Concurrent Session E. Repairing Maine’s “Open Sewers”: Historical Reflections
* 2 Training Contact Hours are available for this session.
* 2 AICP CM credits are available for this session.
Morning Session
During the 50s and 60’s, several Maine rivers were well known as among the filthiest in the entire nation – which is saying something! Some were spoken of locally, without irony, as “open sewers”. This session highlights a number of important and little-known topics in the history of Maine’s river cleanup from the earliest work on the Clean Water Act by Senator Muskie and his then staffer George Mitchell, and up to several more current events. These stories need to be told.
Session Chair:
Lloyd C. Irland
The Irland Group
Speakers:
8:30am – 8:55am
Ed Muskie, George Mitchell, and the Clean Water Act
Douglas Rooks, Author and Journalist; drooks@tds.net
Power Point not used
In a manner rare for federal legislation in any field, Maine’s U.S. senators, Ed Muskie and George Mitchell, wrote and revised the Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act, both milestones in environmental legislation, and among the most important laws enacted by Congress in the 20th century. This presentation will focus on the impact on Maine rivers, and how Muskie’s path from his pioneering role as governor from 1954-58, and his service in the Senate, from 1958-80, served the interests of both his state, and the nation. As his successor, Mitchell re-tooled and refocused the Clean Water Act in a way that has stood the test of time.
9:00am – 9:25am
Restoration and recovery of the St. Croix River Alewife: “the good of the many outweighing the good of the one”
Theo Willis, Pleasant Point Passamaquoddy Tribe; theodore.willis@maine.edu
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The St. Croix River is an unusual example of a New England river with an industrial past. The low population in the watershed and forested landscape belies the long history of dams, logging and pollution that shaped the river we see now. Native American and colonial history relay that vast quantities of fish were harvested and shipped from the river, however, those species were nearly extirpated from the river in this century. Efforts to restore alewife to the St. Croix have persisted, alternately met with indifference and resistance by stakeholder groups. The latest year 2013 marked a long sought political victory that local Tribes, conservationist groups and federal agencies are attempting to turn into biological gains for the river. This paper will describe the history of the St. Croix River fisheries and the international effort involved in saving and now trying to regrow its anadromous fisheries.
9:30am – 9:55am
Dirigo: True or false for water quality?
Scot McFarlane, Columbia University; wsm2116@columbia.edu
Using the Androscoggin River as a case study, this talk considers how efforts to clean Maine rivers compared with the rest of the nation in the middle of the twentieth century. At the same time, Mainers promoted competing ideas about the role of science or the federal government in cleaning their rivers, and they even disagreed about the meaning of the strange smells coming from the Androscoggin.
10:00am – 10:25am
Panel: Topics in Maine River Cleanup History
- Unlikely Allies in Cleaning up the Androscoggin
Lloyd Irland, The Irland Group; lcirland@gmail.com
In the early 1940’s, a “Dream Team” of politicians kicked off the first serious challenge to paper companies polluting the Androscoggin River. This talk introduces these people and asks questions about how and why they did what they did.
- History of Stream Classification in Maine
David Courtemanch, The Nature Conservancy; david.courtemanch@tnc.org
Susan Davies, Midwest Biodiversity Institute
Water classification has provided a legal system to categorize waters in Maine by their quality and uses since the 1950s. While this system has evolved over time, it has been the basis for the inventory and management of our waters. In 1987, the classification system changed to one that not only recognizes the existing quality and uses but can be used to set goals for water quality that has led to an incremental improvement of our waters.
- Maine’s Land and Water Resources Council: A policy instrument that got lost
Craig Ten Broeck, Environmental Consultant; tenbroeck48@gmail.com
Maine’s Land and Water Resources Council provided a much needed forum for coordinated policy development at the cabinet officer level in Maine state government and was instrumental in establishing policy protecting Maine’s rivers, the coast and groundwater resources.