An annual rite of the Penobscot River sporting world brought a Maine angler and the year’s first Atlantic salmon to the president’s doorstep. By Catherine Schmitt Boston Globe news story ON MAY 25, 1992, Claude and Rosemae Westfall drove their Buick south on Maine’s I-95. Claude was dressed sharply if atypically in a green suit Read More
Clean Water
Clean, healthy waterways are vital to our day-to-day lives. They help ensure safe drinking water, suitable habitat for fish and other wildlife, and recreational opportunities that make Maine a special place to live, work, and visit. NRCM is working hard to protect and restore Maine’s lakes, rivers, and streams, now and for generations to come.
Mining Rules for Maine: Weeks of Negotiations Fail to Forge Consensus
By Mal Leary Maine Public news story AUGUSTA, Maine – Maine Lawmakers have worked for weeks on an effort to overhaul the state’s mining regulations. But it was mostly opponents that showed up at an unusual second public hearing on the same legislation. And it appears that the committee is still divided on the issue, Read More
NRCM Testimony in Opposition to Proposed Committee Amendments, LD 750
Senator Saviello, Representative Welsh, and members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee: My name is Nick Bennett, and I am the Staff Scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM is Maine’s largest environmental advocacy group with over 16,000 members and supporters. NRCM opposes the Committee’s proposed amendments to LD 750 because: Read More
Will Legislators Take Mining ‘Jobs’ Bait This Time Around?
By Dennis Chinoy, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed In December 2012, three lawyers from the legal firm Pierce Atwood published a somewhat self-congratulatory article in a mining journal. “About Face: How a mine moved toward operating in Maine” described how the authors helped craft a bill mandating relaxed mining regulations on behalf Read More
Maine Lawmakers Pass Lakes Protection Bill Similar to One LePage Vetoed
By Christopher Cousins, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — A bill designed to protect Maine lakes by banning the use of fertilizers containing phosphorus or nitrogen near shorelines is headed to Gov. Paul LePage after near-unanimous support in the House and Senate. LePage vetoed a bill with similar setbacks last year 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
Complaints Few as Portland Adapts to Plastic Bag Fee
Some store owners are surprised by how many shoppers remember to bring their reusable bags. By Randy Billings and Beth Quimby, Staff Writers Portland Press Herald news story Store owners are required by a city ordinance, enacted by the City Council last June, to post a sign informing customers about the fee and itemize the Read More
Portland Kicks Off Initiatives to Tackle Waste, Litter, Ocean Pollution
April 15 ends the era of foam packaging and free disposable bags NRCM news release Today, Portland city officials, residents, conservationists, store managers, and sustainability experts gathered at Portland City Hall to bring attention to the City’s two new anti-waste initiatives that begin April 15, 2015: a ban on foam packaging and a 5-cent fee Read More
