maine businesses in this Bangor Daily News op-ed by Bumbleroot Farm co-founder Ben Whalen. Ruth Hennig of the Conservation Law Foundation and Defend Our Health also wrote an op-ed in support of these standards.
NPR spoke with Maine Governor Janet Mills earlier this week as part of the one-year anniversary of the federal Inflation Reduction Act and how Maine has used funds from that law to combat climate change.
August 10, 2023
We are going to start this week’s news with a link to a Portland Press Herald op-ed written by NRCM’s new CEO, Rebeccah Sanders, “Mainers know a resilient economy is tied to a healthy environment.”
Another op-ed this week is from Dr. Peggy Penoyer, a physician who chairs the American Lung Association in Maine Leadership Board. Dr. Penoyer writes about how proposed Advanced Clean Car II and Advanced Clean Truck Rules can help people in Maine breathe easier, due to less pollution. A public hearing on these rules will be held at the Augusta Civic Center on Thursday, August 17 at 8:30 a.m.
NRCM and our partners in the Penobscot River Restoration Trust worked for 16 years to reopen 2,000 miles of habitat for Atlantic salmon and other sea-run fish. This week, the Bangor Daily News editorial board wrote about the fact that Atlantic salmon are returning to the Penobscot in record numbers this year. Great news! We need them to return to the Kennebec, too, which will involve removing four dams from Waterville to Skowhegan.
Some not-so-good news this week is that an Associated Press story makes clear that the Endangered Species Act, which has been so important since its passage 50 years ago, may be “endangered” itself. Learn more.
August 3, 2023
We always like to start off the month with some good news…so here it is: the Penobscot River is having record numbers of Atlantic salmon return to the river. This year may be the highest number in 10 years! NRCM and many partners worked together for 16 years to restore 2,000 miles of fish habitat to the Penobscot River by removing two dams and creating a state of the art fish bypass at another. Learn more about that project.
Did you have a chance to see the sturgeon swim upstream in Cobbosseecontee Stream in Gardiner this summer? It was amazing to see! Gardiner Mayor Patricia Hart writes, “The city of Gardiner witnessed a river restoration miracle this summer.” Read more from her op-ed in this weekend’s Kennebec Journal.
Last week, the Bangor Daily News editorial board shared its thoughts about the planned Aroostook transmission line and how skepticism by some should not mean that the project doesn’t move ahead. They should use the concerns to improve plans rather than get rid of the project, which could lower energy costs and help Maine meet our climate goals.
July 27, 2023
NRCM, the Conservation Law Foundation, and Sierra Club all agree that Maine needs to adopt strong clean car and truck emission standards, and on August 17, Mainers will have a chance to show their support at a public hearing at the Augusta Civic Center. NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Director Jack Shapiro explains more in this Portland Press Herald article.
Maine had an ambitious goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps by 2025. Well…mark that goal as met…two years early! So, now the new goal is 175,000 more heat pump installations by 2027. This will help Maine homeowners and businesses reduce or end their reliance on fossil fuels to heat their homes and businesses.
As the 2023 legislative session comes to a close, the Washington Post reports that Governor Janet Mills has reached a deal with labor unions related to the offshore wind bill.
And in the wee hours of this morning, the Maine Legislature passed LD 1895, for the procurement of 3 MW of energy generation from offshore wind. This bill was a high priority for NRCM throughout the session, and NRCM’s Jack Shapiro was there at 3:00 a.m. when the bill passed. It now heads to Governor Mills’ desk for signing into public law.
While this week’s news about renewable energy is getting a lot of headlines, another headline that is important to Maine is this one out of Lewiston: “Lewiston teens help make trails accessible for disabled at Camp Gustin” — the Sun Journal highlights work of the Maine Youth Action Network and Androscoggin Land Trust to make these trails ADA-compliant so that people of all abilities can enjoy them.
And finally this week, three Midcoast Maine towns have passed moratoriums on metallic mineral mining after Exiro Mineral Corporation announced plans to look for metallic minerals in their area.
July 20, 2023
If you have spent any time in Maine this summer, you will know that we have had a humid and hot stretch of weather (and lots and lots of rain). The Gulf of Maine ocean temperatures also remain warm…actually warming faster than 99% of the world’s oceans. Learn more about a recent report about the rapid warming that continues in the Gulf of Maine.
The town of York was one of the first to ban single-use plastic bags before the statewide ban was passed by the Legislature. Now, students at York High School are hoping the town will ban all single-use plastic utensils. These students are part of the school’s Eco Club and have already successfully banned single-use plastic foodware in their school’s cafeteria. Learn more from the Sun Journal.
NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Director Jack Shapiro is quoted in this Bangor Daily News article about having Maine adopt clean car and truck rules in order to reduce greenhouse gas emission to help the state meet its climate goals.
And, NRCM Climate & Clean Energy Outreach Coordinator Josh Caldwell spoke with WGME about these same rules and the importance of increasing the number of zero-emission vehicles on Maine’s roads with WGME.
Good news for Maine: the Maine Legislature passed a bill (LD 1814) that will ban the sale of new compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) in the state beginning in 2026. These bulbs contain mercury, and LED bulbs are more efficient and don’t contain mercury. Read this Portland Press Herald article, which quotes NRCM Sustainable Maine Director Sarah Nichols.
Sarah Nichols also spent much of the legislative session working with redemption center owners and others to pass bills that will increase the handling fee paid to redemption centers for their collection and sorting of returnable cans and bottles as well as a bill that will modernize Maine’s wildly successful Bottle Bill. Learn more in this Bangor Daily News article. Then tune in to NRCM’s Frontline Voices podcast to hear today’s episode, which features one redemption center owner talking about these bills.
July 13, 2023
Let’s start the week off with some important news from Augusta. Last night, a historic offshore wind bill was approved by the Maine Legislature’s Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, and his now headed to both the House and Senate when each body comes back to wrap up this year’s session.
Earlier this week, Kevin Slater, a Master Maine Guide, shares in the Bangor Daily News why he is so concerned about Wolfden Resources’ proposal for a metallic mineral mine at Pickett Mountain, near both Baxter State Park and the Katahdin Woods & Waters National Monument. Read Kevin’s full letter here.
People wanting to share their thoughts about a proposed powerline in Aroostook County have a chance to weigh in at several upcoming public meetings.
Speaking of Aroostook County, did you know that electric bikes (e-bikes) are gaining popularity in Maine, including in the County? Learn more about them and how they transformed one resident’s life.
How did you celebrate Independence Day last week? Did you prepare a meal of salmon and peas? Did you know that meal used to be a New England tradition on July 4th? Hear from NRCM Staff Scientist Nick Bennett in this Portland Press Herald article about salmon, peas, and why dams on the Kennebec need to be removed.
And ICYMI, the City of Gardiner had some exciting times earlier this summer with a huge population of sturgeon making their way up Cobbosseecontee Stream right through downtown. Due to high water levels (it rained in Maine for almost the entire month of June!), the sturgeon had access to the stream to spawn. People flocked to the city to see the fish for themselves.
