Nomination “a grave threat to the health of Maine’s people and environment” NRCM Statement Augusta – In response to an expected vote on Tuesday at the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to advance the nomination of former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as the next administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Read More
Mercury Pollution
Trump Dismantling Mercury Pollution Ban Exemplifies Embrace of Coal
By Former EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy and Rev. Mitch Hescox The Hill op-ed The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the business of protecting public health and our environment — or at least it used to be. The agency and its acting administrator, a former coal lobbyist, have been waging an offensive on public health Read More
Collins Reintroduces Bill that Would Track Mercury Pollution
By Patty Wight Maine Public news story Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is reintroducing a bill that would track mercury pollution to better protect human health and fisheries. The American Lung Association supports the bill. The vice-chair of the Maine chapter, Dr. Marguerite Pennoyer, says better monitoring is important, paired with federal efforts Read More
Trump’s EPA Taking Its Most Harmful Step Yet, This Time on Mercury Emissions
A proposed policy would no longer count a regulation’s benefits, just its costs to polluters, in deciding the severity level of environmental protections. Los Angeles Times editorial Reprinted in Portland Press Herald President Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency recently released a proposal that would undermine not only current regulations, but regulatory efforts in the future by disavowing Read More
Trump Administration’s Proposal to Dramatically Weaken Limits on Toxic Mercury Pollution from Coal Plants Threatens Mainers’ Health
Statement of Emmie Theberge, Federal Project Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine “The Trump Administration has taken the first step to dramatically roll back the 2011 Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, federal protections that limit toxic mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants nationwide. In its announcement he EPA says ‘that it is not appropriate and Read More
New England States Fear Increased Mercury Contamination as EPA Considers Weakening Rules
By Susan Sharon Maine Public news story Scientists are speaking out about what they say have been “remarkable improvements” in curbing mercury emissions under Obama-era regulations that are now under threat by the Trump administration. Mercury is a toxic chemical most commonly associated with coal-burning power plants. Because they are downwind from coal-burning states, Maine Read More
Estimated Cost of Penobscot River Mercury Cleanup Balloons to More than $240M
By Bill Trotter and Judy Harrison, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story The recommended remediation of the Penobscot River estuary due to mercury pollution from a defunct chemical plant would cost between $246 million and $333 million, according to a report filed Tuesday in federal court in Bangor. That is far higher than a Read More
Removing Mercury from Penobscot River Likely Won’t be Easy
By Bill Trotter, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Exactly how does someone clean toxic mercury deposits out of a section of a tidal river more than 30 miles long? That’s the main question a federal judge is expected to decide next year as part of a court-ordered cleanup of mercury dumped over decades Read More
EPA Nominee Scott Pruitt Does Not Reflect Maine Values on the Environment
Sen. Susan Collins should join Sen. Angus King in pledging to reject Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency. By Bill Houston Portland Press Herald op-ed KINGFIELD — Mainers hold clean air and water near and dear to their hearts. As a lifelong Mainer who trains young men and women to become outdoor leaders, I Read More
