NRCM Blog

Speaking Out to Protect Children's Health

I just came back from a press event where I got to speak alongside physicians, small business owners, public health advocates, concerned parents and their children, and legislators in support of Maine’s chemical safety laws. We worked with our friends in the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine to hold the event to celebrate and defend the Kid-Safe Products Law and Maine’s other chemical safety laws.  

Maine’s Kid-Safe Products Law helps parents protect their kids by convening a scientific process to identify and phase out the “worst-of-the-worst” toxic chemicals in products we use every day. It offers common sense solutions to reduce the heavy burden of costly chronic disease that affects every family, school district, and business in Maine – preventable diseases linked to toxic chemicals like learning disabilities, lead poisoning, asthma and cancer. 

We had originally convened the press event as a way to celebrate these laws and thank legislators who had sponsored and voted for them. Unfortunately, Governor LePage proposed repealing the Kid-Safe Products Law and others earlier this week in the Phase I Regulatory Reform Proposal. 

Representative Dana Dow (R-Waldoboro) delivered powerful remarks in support of the law he co-sponsored and helped to pass with overwhelming bipartisan support (35-0 in the Senate and 129-9 in the House) when he served in the Senate in 2008.  Emily Cain (D-Orono and House Democratic Leader) also spoke eloquently about how protecting kids from toxic chemicals is “just common sense.”  We couldn’t agree more, and hope that the Governor can be persuaded to drop this part of his agenda.  Please make your voice heard on these matters by contacting your legislators here: http://www.nrcm.org/stop_environmental_rollbacks.asp

Here's my statement from today's event: 

I am pleased to stand here today with legislators, business people, physicians, and concerned parents to celebrate the progress made to protect Maine families from toxic chemicals. We’re here today to say: Maine’s safer chemical laws are working. They offer common sense solutions to reducing the heavy burden of costly chronic disease that affects every family and business in Maine - diseases that are almost entirely preventable. 

At least $380 million is spent every year in Maine on health costs related to toxic chemicals, including learning disabilities, cancer, asthma, and lead poisoning. We’re shocked that the Governor has chosen to target these laws and the rule that will get bisphenol-A out of baby bottles and sippy cups, something that 10 other states comprising more than half of the nation’s population have already done - a recommendation that was approved unanimously by the Board of Environmental Protection after they looked exhaustively at the scientific basis for why is it critical to phase out the use of this endocrine disrupting chemical from our reusable food and beverage containers. 

We believe the administration’s proposal takes us in exactly the wrong direction.  We need lawmakers to focus on keeping the Kid-Safe Products Act working as it was intended – helping parents protect their kids by getting the worst-of-the-worst chemicals out of products we all use every day. Children should be safe at school too. We need lawmakers to make sure kids aren’t exposed to pesticides on school grounds. And we need to help our communities get more dangerous chemicals out of our landfills and our ground water by creating more public/private partnerships that encourage recycling. These are the types of things lawmakers could and should be focused on, not doing the industry’s bidding by rolling back solutions that protect kids and support our small businesses.

The public supports these laws; legislators support these laws; the only group that doesn’t want these laws is the chemical industry.  We’re surprised and concerned that the Governor seems to be putting the desires of an out-of-state industry over the needs of Maine families and small businesses. We’re also dismayed that the Governor seems to think the federal government’s ‘bare minimums’ are good enough for Maine.  Congress hasn’t updated our federal chemical laws in over 30 years, despite mountains of new science that proves harm beyond doubt. 

Let’s face it, no jobs are going to be created by making children more vulnerable to disease. But by moving forward with more collaborative common sense solutions to the problem of toxic chemicals, we CAN create new jobs in innovation, manufacturing, and product recycling.

Our recognition and thanks go to the 164 Maine lawmakers who voted for the Kid-Safe Products Act in 2008, including the 74 who are currently serving in the 125th Legislature.  We appreciate your leadership and we look forward to working with you to keep Maine moving forward with safer chemicals, healthy families, and lower costs for everyone.

