By Kevin Miller, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — A remote mountain in the woods of far northern Maine is once again the focal point of a major debate over mining as landowners seek sweeping changes to state regulations in response to the rising price of gold and silver. Environmental and Read More
Relaxing Mining Rules is Fool’s Gold
By Jeff Reardon Bangor Daily News op-ed Looking at Irving’s proposal for a copper mine near Ashland last week, I remembered what mining did to a Pennsylvania stream I fished in 1990. Fresh out of college, I was working in Newark, N.J, wondering where the nearest brook trout might be. I quickly discovered the great Read More
Mercury Causes “Foggy Headed” Loons to Fail as Parents, Possibly Threatening Their Future
By Seth Koenig, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story STANDISH, Maine — When Thom Watson is showing tourists or budding sportsmen around the lakes of Maine, loons are the prized sightings. “In terms of Maine folklore, when I’m with clients, I love to see them, love to hear them and, maybe most of all, Read More
Supporters, Opponents Square Off Over Mining Bill Aimed at County
by Jen Lynds, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — A near equal number of supporters and opponents spoke during a four-and-a-half-hour public hearing Wednesday on a bill to change the state’s mining laws. Rep. John Martin, D-Eagle Lake, said he was prompted to introduce the bill by the increasing price of minerals Read More
Maine Supreme Court’s Decision on Plum Creek’s Moosehead Lake Development Rezoning
by Lisa Pohlmann, NRCM CEO We are disappointed in today’s decision about Plum Creek’s development proposal on lands around Moosehead Lake. We respect the court’s decision. Through the active engagement of thousands of Maine people the final plan was significantly improved from the original plan, though it remains the largest development plan in the state’s Read More
Plum Creek Development Gets OK from Supreme Court
by Kevin Miller, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story PORTLAND, Maine—Maine’s highest court on Thursday ruled that state regulators followed proper procedures when approving Plum Creek’s historic development plan for the Moosehead Lake region. The state supreme court disagreed with a lower court that had ordered the Land Use Regulation Commission to hold additional Read More
Maine Mining Proposal Draws Fire, Support
by A.J. Higgins MPBN news story A proposal to revise the state’s open pit mining regulations to improve the prospects for an operation in Aroostook County is drawing fire from critics, who cite environmental concerns. Democratic state Rep. John Martin, of Eagle Lake, who introduced the proposed changes, says they could benefit a mining site at Read More
Takings Bill Would Turn Landowner’s Rights on Its Head
An owner would be compensated for not harming his own property in a way that hurts neighbors. by A. Myrick Freeman, III Portland Press Herald op-ed In a March 1 Maine Voices Column (“Bill would offer recourse when ‘regulatory takings’ hurt landowners”), Rep. Andre Cushing makes several useful points about the “regulatory takings” bill (L.D. Read More
LURC Reform: It’s All About the Money
by Sandra Neily Bangor Daily News op-ed Decentralize and localize LURC with more county representation? Allow a county to opt out of LURC oversight? Remove centralized management of a forest asset that drops billions of dollars a year into the Maine economy? Imagine North Woods resources as an affiliated, sprawling string of factories. (Maine people Read More