The talk will be held virtually via Zoom and in-person at 107 Norman Smith Hall, UMaine, Orono.
- Virtual attendance: Complete the registration form for Zoom connection information
Co-sponsors:
- Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology, UMaine
- Ecology & Environmental Sciences, UMaine
- Civil & Environmental Engineering, UMaine
Speaker: Lauri Gorton, Program Manager, Greenfield Penobscot Estuary Remediation Trust LLC
This talk will provide an overview of one of the largest environmental cleanups underway in Maine, designed to reduce exposure to mercury in the Penobscot River estuary – the state’s longest river. In 2022, the U.S. District Court in Maine approved a Consent Decree that created and funded two environmental response trusts to settle the 20-year lawsuit by Maine People’s Alliance and the Natural Resources Defense Council against Mallinckrodt US LLC for discharging mercury into the Penobscot River Estuary. The Penobscot Estuary Mercury Remediation Trust is charged with implementing measures to remediate mercury contamination in Estuary sediments using funds of at least $167 million and possibly up to $247 million provided by Mallinckrodt. The second trust, the Penobscot Estuary Beneficial Environmental Projects Trust, was created to fund environmental projects intended to mitigate or offset potential adverse impacts caused by mercury contamination in the Penobscot Estuary.
As Greenfield’s Program Manager for the Penobscot Estuary Mercury Remediation Trust, Lauri is responsible for leading the trust’s technical, regulatory, and communications programs designed to address mercury contamination in the Estuary. Before working on the Penobscot, Lauri spent ten years as Environmental Program Manager and Senior Strategist for other Greenfield environmental response trusts, where she led the cleanup and community engagement efforts at Superfund and RCRA sites in Mississippi, Montana, Florida, and Missouri. Before joining Greenfield in 2013, Lauri worked at CH2M HILL (now Jacobs), managing RCRA and CERCLA (Superfund) environmental programs across the country.