Thank you.

Matt Prindiville
Clean Production Project Director, Legislative Coordinator

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Maine People and the Environment: Report from the Roundtable

More than 500 citizens from across the state poured into the Augusta Civic Center on January 20th to participate in the first public meeting with Governor LePage about the importance of environmental protection to Maine's economic and public health. A panel of 28 businesses, sportsmen, health professionals, religious leaders, and youth discussed how the laws that have cleaned up once heavily polluted rivers, have kept Maine's woods and fish stocks intact, have kept our landscapes protected and relatively pristine, and have cleaned up our air - and saved us money -- by conserving energy, are necessary and welcome to those who have chosen to set up businesses in Maine, have worked the land for generations, or visit here to enjoy our quality of life.

NRCM is proud to have sponsored this event with numerous partner organizations and to have seen so many members from the NRCM family across the state in attendance. We have shown once again that the people of Maine are deeply committed to environmental protections and are willing to stand up and fight for them. Please see the extensive news coverage here: http://www.nrcm.org/news.asp

We will soon be posting the remarks of the panelists, as well as video of the event, but today's snow slowed us down a bit. Check our website next week (www.nrcm.org) for more from the Roundtable.

Here are some of the remarks from the panelists, who we thank so much for participating in this event:

William Bennett, Pres. & CEO, of Oakhurst: "After all the cows that produce Oakhurst milk literally eat drink and breathe the Maine environment so it's in everyone's best interest to keep Maine's environment clean, safe and healthy."

Unity College student Deirdre Birbeck also had a chance to speak directly to the Governor. "It seems to me that my generation's future jobs will depend on careful stewarding of our natural resources."
 
“If our coastal waters are not clean, it is impossible for all commercial fishermen, not just clammers, to market the Maine brand,” said Chad Coffin, president of the Maine Clammers Association.

“Regulations aren’t perfect, and some may need fixing,” said Harry Dwyer, a licensed forester and logger who owns Ghost Dance Forestry in Fayette. “But regulations are not the enemy. They are an important tool” to protect resources for future generations.

Horace “Hoddy” Hildreth, a former Republican state senator who is chairman of Diversified Communications, a company with 200 employees, said many of the laws protecting Maine’s air, land and water were enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures responding to the industrial abuses of the 1960s and 1970s.

“Their implementation has from time to time caused frustration and even outrage,” Hildreth said. “But I submit to you that working on the regulations to make sure they are responsive to the plain intent of the statutes is a better way to go than gutting or repealing the laws.”

Corky Ellis, founder and Chairman of Kepware, a software company in Portland, says they could have moved to North Carolina or Texas with lower taxes and minimal environmental regulations, but they wanted to live in Maine. "Please bear in mind that many businesses like ours are here in Maine precisely because of the protected beauty and the conservation efforts of the past."

And MPBN's news story quoted Ernie Hilton, former chair of the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (read and listen to the full MPBN news story here):

Ernie Hilton is a lifelong Republican, an attorney and civil engineer from Madison who previously chaired Maine's Board of Environmental Protection, and whose wife chairs the Land Use Regulation Commission, or LURC.

Hilton says he's worried Maine's quality of place may be threatened as the new administration and Legislature look to relax environmental permitting and reuglations and do away with agencies such as LURC, which governs zoning and planning in Maine's North Woods.

"I'm concerned when I see, as I did yesterday, a list of some of the statutes which are pending before the Legislature dealing with shoreland zoning and with LURC, and it strikes me as being a race to the bottom approach to our environment," Hilton said.

Hilton says it's not environmental rules or regulations that are the biggest impediments to job creation in Maine but rather the high cost of health care. He points out that over the last eight years more than 10,000 permits by rule were issued for small projects, and $5 billion dollars worth of major projects permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection alone.

 
 

I said I would do what?!

