The rule, when it becomes final a year from now, will set the first-ever national limits on the gases linked to global warming from the nation’s power plants. By Dina Cappiello, The Associated Press Portland Press Herald news story WASHINGTON – The Obama administration on Monday will unveil a plan to cut earth-warming pollution from power Read More
pollution
Supreme Court Upholds Downwind Pollution Limits
Associated Press news story WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday handed the Obama administration an important victory in its effort to reduce power plant pollution in 27 Midwestern and Appalachian states that blows downwind and leads to unhealthy air. The decision caps a decades-long effort by the Environmental Protection Agency to find a legally Read More
Panel’s Warning on Climate Risk: Worst Is Yet to Come
by Justin Gillis New York Times news story YOKOHAMA, Japan — Climate change is already having sweeping effects on every continent and throughout the world’s oceans, scientists reported Monday, and they warned that the problem is likely to grow substantially worse unless greenhouse emissions are brought under control. The report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Read More
Canadian Pipeline Decision Raises Tar Sands Fears in Maine
by Tom Porter MPBN news story Environmental advocates are concerned that a decision this afternoon by Canadian Energy Regulators will pave the way for the arrival in Maine of so-called tar sands oil from Alberta – an energy source which they describe as much more toxic than conventional crude. The decision by Canada’s National Energy Read More
Pipeline Approved to Bring Tar Sands to Montreal and New England’s Doorstep
News release Mainers react with increased concern, renewed call for federal environmental review Today the National Energy Board of Canada gave approval to a proposal by pipeline giant Enbridge to reverse and increase the flow of crude oil, including tar sands oil, in its pipeline from Sarnia, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec—for the first time directly Read More
We Need Answer to Maine Smelt Decline Before It’s Too Late
Portland Press Herald editorial Rainbow smelt were once found as far south as Chesapeake Bay, and were particularly abundant along the Gulf of Maine. Now, the small, tasty fish has disappeared from Connecticut south, in a depopulation so rapid that researchers were too late to pinpoint an exact cause. A similar trend is occurring in 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
Skowhegan, Jay Mills Named Among Maine’s Biggest Polluters in Federal Report
Of the 10 companies that produced the highest amounts of toxic emissions in 2012, nine are associated with the pulp and paper industry, including Sappi Fine Paper and Verso Paper Holdings. By Matt Hongoltz-Hetling, Staff Writer Kennebec Journal news story The federal government’s latest list of the biggest polluters in Maine includes a handful of the Read More
What’s Happening to All the Moose?
by The Washington Post Bangor Daily News news story Moose in the northern United States are dying in what scientists say may be the start of climate shock to the world’s boreal forests. The die-off is most dire in Minnesota, where ecologists say moose could be gone within a decade. But it extends across the Read More
