By Shelly Mountain and Alice Bolstridge, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Representatives for mining interests continue to lobby the Maine Legislature to weaken mining regulations that would allow Canadian-owned Irving Corp. to mine Bald Mountain in Aroostook County. In his March 9 radio address, Gov. Paul LePage implies that the residents of Read More
Mining Pollution
Mining is one of the most dangerous industrial activities, with mining pollution affecting wildlife habitat, clean waters, and public health. Mining metals in deposits with high levels of sulfides, which are common in Maine, is especially dangerous. Mining companies search for metals like copper and zinc in deposits where iron sulfide is present in large quantities. Iron sulfide creates acid when exposed to air and water. This acid kills fish and other aquatic creatures. It also leaches out toxic heavy metals, such as lead and arsenic, that may also be in the mined rock.
NRCM to Present Awards to Portland, Phippsburg, Liberty, Bethel Conservation Leaders
NRCM News Release Augusta, ME – Maine’s leading nonprofit membership organization working to protect Maine’s land, air, water, and wildlife, has named its 2015 Conservation Leadership Award winners. The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) presents the awards each year to individuals or groups that have made an extraordinary contribution to the protection of Maine’s Read More
Colorado Mining Disaster Shows Maine was Right to Reject Mining Rules — Again
By Nick Bennett, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed 2015 has been a year of seconds with respect to mining. For the second time, the Department of Environmental Protection submitted the same weak mining rules it submitted to the Legislature in 2014. For the second time, the Legislature wisely rejected them. Also for Read More
Bill to Loosen Maine’s Mining Rules Overwhelmingly Rejected in House
By A.J. Higgins MPBN news story AUGUSTA, Maine – A proposal to loosen mining regulations in Maine has suffered a setback in Augusta. The Maine House overwhelmingly rejected the measure, which first emerged three years ago, after a Canadian corporation expressed interest in developing mining operations on land it owns at Bald Mountain in Aroostook Read More
Maine House Delivers Major Blow to Rewritten Mining Rules
The long, heated debate over opening land to digging for metals is replayed again before the bill is rejected in a 109-36 vote. By Steve Mistler, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — A hotly debated bill that would rewrite Maine’s metal mining regulations was dealt a decisive setback Thursday in the House Read More
Loose Mining Rules Endanger the Proven Job Creators for which Maine is Known
By Jeff McCabe and Jen Brophy, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed Metal mining is a boom and bust industry with a long record of polluting the water and leaving taxpayers to pay the cleanup costs in Maine and elsewhere around the country. More than 40 years after the Callahan mine in Brooksville Read More
Lots of Effort Went Into Writing Maine’s Mining Rules, But They’re Still Too Weak
By Hendrik Gideonse, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed For three months I’ve been part of a tiny handful of citizens watching a drive to approve weakened metallic mining regulations that threaten Maine’s precious environment and that challenge the very character of Maine’s democracy. We have attended a dozen-plus mining hearings and work Read More
Proposed Mining Rules Still Too Weak to Adequately Protect Watersheds, Taxpayers
Legislature must reject the rules again they still don’t address concerns leading to defeat last year. By Rep. Ralph Tucker & Rep. Jeffrey Pierce Kennebec Journal op-ed A mining statute to relax our laws and attract mining to Maine was rushed through the Maine Legislature in 2012. The Legislature last year rejected weak rules to Read More
Legislative Committee Passes Controversial Mining Bill
Advocates say Maine’s mining regulations are unduly restrictive while critics cite fears of pollution. By Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — In a divided vote, a legislative committee has endorsed a controversial proposal to rewrite Maine’s mining regulations after a months-long debate focused largely on a potential mine at an Read More
