The Natural Resources Council of Maine recognizes with deep appreciation their efforts to defend Maine’s environment in the courts. Peter Brann and Ben Lund, partners in the Lewiston-based law firm of Brann & Isaacson, have brought their considerable professional skills, tenacity, and love of Maine to a necessary part of the advocacy process—using the courts Read More
Clean & Free-flowing Waters
Bill Seeks to Relax Pollution Standards
by Meredith Goad Portland Press Herald Water quality standards would be relaxed along more than 90 percent of the Maine coast under a legislative proposal backed by operators of sewage treatment plants that can’t meet the current standards. A bill to be debated today by the Legislature’s Natural Resources Committee would lower the standards for Read More
NRCM Testimony in Opposition to LD 1899, An Act to Amend the Dissolved Oxygen (DO) Standard and the Bacteria Standard for Class C Waters
Testimony at the Maine Legislature by Nick Bennett, staff scientist Senator Martin, Representative Koffman, and Members of the Natural Resources Committee: This testimony concerns LD 1899. We do not support the bill as written, but we would support the bill if the 6.5 ppm standard were enforced at any temperature, as is recommended in the Read More
Androscoggin is ‘Hammered’
Environmental leader Brownie Carson pledges to fight for a cleaner river. By Daniel Hartill, Staff Writer Lewiston Sun Journal news story For decades, the Androscoggin River has grown clearer and cleaner, yet it remains polluted. The problem has led Brownie Carson, one of Maine’s leading environmentalists, to pledge increased opposition to the daily dumping of Read More
A River Reborn
Agreement could lead to dam removals and restoration of fish runs by Misty Edgecomb Bangor Daily News news story OLD TOWN – In what conservationists are calling the biggest restoration project north of the Everglades, two dams will be removed from the lower Penobscot River. Representatives of a broad coalition including the Penobscot Nation, environmental Read More
Down East Region Spared 84-Mile Transmission Line
NRCM news release Emera, the parent company of Bangor Hydro, has decided not to move forward at this time with a proposed 170-foot wide, 84-mile transmission line that would have bisected Hancock and Washington Counties, running between Orrington, north of Bangor, and Baileyville, on the New Brunswick border. This massive new transmission line was strongly Read More
Maine Guides and Others Show Support for the Allagash Wilderness Waterway
On Monday, March 26, 2001, outfitters, Maine guides and other concerned citizens from throughout Maine banded together under the State House dome to show their support for protecting the wild remote character of Maine’s Allagash Wilderness Waterway. The day was designed to provide businesses and individuals with an opportunity to educate legislators about the value Read More
Protection of the Allagash, One of Maine’s Exceptional Natural Treasures
In Allagash, Maine, near the border with New Brunswick, Canada, a river connects with the St. John, passing through a chain of natural mountain lakes. This river has remained largely unspoiled. In 1857 Henry David Thoreau explored its waters and wrote about them in The Maine Woods. Known today as the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, the Read More