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
Mercury Pollution
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
Maine Team Now Tracks Loons Near and Distant
Staffers from the Biodiversity Research Institute in Gorham study the birds in habitats as far away as Alaska and Mexico. by North Cairn, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story A Gorham research organization is tracking loon populations, not just in Maine where the birds are iconic, but all over the continent, from Alaska to 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
New Report Reveals Success of Product Stewardship in Maine
Payments for Recycled Thermostats Make Maine a Leading State Program NRCM news release A new report released today by the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Multi-state Mercury Products Campaign (MMPC), and Product Stewardship Institute, shows that Maine’s manufacturer-run program for collecting mercury thermostats is keeping the toxic heavy metal out of the trash and the Read More
