BEP holds October 6, 2005 public hearing on Dragon's waste permits.

Maine Board of Environmental Protection orders October 6 public hearing on Dragon's waste permits.
Read story, listen to audio recordings of meeting here

AUGUSTA. The Maine Board of Environmental Protection held a public hearing on whether they should take over over decisionmaking on Dragon Cement Products' pollution license. The hearing was held on October 6, 2005 at the Holiday Inn's Ground Round, on Civic Center Drive, Augusta. 

The Board responded to a petition by citizens group Neighbors for a Safe Dragon stating that the Maine Department of Environmental Protection's Waste Bureau was refusing to act on Dragon's Cement Kiln Dust waste license application, meanwwhile allowing the company to continuing discharging CKD into the air and groundwater.

The Board of Environmental Protection members voted unanimously to hold a hearing to take testimony from Neighbors for a Safe Dragon, Dragon Cement and the interested public. The meeting was  held October 6th in Augusta.

At the hearing, the Board was skeptical of explanations made by Maine DEP solid waste division official Paula Clark for allowing the Dragon to operate an unlicenced unlined 840,000 ton cement kiln dust landfill for the last decade without a license and wanted to know why the company was allowed to build a major addition to the industrial complex with no public notice or review. 

Members of Neighbors for a Safe Dragon are jubilant, saying that the people finally get their chance to be heard.

On Sept 22nd, Maine's Board of Environmental Protection to quiz state's Dragon-licensers.

Dragon's toxic test well data

Thomaston cement maker Dragon Cement Products' pollution licensing problems go under the spotlight on Sept 22nd, when the state's top citizen environmental board asks the Dept of Environmental Protection's pollution officials to explain why Dragon continues to be allowed to pollute the region's watershed, aquifers and neighborhoods without being licensed to do so.

The action comes in reaction to a request by citizens' group Neighbors for a Safe Dragon to the Maine Board of Environmental Protection that the Board itself take over the permitting process instead of letting DEP continue to muddle along year after year while Dragon continues discharging into the environment..

In the past, the Board of Environmental Protection "assumed jurisdiction" over Maine DEP permitting process regarding runoff and noise issues from expansion of the Knox County Regional Airport, as well as over the amount of waste that salmon farms can discharge from their marine feedlot operations, in addition to other pollution challenges that the Maine DEP staff seem unable to resolve.

According to BEP's executive analyst Cindy Bertocci, the state's pollution officials are scheduled to appear before the Board at 1pm September 29th in Augusta at the Holiday Inn /Ground Round on Civic Center Drive adjacent to the Augusta Civic Center. 1:00 pm.

Board of Environmental Protection:
Purpose of theBoard
Members of the Board

DMR Bay Mgmt Steering Committee meets 9/19/05, Portland

The Steering Committee of the Maine Bay Management Study will meet Monday, September 19th 10:00 am - 2:00 pm at the Gulf of Maine Research Institute 400 Commercial Street, Portland, Maine.
Legislation describing how the study is to be carried out

CLF gives Ferraiolo Corp notice of intent to sue in federal court.

Ferraiolo Construction Company gets Clean Water Act Notice of intent to Sue 9/8/05
"Concerned with rising levels of stormwater pollution and rampant permit violations at industrial facilities in Maine, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) today notified six concrete and asphalt plants in mid-coast Maine that it will file suit in 60 days for violations of the federal Clean Water Act.

"Statewide, fewer than 15 percent of Maine's industrial plants have federal stormwater discharge permits," said CLF Staff Attorney Steve Hinchman..." Click Here for full media release from CLF *** Village soup story