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
Mercury Pollution
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
LePage Vetoes Bill That Sought Greater Government Transparency
by Scott Thistle, State Politics Editor Sun Journal news story AUGUSTA — A bill that would have opened records on industrial hazardous waste and mercury emission control plans was vetoed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage on Earth Day. Under current law, the plans are protected as “trade secrets.” The bill, LD 1821, would have upheld Read More
NRCM Comments on Dragon Products Company New Source Review for Mercury
My name is Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. We appreciate the opportunity to comment on the Department of Environmental Protection’s (“Department”) draft findings and order for mercury emission limits for Dragon Products (license A-326-77-3-A.) NRCM opposes the proposed mercury emissions limit of 42 lbs/year because it could lead 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 had previously Read More
Penobscot Mercury Scare Shows Need for Regulation
Maine’s natural resource-based businesses won’t succeed without tough enforcement. Portland Press Herald editorial The lobster fishery has been the one bright spot in Maine’s seafood industry for years – at least until last week. On Tuesday, the state Department of Marine Resources ordered a two-year shutdown of lobster and crab harvesting in a 7-square-mile region 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
Mercury Levels Close Mouth of Maine River to Lobster, Crab Harvesting
The state says the closure on the Penobscot River, prompted by contamination found in lobsters, will last at least two years. Portland Press Herald news story The Maine Department of Marine Resources said Tuesday it will close a seven-square-mile area at the mouth of the Penobscot River to the harvesting of lobsters and crabs because 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