Last year, I signed up to participate in NRCM's annual Polar Plunge. I distinctly remember saying to friends and family members, as I asked them to sponsor me, "Please donate to this worthy cause. I am only doing it this once, never again, so now's your chance to sponsor me."

Do you know the phrase, "older and wiser?" I am one of those two things a year later...I will let you decide which one it is.

That's right, I let peer pressure and the promise of glory and bragging rights - and the ability to help raise money to support NRCM's clean energy work - coerce me into taking the plunge again! I am not sure what happened, but before I knew it, my photo was on our website as one of the "polar bears," my name was written on the participant board in the office, and I was off and running...raising money again for a very worthwhile cause.

And then I woke up this morning to an unexpected snowstorm, cold temperatures, and thought..."What have I done?!"

So, before the polar plunge happens on New Year's Eve day, I wanted to write some things down. Here goes...

I, Elizabeth Dimond, being of sound mind and body...

Oh wait. I SHOULD write that down just in case the water sends me into shock. But those words, and who I leave my salt and pepper shaker collection to, aren't really of concern to you, I am sure.

What I do want to say is that it's not too late to join us. You can still sign up - even the day of the event, show up with your $50 or more in hand, pose for our group photo, and then at the sound of the whistle, run screaming into the Atlantic, knowing that you are doing this for a worthwhile cause. The cold only lasts for a minute (ok...maybe a few minutes), but the impact you make by participating will last for many years to come. Join us and take the plunge, or cheer, or bring warm blankets, or be ready to hand us a hot cup of coffee. There are lots of ways to participate. Won't you join us?

And a special thanks to everyone who has already signed up to participate - as well as our generous business sponsors. We hope to see you at East End Beach at noon on Friday, December 31st. See you there!

Beth Dimond, Public Affairs Coordinator and Polar Plunger

One final note: Last year, my coworker and I came up with our set of polar plunge rules. I think they are worth reviewing - especially if you are a first-time plunger.

Governor-elect Excludes Enviros from Recent Forum

Did you see this front-page story on 12/1/10’s Portland Press Herald and other newspapers?

“Business Leaders Target Red Tape: Advocates for the environment, consumers, public health take no part in meeting”

http://www.kjonline.com/news/businessleaderstargetred-tape_2010-11-30.html

The piece describes how Gov.-elect Paul LePage is asking businesses and industry groups to help him reduce the regulations they believe hinder economic development. Twenty-eight representatives of these groups met with LePage and listed regulations they described as burdensome—issues related to the environment, civil rights, public health, child labor laws and tax policy. Unfortunately, environmental groups, public health advocates, and consumer advocates were not invited to the forum. NRCM Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim was interviewed for the story. "There are many voices that need to be he heard," said Didisheim. "This is not a balanced and fair approach to the policy process."

It does, however, provide insight into the direction the LePage Administration is likely headed regarded his view of protections put in place to protect Maine families and the state’s natural resource-based economy. You can read the full article here.

To stay informed about issues like these that put Maine’s environment at risk, and to hear about ways you can help make a difference, join NRCM’s Action Network.

"Choosing Maine's Next Governor" - watch gubernatorial candidate forum video

On Thursday October 21st, more than 300 citizens flocked to the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus to hear four of Maine’s gubernatorial candidates discuss how they would approach issues like clean air and water, climate change and energy, land conservation and wildlife, and a sustainable economy. The forum was moderated by Susan Sharon of MPBN, hosted by NRCM and more than 20 other groups, and online at, media.usm.maine.edu/~itms/video/Panel/Panel.html.
 

Peanut Butter and Jelly...and Paris

Peanut butter and jelly. That was the food that made up my childhood. Sometimes peanut butter and apple jelly. Other times, I would walk on the wild side and have peanut butter and grape jelly. “Beth is a picky eater,” was a phrase I heard more than once from my parents, my sister, and my friends. As I got older, I ventured out and tried foods that I was sure I didn’t like. Things like baked beans. Chinese food. Asparagus.

