PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 25, 2024
Environmental groups are divided over proposed new rules that could open the door to lithium mining in Newry. The Board of Environmental Protection adopted provisional rules last month that would allow applicants to get around the state ban on open-pit mining if they can prove to the state’s satisfaction that the mineral extraction they want to do won’t threaten human or environmental health. The Natural Resources Council of Maine told a legislative committee Monday that the preliminary testing requirements and long-term water quality monitoring built into the proposed exemption offer adequate safeguards against contamination. But a previous NRCM lobbyist, Evelyn deFrees, told members of the Environment and Natural Resources Committee that the provisional rules don’t go nearly far enough.