By Mario Moretto, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — A state senator known as a moderate on Tuesday called out Gov. Paul LePage for the “artificially created crisis” about voter-approved conservation bonds worth more than $11 million. LePage has refused to issue the bonds, jeopardizing more than 30 land preservation projects Read More
State House Watch
Working for legislation to protect Maine’s environment is an essential part of NRCM’s mission for the people of Maine. During the legislative session, we are at the Maine State House, just a block from our office, to work for new safeguards and also to defend existing legislation that protects Maine’s land, air, water, and wildlife.
Group Calls on LePage to Release Conservation Bonds
WCSH-6 TV news story CUMBERLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Lawmakers, town officials and conservationists are calling on the governor to release voter-approved bonds to preserve land. They held a press conference in Cumberland Monday, where they raised public and private money to buy a 215 acre parcel of private land. The remainder of the funding Read More
Latest Dispute Over Alewives in St. Croix River May Lead to Independent Review
The LePage administration is proposing a working group to examine the scientific arguments over the fish. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — The LePage administration wants to create a working group to examine the scientific arguments over alewives in the St. Croix River as a way to defuse the Read More
Grand Lake Stream Guides Seek to Restrict Alewives from Upper St. Croix
By Johanna S. Billings, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story GRAND LAKE STREAM, Maine — The decades-old debate over the introduction of alewives in the St. Croix River watershed is heating up again. Sport fishing guides and camp owners from the area are seeking to cut off alewife access to the upper St. Croix Read More
LePage Pens Earth Day Letter to Obama Opposing New National Park
By Mario Moretto, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — While proponents continue their efforts to set aside 150,000 acres in northern Maine for a national park and recreation area, Gov. Paul LePage voiced his opposition to the plan in a letter addressed to President Barack Obama. A company called Elliotsville Plantation Read More
Maine Lawmakers Hear Proposals to Return Missing ‘and’ to Energy Law
by Scott Thistle, State Politics Editor Sun Journal news story AUGUSTA — Maine lawmakers Wednesday took the first steps toward fixing what’s become known as a $38 million typographical error in a law that funds the state’s energy-efficiency programs. But looming over any potential fix is the less-than-subtle hint that Republican Gov. Paul LePage will Read More
Legislators Meet to Fix Efficiency Maine Funding
WCSH-6 TV news story AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — The Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee heard testimony Wednesday on two competing bills that would restore funding to Efficiency Maine. The word “and” was left out of the 2013 law in a drafting error. That error allowed regulators to slash $38 million dollars for energy efficiency Read More
NRCM Testimony in Opposition to LDs 1120, 1191, and 1093, All Bills Related to the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code
Senator Amy Volk, Chair Representative Erin Herbig, Chair Joint Standing Committee on Labor, Commerce, Research and Economic Development NRCM Testimony in Opposition to LD 1120: An Act To Repeal the Maine Uniform Building and Energy Code; in Opposition to LD 1191: An Act To Remove the Municipal andate To Enforce MUBEC; and in Opposition to LD Read More
Maine Needs Recycling Boost, But Not at Bottle Bill’s Expense
By The BDN Editorial Board Bangor Daily News editorial If reality reflected state law, Mainers today would recycle and compost at least half their solid waste. They would have reached that threshold in 2009. Instead, Maine’s recycling rate has remained stubbornly close to 40 percent for years, with no sustained progress to speak of. The Read More