But, still as a nearly-40-year-old adult, I wasn’t what I would call a “foodie.” I liked what I liked and saw no need to venture past the few extra vegetables I have grown to like over the past few years.

And then, I went to Paris.

While in Paris last fall with my mother and sister, I decided that whatever my older sister ordered, I would sample. And if something was put on my plate and I was sure I wouldn’t like it, I tried it anyway. The most amusing thing to my sister and mom was that I never enjoyed tomatoes, but in Paris, they came with every croque monsieur sandwich that I ordered, so I ate my tomatoes. And occasionally, I ate theirs. I now LOVE tomatoes – of all shapes and sizes. And since Paris, I now also eat mushrooms, haddock, scallops, eggplant, and other foods that I swore would never end up on my plate, on my fork, or in my mouth.

And that is why I am SO excited that I am able to attend NRCM’s Art of Local Food event later this month. I am excited to sample local dishes from fantastic restaurants and farms – foods that even a year ago at our first event, I never would have tried. This year, I am going to try them all! This is a great event, in a great location, for a great cause – to support the Natural Resources Council of Maine and our work to protect Maine’s environment.

So, won’t you join me for a night of fabulous food, live music, friends, and a full moon rising over Penobscot Bay? Who knows…maybe they will even have peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

- Beth Dimond, NRCM Public Affairs Coordinator

Product Stewardship Forum Big Success…

Well…we had an incredible afternoon at the Product Stewardship State Legislative Forum yesterday! 

For starters, we had a capacity crowd of over 200 people with state legislators from all over the northeast United States and maritime Canada in attendance.  In addition, we had over 100 folks from all different kinds of backgrounds including academics, solid waste officials, recycling companies, industry representatives and environmental advocates.

Our keynote speaker, Neil Hastie – a longtime EPR veteran who runs the product stewardship program for beverage containers in British Columbia – was incredible.  He explained the benefits of product stewardship policies for business and the environment, and then clearly laid out the pitfalls that can result from poor design and implementation.  He said if we can eliminate or mitigate the pitfalls, then we’ll have a much better chance of winning support from industry.   In the end, he inspired us all, with pictures of the planet and his granddaughter, reminding us that “If not now, when?” and “If not us, then who?” 

Our other speakers, ranging from Mario Laquerre from Recyc-Quebec to Chris Jackson from the Maine State Chamber of Commerce brought many different perspectives and encouraged lively discussions among attendees throughout the afternoon. 

I believe we significantly helped raise the profile and dialogue on product stewardship issues in the Northeast through one of the largest forums on this topic that the United States has had to date.

Big thanks to all the speakers, our co-sponsors - the Council of State of Governments and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, and especially to Representative Melissa Walsh-Innes who put in countless hours to make the forum a great success. 

Here’s my statement from yesterday.  I’ll be posting more information soon.

Statement of Matt Prindiville, NRCM

Product Stewardship State Legislative Forum

Thank you Melissa.  I would like to thank the Council of State Governments and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce for being such great co-sponsors.  And lastly, our incredible speakers and presenters.  Thank you so much.    I hope you’ve learned as much as I have and that you’re leaving here inspired about the potential for product stewardship to revolutionize the way we think about “waste.”

I think you’ve heard today that we’re trying to shift out of an old paradigm that isn’t working anymore, namely having all these products with valuable, recoverable materials being disposed of in landfills or incinerators.   Product stewardship policies change the paradigm: “waste” now becomes a resource.  Systems and incentives are created are created for the private sector to capture those unwanted products and turn them into something new and valuable.  Have you heard about the term “cradle to cradle” thinking?  Well, this is what we’re talking about here.

If I could leave you all with one thought, it would be this: that together, we can do this.  A spokesperson for Dell said to me recently that, “product stewardship is the right thing to do.”  More and more businesses and industry sectors are getting this.  So how do we do it, and how do we work together in order to accomplish this lofty goal of a truly sustainable economy?  These are the questions we need to consider.   

