The solar farms let people off-site but in the utility coverage area invest and benefit in the payback. By Paul Koenig, Kennebec Journal Kennebec Journal news story A planned community solar farm near Androscoggin Lake in Wayne is one of about 10 similar projects that are under development around the state. The projects are unlike Read More
Farmington Turns Waste Into Cash…and Gardens
Farmington, Maine has partnered with the local campus of the University of Maine to put an unused recycling center to good use, generating cash for the town and fertilizer for local gardeners. When the Sandy River Recycling facility closed in 2004, Farmington officials and residents wondered what they would do with the site and the leftover Read More
Leon A. Gorman, L. L. Bean Chief, Dies at 80
By Sam Roberts New York Times news story Leon A. Gorman, who transformed L. L. Bean from his grandfather’s folksy store and catalog business into a billion-dollar global outdoor-gear retailer and made its signature rubber-soled hunting boot as synonymous with Maine as lobster, died on Thursday at his home in Yarmouth, Me. He was 80. Read More
NRCM Statement on Leon Gorman’s Passing
Statement of Lisa Pohlmann, Executive Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine, on Leon Gorman’s Passing “We’re incredibly grateful for Leon Gorman’s lifelong commitment to protecting the Maine that we all love. Without Leon, Maine wouldn’t be the place it is today environmentally and economically. His extremely successfully business defines Maine for people around the world. Read More
Heavier Logging of Maine Public Lands Focus of New Commission
by Christine Parrish Free Press news story A new commission has just been formed by the state legislature to study the impacts of a shift away from a conservation forestry focus on Maine Public Lands to the commercial timber approach it embraced in 2013 — and the possible uses of those new timber dollars. The Read More
Judge Orders Mallinckrodt Manufacturing to Fund Mercury Cleanup Plan for Penobscot River
The ruling is a step toward requiring the company to pay to clean up pollution from the former HoltraChem site – a cost estimated at $130 million. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story A federal judge ordered Mallinckrodt Manufacturing Co. on Wednesday to pay to develop a detailed plan to clean Read More
LePage Asks Maine Delegation to Intervene in Tribal Waters Dispute with Feds
By A.J. Higgins MPBN news story AUGUSTA, Maine – As the impasse between Maine and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over water quality standards deepens, the LePage administration is threatening to relinquish some or all of the state’s delegated authority to ensure compliance with the Clean Water Act. Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Patty Aho Read More
My Maine This Week: Jayne Winters
Here are some wonderful photos captured this summer by NRCM member Jayne Winters of South China, Maine. The first is a field in Dover-Foxcroft. The second photo is a juvenile Osprey in Augusta. The third photo is a wild iris near Sebec Lake.
Colorado Mining Disaster Shows Maine was Right to Reject Mining Rules — Again
By Nick Bennett, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed 2015 has been a year of seconds with respect to mining. For the second time, the Department of Environmental Protection submitted the same weak mining rules it submitted to the Legislature in 2014. For the second time, the Legislature wisely rejected them. Also for Read More