May 29, 2019 (Augusta, ME) – Under a bill proposed by Governor Janet Mills that earned broad-based support during a public hearing today, Maine’s tribes will receive long-sought water quality protections for legal sustenance fishing rights provided to the tribes in the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980. The bill (LD 1775) addresses an Read More
Penobscot River Restoration
The Natural Resources Council of Maine is proud to be a founding member of the Penobscot River Restoration Project and the Penobscot River Restoration Trust. The Trust worked for more than a decade to restore magnificent runs of Atlantic salmon, shad, and other sea-run fish to the Penobscot River, the largest river in Maine. The Trust removed two dams that have blocked fish migrations for more than a century—the Great Works Dam and the Veazie Dam, and constructed an innovative, river-like bypass around the third dam on the river at Howland. Fish are using this bypass to access nearly 2,000 miles of historic habitat. The Penobscot River has worked hard for Maine people for hundreds of years. Now we need to take care of the river. NRCM’s membership in the Penobscot River Restoration Trust is one more example of our commitment to protecting and restoring Maine’s environment, now and for future generations.
Bill Would Upgrade Clean Water Protections for Maine Rivers
News Release May 23, 2019 (Augusta, ME) — More than 400 miles of Maine’s rivers and streams will receive increased legal protection under a bill (LD 1743) that will receive a public hearing today. Of particular significance, the bill includes critical portions of Maine’s largest river, the Penobscot, and 200 miles of trout streams flowing Read More
Opposition to LD 1287, An Act To Protect the Penobscot River and Penobscot Bay from Mercury Contamination
Senator Carson, Representative Tucker, and distinguished members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee: My name is Nick Bennett, I reside in Hallowell, and I am the staff scientist for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). NRCM is Maine’s largest environmental advocacy group with more than 20,000 members and supporters. I am testifying in Read More
LD 817, Advance Restoration of Penobscot
Senator Carson, Representative Tucker, 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 more than 20,000 members and supporters. I am testifying in support of LD 817. As Read More
DEP’s River and Stream Upgrade Proposal is Good for Maine
By Ray Owen, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed I have spent much my life working to improve Maine’s environment. I was a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Maine for 32 years, commissioner of the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife for four, and chaired Maine’s former Land Use Read More
Estimated Cost of Penobscot River Mercury Cleanup Balloons to More than $240M
By Bill Trotter and Judy Harrison, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story The recommended remediation of the Penobscot River estuary due to mercury pollution from a defunct chemical plant would cost between $246 million and $333 million, according to a report filed Tuesday in federal court in Bangor. That is far higher than a Read More
Let DEP Know You Support Upgrading Our Rivers and Streams
By George Smith Bangor Daily News column Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection has proposed exciting upgrades for more than 400 miles of rivers and streams. Although this is supposed to be something that’s done every three years, this is the first time in almost 10 years that the DEP has proposed to upgrade water quality Read More
Conservation Projects Have Let ‘Astounding’ Number of Alewives Return to Maine Rivers
By A.J. Higgins Maine Public news story Watch videos. Alewives, or river herring, are making their usual spawning migration to Maine in unusually high numbers this year, thanks in part to restoration efforts and the removal of dams on the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers. Because they serve as a food source for several fish species Read More
Removing Mercury from Penobscot River Likely Won’t be Easy
By Bill Trotter, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Exactly how does someone clean toxic mercury deposits out of a section of a tidal river more than 30 miles long? That’s the main question a federal judge is expected to decide next year as part of a court-ordered cleanup of mercury dumped over decades Read More
