Senator Saviello, Representative Welsh, and members of the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, my name is Sarah Lakeman and I am the Sustainable Maine Project Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. I appreciate this opportunity to testify in opposition to LD 1045. While we oppose this bill, we do believe Read More
Mercury Pollution
NRCM Deeply Disappointed in BEP VOTE to Allow 70% More Toxic Mercury Emissions from Thomaston Cement Plant
Statement of Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Project Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine NRCM news release NRCM is deeply disappointed in today’s Board of Environmental Protection vote, which would allow the Dragon Cement Company in Thomaston to increase its emissions of toxic mercury by 70%, reversing nearly two decades of work by Maine to reduce Read More
Prolonged Legal Battle Over Penobscot River Mercury Cleanup Headed to Federal Court
By Dawn Gagnon, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story BANGOR, Maine — A 14-year legal battle over the cleanup of mercury in the Penobscot River will rev up next week, when a trial begins on a lawsuit filed by a Maine-based citizens group and its national ally against a former owner of the defunct Read More
Supreme Court Upholds Downwind Pollution Limits
Associated Press news story WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed the Obama administration an important victory in its effort to reduce power plant pollution in 27 Midwestern and Appalachian states that blows downwind and leads to unhealthy air. The decision caps a decades-long effort by the Environmental Protection Agency to find a legally Read More
State Plan Changes after Delay in Reporting Mercury in Lobster
Portland Press Herald news story by Scott Dolan, staff writer State Toxicologist Andrew Smith received an urgent message in 2011: A team of independent scientists had discovered dangerously high levels of mercury in black ducks in a marsh near the mouth of the Penobscot River. But what Smith didn’t know was that the same scientists Read More
Contamination of Maine Lobster Shows Value of Regulations
Kennebec Journal editorial The lobster fishery has been the one bright spot in Maine’s seafood industry for years — at least until last week. On Feb. 18, the state Department of Marine Resources ordered a two-year shutdown of lobster and crab harvesting in a 7-square-mile region at the mouth of the Penobscot River. Mercury contamination Read More
Fisherman to Find New Place for Traps After Lobstering Banned Downstream from Former Chemical Plant
By Abigail Curtis, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story STOCKTON SPRINGS, Maine — Mercury contamination found in muscle tissue of lobsters at the mouth of the Penobscot River led to the Maine Department of Marine Resources’ decision to close a small area to fishing for at least two years. “This closure is being taken Read More
Maine Supreme Court to Hear Case on Orrington Hazardous Waste Site Cleanup
Mallinckrodt LLC is appealing an order to spend an estimated $250 million on contamination from the former HoltraChem Manufacturing Co. plant on banks of the Penobscot River. By Scott Dolan, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story An environmental dispute that has gone on for years about cleaning up one of the most contaminated sites Read More
Maine Strong on Mercury Thermostat Recycling
New Maine Times news story A new report released this week shows that Maine’s program for collecting mercury thermostats is keeping the toxic heavy metal out of the trash and the environment, out-performing almost every other state in the nation. In most other states, weaker laws have spelled failure for the thermostat-recycling program, says the Read More
