Reporting from the Front Lines of Climate Change, Explorers Underscore Urgent Need for Climate Action News Release Portland, Maine – October 28, 2016 – Today, the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) hosted a group of courageous sailors arriving in Portland Harbor aboard their 50-foot sailboat, the S/V Pachamama, after traversing the Northwest Passage Read More
Climate Change
Climate change and global warming pollution harm Maine people, wildlife, and our environment. Global warming, also known as climate change, is caused by a blanket of pollution that traps heat around the earth. This pollution comes from cars, factories, homes, and power plants that burn fossil fuels such as oil, coal, natural gas, and gasoline.
Climate-changing pollution knows no boundaries. It enters the atmosphere, spreads across the globe, and traps heat around the earth for 50-200 years after it is emitted. That is why we need to reduce global warming pollution now, because our children, and their children, will still feel the effects of global warming for years to come. Currently, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are at their highest levels in hundreds of thousands of years.
Learn how you can reduce climate-changing pollution and advocate for a cleaner, healthier Maine.
Maine’s Attorney General Among 18 AGs Defending EPA’s Clean Power Plan as Federal Appeals Court Hears Polluter Lawsuit Today
NRCM news release Today, outside the federal court building in Portland, Maine Attorney General Janet Mills and health and environmental leaders spoke in support of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, which is being challenged in federal courts by a coalition of polluters and their allies. Today at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., Read More
Clean Power Plan Litigation in U.S. Court of Appeals
My remarks at today’s news conference about Clean Power Plan litigation in the U.S. Court of Appeals: Right now, judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, DC are hearing oral arguments in a lawsuit brought by polluters and their allies against the EPA’s historic Clean Power Plan. I am proud to be joined Read More
State’s Warming Waters Create Both Reasons to Change and Opportunities
The success of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative shows we can be green and create good jobs. By George Lapointe and Tom Tietenberg Portland Press Herald op-ed We know that the threat of climate disruption to Maine is real, in part because we are experiencing early warning signs. The science is also clear that the Read More
Puffin Chicks In Gulf Of Maine’s Largest Colony Starve To Death At Record Rate
By Colin Woodard, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story Machias Seal Island, home of the largest puffin colony in the Gulf of Maine, has had the worst breeding season ever recorded, with the vast majority of chicks starving to death in their burrows. The disaster followed a sudden drop in the puffins’ food supply Read More
Study Shows Solar Saves Money for All Ratepayers in Maine by Reducing Peak Demand
Costly Strain on New England Utility Grid Usually Peaks Around First Week of August News release Portland, ME – An updated analysis of the “value of solar” power in Maine shows that solar installations within the state cut electricity prices for everyone in Maine who pays an electric bill, by reducing peak demand on the Read More
Rising Sea Levels Could Wash Away $3.1B in Maine Property
By Darren Fishell Bangor Daily News news story If sea levels rise six feet by the year 2100 as projected, that would put an estimated $3.1 billion in Maine residential real estate under water. The property site Zillow matched up its proprietary data on current home values with federal projections of how sea level rise Read More
Tourism, Conservation, Public Health Experts Urge Support for Clean Air and Climate Protections for Acadia National Park and Region
Say ecosystems, public health, and economy all depend on effective Clean Air Act protections NRCM News Release Cadillac Mountain, Acadia National Park – With one of Maine’s most famous vistas at their back—the mountainous rocky coast of Acadia National Park—diverse speakers urged support for two important air quality standards that are needed to protect the Read More
NRCM Continues the Fight to Reduce Mercury Pollution from Power Plants
NRCM has been involved in federal lawsuits related to limiting mercury pollution and other air toxics from power plants for more than a decade. In fact, in 2004, we filed suit over the EPA’s mercury pollution rules. We first joined the suit against the Bush administration for failing to offer sufficiently strong regulations—and eventually won in Read More
