Response to today’s Oil Sands Spill Training Workshop in Portland, ME NRCM Press Release “We commend the officials at the EPA, Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), U.S. Coast Guard, and others who have organized today’s tar sands training in Portland[1]. Today’s training is focused on preparing for tar sands oil spills because they know 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.
Pipeline Application Means “Dirtiest Oil on the Planet” is Headed to New England’s Doorstep
Groups call on U.S. State Department to require full environmental review of cross-border tar sands pipeline proposal, before it is too late Press Release Canada’s mega-oil pipeline company Enbridge filed an application today to move forward on the reversal of its Line 9 pipeline, likely bringing tar sands oil eastward to Montreal. If approved, this would Read More
Clean Water Act – 40th Anniversary Today!
Forty years ago today, the U.S. Congress passed the Clean Water Act into law, and they did so in a remarkable fashion. In a powerful statement of bipartisan support for the environment, both the House and the Senate on October 18, 1972, voted to override President Nixon’s veto of this landmark bill. And it never would Read More
Mainers Rally on Anniversary of Worst Tar Sands Spill in History; Oppose Risky Tar Sands Oil in Maine
NRCM press release Maine citizens are turning out across Maine this week to oppose an emerging plan to pump dirty tar sands oil from Ontario, Canada through a pipeline in the beautiful lakes region in southwestern Maine to Portland, Maine where it would be shipped out by supertankers. The four rallies coincide with the two Read More
A Huge Win for the Whole Team
The day of the Great Works Dam removal celebration dawned sparkling clear. For me it started early at the Veazie Salmon Club, and had a few moments by the Penobscot River before everyone arrived. The power of the river was palpable, especially after all the rain we’ve had. It coursed over the Veazie Dam, and I Read More
As Trains Start to Carry Crude Oil Across Maine, Environmentalists Start to Worry
by Kevin Miller, staff writer Bangor Daily News news story The modern-day oil boom in the western U.S. and Canada is fueling interest in shipping crude oil by rail across Maine to a refinery in the Maritimes. But the prospect of long trains of oil-filled tanker cars rumbling through Maine also has state environmental officials Read More
‘It’s Easy for People in Maine to Forget What a Big Deal This Is’
by Tom Bell, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story INDIAN ISLAND — Work crews today began demolition of the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot River, the largest-ever river restoration project in eastern North America. Excavators began pounding the defunct concrete fishway in the middle of the dam following more than an hour of Read More
Recovering a River
Demolition of the Great Works Dam on the Penobscot, starting this week, is part of an ambitious restoration project that will open 1,000 miles of waterways to Atlantic salmon. by Tom Bell, staff writer Maine Sunday Telegram news story After 13 years of legal, political and engineering work, the largest-ever river restoration project in eastern Read More
Edwards Dam Success Foreshadows Penobscot River Project’s Future
by John Holyoke Bangor Daily News news story Twelve years ago — on July 1, 1999 — a crowd gathered on the banks of the Kennebec River in Augusta to watch as Edwards Dam was breached. First a trickle. Then a torrent. For the first time in 162 years, a 17-mile stretch of the Kennebec Read More