By moving to repeal the Clean Power Plan, Trump is doing the bidding of the coal industry and big polluters. By Conrad Schneider, advocacy director for the Brunswick-based Clean Air Task Force and Jacqueline Guyol, campaign organizer at Environment Maine Portland Press Herald op-ed Last week, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency took steps to eliminate the Read More
Federal Issues
Our advocates, members, supporters, and partners work to defend our hard-earned environmental safeguards and to ensure Maine’s elected officials in Washington, DC, stand up for Maine’s environment. Decisions made there have lasting effects on Maine’s clean water, fresh air, healthy forests, thriving wildlife, and on the health of Maine people, our economy, and our way of life.
The Natural Resources Council of Maine identifies and addresses the issues at play in our nation’s capital that have the largest impacts here at home.
Find out the latest on federal issues affecting our state's land, air, water, and wildlife.
Zinke’s Silence on the Monument Creates Uncertainty for Northern Maine
By Jim Dill, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed If you visit Penobscot Avenue in Millinocket on a gorgeous autumn weekend this year, odds are you’ll see far more people than you may have seen a year ago. Cars are parked on the street and people are bustling about downtown. Most of the Read More
Environmental Groups Decry Proposal to Repeal Clean Power Plan
by Susan Sharon Maine Things Considered This week Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, the cornerstone of the Obama administration’s efforts to address climate change. While not unexpected, the decision is coming under fire as ideologically driven and a boon for the fossil fuel industry at a critical Read More
NRCM Response to Pruitt Announcement of Rollback of Clean Power Plan
Statement of Lisa Pohlmann, Executive Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine “In Scott Pruitt’s ideal world, polluters have total control of America’s energy and environmental policy. That is a disaster for Maine, which is not only downwind from many of those polluters, but is also blessed with abundant clean, local, renewable energy supplies, rather than Read More
Trump’s “Dirty Budget” is a Grave Threat to the Health of Our Planet
By Josie Cowles and May Young, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed As young people, we’re often told we are responsible for the future, even though we can’t vote yet. We are teenagers, and because we will inherit this planet, healthy or not, we’re expected to clean up the messes left by those Read More
NRCM Warns: Lawsuit Likely if Commercial Logging Permitted in National Monument
BY STAFF Mainebiz news story Lisa Pohlmann, executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, served notice to the Trump administration that allowing “commercial logging” in the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument would “almost certainly trigger a lawsuit.” Pohlmann’s warning is in response to a leaked report from Secretary of the Interior Ryan Read More
Leaked Recommendations for Maine Monument Met with Confusion
by Susan Sharon Maine Things Considered, Maine Public Supporters of Maine’s Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument say a leaked memo from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to the White House is confusing and only creates more economic uncertainty in the region. Leaked to media outlets three weeks after it was supposed to be made public, Read More
NRCM Statement Regarding Secretary Zinke’s Recommendations for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument
Statement by Lisa Pohlmann, Executive Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine “We have reviewed the leaked memorandum to the President from Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke, but the implications of the report for Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument remain unclear. Without more details, we cannot yet judge whether these recommendations are acceptable and consistent Read More
Leaked Monument Report Feeds Sense of Uncertainty
Talk of allowing timber harvesting won’t help a fledgling recreational attraction get on the radar of potential visitors. Central Maine newspapers editorial Imagine that you are planning a vacation to Maine next summer. You think you might like to drive up the coast and visit Acadia National Park, “where the mountains meet the sea.” And Read More