SPECTRUM NEWS • December 27, 2021
The Maine Board of Environmental Protection recommended that part of the once-heavily polluted Androscoggin River get a stricter environmental classification in an acknowledgment of cleanup efforts. The recommendation calls for the river’s status to upgraded from Class C to Class B on a small portion, from Lisbon Falls to Merrymeeting Bay. Several local groups pushed for an even larger section of the river — beginning farther upriver near Turner — to be upgraded. Any change would need to be approved by the Legislature. But not everyone supports it. There are mills and businesses upstream that fear stricter environmental standards could make it difficult for them to operate under certain conditions.