Editorial Portland Press Herald When a state agency admits it got something as important as a pollution discharge permit wrong, it should go back and make it right. So it is with the Department of Environmental Protection, which no longer supports a permit it issued for an International Paper mill on the Androscoggin River. The Read More
Department of Environmental Protection
Ex-DEP Chief, Legislator Discussed “Trade”
By John Richardson, Portland Press Herald Writer Portland Press Herald news story Maine’s former environmental commissioner put a hold on a violation notice against a Jay paper mill to try to win support from a legislator who also works as the mill’s environmental manager, according to internal state records. Documents released this week, including memos Read More
DEP Found in Violation of State Law
AG: Documents withheld in Androscoggin cleanup Bangor Daily News news story An investigation by Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe’s office has found that Department of Environmental Protection staffers violated the state’s public records law by not making available documents from private meetings with paper company officials. In response, Gov. John Baldacci announced Friday that workers Read More
DEP Chief Resigns Amid Investigation
By Kevin Wack, Portland Press Herald Writer Portland Press Herald Dawn Gallagher, Maine’s top environmental official, resigned Thursday amid criticism that her administration had become too cozy with the industries it’s charged with regulating. Gov. John Baldacci, who appointed Gallagher to head the Department of Environmental Protection shortly after he was elected in 2002, announced Read More
NRCM Cites Political Interference with Hazardous Waste Program
Enforcement Action Against International Paper Inexplicably Dropped NRCM news release The Natural Resources Council of Maine today announced the results of an investigation of a proposed reorganization of the Bureau of Remediation and Hazardous Waste at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The investigation found evidence that two Maine State legislators may have exerted Read More
DEP Sings New Tune on River
Editorial Lewiston Sun Journal Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection has made a midcourse correction on its treatment of the Androscoggin River, and it’s good news. At a meeting Wednesday to set a schedule for appeals concerning discharge permits for the paper mills in Jay and Rumford, DEP Deputy Commissioner David Littell made public that the Read More
