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
Metal Mining Pollution
Maine cannot afford any mining disasters. NRCM works to ensure that Maine state government enforces Maine's metal mining law if any companies decide to develop mines here. If any mining companies move beyond exploration and apply for a mining permit, NRCM works hard to ensure compliance with Maine’s strict mining law and rules, the toughest protections against mining pollution in the U.S.
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
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
