Statement by Brownie Carson, NRCM Executive Director We are here today to announce that more than 1,000 Maine people from 230 towns support cleaning up the Wyman Station power plant – Maine’s largest single source of air pollution. These people come from nearly half the towns in Maine, and they are speaking out today for Read More
More Than 1,000 Citizens Support BEP Move to Require Clean-up at Wyman Power Plant
PORTLAND AND BANGOR – Against a 25-foot-high inflatable power plant backdrop, Maine citizens held news conferences in Portland and Bangor to announce that they have collected and submitted 1,043 signatures, from residents of 230 Maine towns, to the Board of Environmental Protection (BEP) in support of the board’s preliminary vote to require Florida Power and Read More
NOx Air Pollution Up 45% Between 1998 and ’99 at Wyman Power Plant
(AUGUSTA, Maine) Total emissions of the harmful pollutant nitrogen oxides (NOx) increased 45% – by an additional 1,302 tons – at the Wyman power plant outside of Portland between 1998 and 1999, according to figures released today by the Natural Resources Council of Maine. NOx emissions per unit of energy (Btu) generated, also increased. Florida Read More
Return of the Kennebec
More than a decade ago local, state, and federal officials, including then–U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt, joined staff, board, and members of the Natural Resources Council of Maine and hundreds of other Mainers on the banks of the Kennebec River to witness a landmark occasion: removal of the Edwards Dam in Augusta. Read More
Kennebec River Flows Free as Edwards Dam is Removed
Dam Removal Marks Turning Point for River Restoration Nationwide Statement by Brownie Carson, NRCM Executive Director Good morning and welcome to this historic celebration for the people, wildlife and communities of the Kennebec River. My name is Brownie Carson. I am the executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine and am pleased to be Read More
Caribou-Speckled Wilderness
In late September, 1990, the United States Congress enacted legislation designating more than 11,000 acres of Maine’s White Mountain National Forest as a permanent Wilderness Area. The Maine Wilderness Act of 1990, which created the Caribou-Speckled Mountain Wilderness Area, was the result of more than seven years of hard work on the part of NRCM Read More
Land for Maine’s Future
The Land for Maine’s Future program was established in 1987 when voters, in response to concerns over the loss of critical natural areas, approved funding to purchase and protect lands important to the history and traditions of the state of Maine. Since then, the program has completed projects in all 16 Maine counties, protecting more Read More
Stopping the “Big A” Dam on the Penobscot’s West Branch
In what was one of Maine’s most contested environmental battles, the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), along with other Penobscot Coalition members, successfully defeated the Big A Dam project. In March of 1984, Great Northern Paper (GNP) submitted a proposal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct a $100-million concrete dam 15 Read More
Pittston Oil Refinery
Through the Head Harbor Passage, among the legendary swirling tides, powerful currents, and whirlpools of Passamaquoddy Bay sits Eastport, Maine. It was here in 1973 that a New York-based conglomerate, the Pittston Company, sought to construct a massive marine terminal and crude oil refinery. The proposed development would have included a 250,000 barrel-per-day refinery, a Read More
