Record Shows Opponents Outnumber Proponents: 441-2 News release Augusta, Maine – Today the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) voted unanimously to provisionally adopt weak rules that would govern metal mining in Maine. Because metal mining poses such a serious threat to water quality, these rules were opposed 441-2 by Maine scientists, business people, conservation groups, Read More
Bald Mountain
Controversial Mining Rules Revised, Reopened for Public Comment
By Anthony Brino, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Controversial metal mining rules proposed by state regulators have been revised, and the public again has a chance to weigh in before the measures go any further. The Board of Environmental Protection continued discussions of the Department of Environmental Protection’s third proposal for new state Read More
Mining Rules Face Overwhelming Citizen Opposition
Record Shows Opponents Outnumber Proponents: 436-2 NRCM news release Mainers are overwhelmingly lining up against draft rules that would weaken environmental protections from mining pollution in Maine. The Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) is holding a deliberative session to consider the draft rules today at the Augusta Civic Center. According to an analysis by the Natural Read More
Hearing on Changing Maine Mining Rules Hits Wall of Opposition
For the third time in three years, a Department of Environmental Protection proposal to rewrite mining regulations finds little support. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — A LePage administration push to rewrite Maine’s mining regulations ran into a wall of opposition Thursday from conservation groups, former state environmental employees Read More
NRCM Testimony in Opposition to Chapter 200: Metallic Mineral Exploration, Advanced Exploration and Mining
Good morning Chairman Parker and members of the Board of Environmental Protection. My name is Nick Bennett, I am the Staff Scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, and I am testifying in opposition to these proposed rules. Previous versions of these rules were not protective of Maine’s water quality or its taxpayers, and Read More
Controversy Over Metal Mining in Maine Rekindled
By Anthony Brino, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story A decades-long debate over the prospect of a metal mine in the mountains of Aroostook County will be rekindled Thursday as another proposed overhaul of state mining regulations receives a public hearing. Opponents again are gearing up to voice their concerns about the potential for Read More
The Irvings’ Invasion of Maine
by Bruce Livesey, National Observer news story Reprinted with permission in the Lewiston Sun Journal This is one part in a six-part series titled “The House of Irving” by investigative reporter Bruce Livesey of the Vancouver-based National Observer. The series examines the powerful role the Irving family plays in the business, politics and media of Read More
Colorado Mining Disaster Shows Maine was Right to Reject Mining Rules — Again
By Nick Bennett, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed 2015 has been a year of seconds with respect to mining. For the second time, the Department of Environmental Protection submitted the same weak mining rules it submitted to the Legislature in 2014. For the second time, the Legislature wisely rejected them. Also for Read More
Bill to Loosen Maine’s Mining Rules Overwhelmingly Rejected in House
By A.J. Higgins MPBN news story Listen to full news story. AUGUSTA, Maine – A proposal to loosen mining regulations in Maine has suffered a setback in Augusta. The Maine House overwhelmingly rejected the measure, which first emerged three years ago, after a Canadian corporation expressed interest in developing mining operations on land it owns Read More
