MAINE MONITOR • December 3, 2023
The state will begin a rulemaking process next week aimed at clarifying what counts as a metallic mineral, changes prompted by the discovery of a massive lithium deposit in Newry that the Monitor has been reporting on for the past two years. The changes, which will have to be approved by the citizen Board of Environmental Protection as well as the state Legislature, would allow the mining of certain metallic minerals to be exempt from the state’s stringent mining regulations so long as a mining operation could prove that it wouldn’t pollute the environment around it. A mining operation that’s exempt from the metallic mineral rules would still be regulated under another law, such as the state’s quarrying standards. Those standards are far less stringent, and meeting them is also less costly for developers