by Colin Hickey, staff writer Kennebec Journal news story WINSLOW — Closure came to the controversy surrounding Fort Halifax Dam on Thursday morning with a few blows from a hoe-ram. The demolition machine, essentially an excavator with a hydraulic hammer, began to breach a portion of the 100-year-old hydroelectric facility at about 10 a.m., as Read More
Waters
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 has been working on clean water issues since we were founded in 1959 to protect the Allagash.
NRCM continues to advocate for clean and healthy waters across Maine. Read more news & blogs about our work to protect Maine's beautiful rivers, lakes, and streams.
Fort Halifax Dam Removed to Open Fish Passage in Sebasticook
On July 17, 2008, after more than 5 years of legal battles, FPL Energy Maine Hydro breached the Fort Halifax Dam in Winslow. Finally, this section of the river will flow freely again and native sea-run fish – striped bass, salmon, sturgeon, and shad – will be able to return to waters they have not seen Read More
Vernal Pools Fuel Maine Woods
by Travis Barrett, Outdoors Writer Kennebec Journal news story WAYNE — In an instant we are all five years old again, tromping our way through ankle-deep muck and sloshing along in the water in rubber boots. Mosquitos are relentless in their pursuit of our flesh, so the only sound to interrupt that of the splashing Read More
Partners in Penobscot River Restoration Project Receive National Cooperative Conservation Award
Penobscot River Restoration Trust Old Town, ME – Partners in the Penobscot River Restoration Project have been awarded a 2008 Cooperative Conservation Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior. The award recognizes the unprecedented collaboration to restore 11 species of sea-run fish while rebalancing hydropower generated on the river. Representatives from the Penobscot River Read More
Allagash River among America’s Most Endangered Rivers
Wild and Scenic Protections Threatened The people of Maine realized they needed a State policy to save their own wilderness areas. They petitioned their elected representatives to protect the last great wild river in the eastern United States, and the Maine legislature responded by creating the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, so that the people could own Read More
State OKs Discharge Permits
By Rebekah Metzler, Staff Writer Sun Journal news story AUGUSTA – Maine’s Board of Environmental Protection voted unanimously Thursday to approve new permit standards for two mills and a hydroelectric dam on the Androscoggin River. The citizen board approved a more restrictive wastewater discharge level for the Verso mill in Jay and increased the amount Read More
New Plan Could Improve Health of Androscoggin
Paper mills and a power company could appeal the cleanup proposal for part of the river near Lewiston. by John Richardson, staff writer Portland Press Herald news story A state environmental panel is expected to rule next month that the Androscoggin River, Maine’s dirtiest major waterway and an inspiration for the U.S. Clean Water Act, Read More
BEP Issues Draft Order for Androscoggin
By Scott Thistle, Regional Editor Sun Journal news story LEWISTON – Advocates for improving water quality on the Androscoggin River said Friday they both win and lose in a recently issued draft order for changes to pollution permits for two mills and a dam operator on the river. Among other things the order, which won’t Read More
Revitalized River Flows to Healthy Future
by Larry Grard, staff writer Kennebec Journal news story There was a time within many people’s lifetimes when almost no one would have fished the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers in Winslow. Tanneries, factories and mills dumped municipal sewage into the Kennebec and its tributaries, fouling the waters as they flowed through Augusta Read More