Androscoggin River water quality is the subject of a lawsuit. Here’s what you need to know.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 24, 2026

Friends of Merrymeeting Bay, a conservation group, filed a federal lawsuit last week seeking stronger water-quality protections for part of the Androscoggin River. The lawsuit challenges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for abusing its discretion under the Clean Water Act “in failing to reject Maine’s unlawful and uncodified actual antidegradation policy.” It also challenges the Maine Board of Environmental Protection for its refusal to recommend to the state Legislature a reclassification of a stretch of Androscoggin River ranging from Gulf Island Pond dams to Worumbo in Lisbon. The lawsuit follows a yearslong debate over whether the stretch of Androscoggin River should be reclassified from a Class C waterway to cleaner Class B status.