I think our recent experience in Maine around the framework legislation is a good example: we roll up our sleeves, we sit down at the table together, we listen, we learn and we collaborate.  Now, some might say that this is a naïve proposition.  That business interests and regulatory interests and environmental interests have a long history of being at odds with each other and that’s just the way it is.

But this is coming from a seasoned legislative veteran.  I bear the scars from fighting for and helping to pass 5 first-in-the-nation product stewardship laws, all with their fair share of controversy.  But through these processes, something remarkable has been built between Maine’s business community and our environmental community, that elusive and very human condition known as “trust.”  And by beginning to trust each other a little bit more, we’ve opened up more opportunities to find common ground.

I fundamentally believe that by keeping the lines of communication open and doing our best to work together, we can achieve better outcomes and better public policy.

The environmental community, state legislators and agency officials need to realize that product stewardship programs are very challenging for manufacturers to initiate and operate and to work with them to design legislation that incorporates their concerns, provides flexibility and minimizes costs.  

Industry needs to realize that product stewardship is the future.  It’s taking hold all over the world, and we need you to help design and implement these programs and policies rather than fighting them.  We need you at the table in order to make these programs work.  You are the creators and innovators.  You bring the best ideas to the table.  If anyone can figure out how to make product stewardship work and even figure how to make it add to your bottom line, it’s you.  We need to stop looking at each other as potential enemies, and instead see each other as allies in initiatives that benefit all of us: clean jobs, a growing, green sustainable economy and a healthy, thriving environment. 

We know that while there are tremendous benefits for all of us from our consumer product economy, there are also real costs, costs to the environment, costs to wildlife, and costs to our health.  This is the challenge that we all face.  But it’s also the challenge that we can rise to.  By working together, we can begin to mitigate and even eliminate those costs and carve out a new vision for the future through transforming the way we make and use things. 

By having all of you here today, I feel like we’re we’ll on our way.

- Matt Prindiville, NRCM Clean Production Project Director

A Zero-Waste Future: Pipe Dream or Reality?

What would you say if I told you that consumer product manufacturers are teaming up with local solid waste officials to eliminate the concept of “trash” altogether?

Does that sound like an eco-pipe dream?

Well, it’s not. Right here in Maine, electronics manufacturers have already set up and are financing collection and recycling programs for unwanted television sets, computers, monitors, cell phones, mercury-containing light bulbs and more. 

The goal of these programs is to divert these products from landfills and incinerators and get them into recycling operations where they can be broken down and turned into new products. 

While, Maine’s been on the cutting edge of this policy approach known as product stewardship (or extended producer responsibility) in the United States, we’re well behind places like the European Union and Canada, which are implementing stewardship plans to get pretty much everything you can think of out of the waste stream and into recycling operations. 

And, here’s the kicker – it’s all done by private companies and the costs are incorporated into the price of the product, instead of left to taxpayers and local governments to figure out what to do with all the unwanted stuff.

Pretty soon, we won’t be talking about “solid waste” policy anymore. We’ll be talking about “sustainable materials” policy, and that, my friends, is a heck of a lot more exciting and truly has the potential to revolutionize the way we manufacture, use and dispose of consumer products. Rather than designing products for disposal, manufacturers will now have the incentives to design their products – and packaging – for their next uses, and will create the systems to capture those unwanted products and turn them into something new and valuable.

If all this sounds exciting to you, then you need to join us in Portland, Tuesday, August 17th for "The Product Stewardship State Legislative Forum: How Business and States are Turning Today’s Trash into Tomorrow’s Products.”

This free forum, taking place in conjunction with the Council of State Governments' Annual Eastern Regional Conference and sponsored by NRCM and the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, is an exciting opportunity to learn about how product stewardship is sweeping Maine and the nation and what it means for you, your business, local solid waste district, and our environment.

To register and learn more about agenda and the speakers for the event, please visit http://www.nrcm.org/product_stewardship_forum.asp.

Hope to see you there!

Matt Prindiville
NRCM Clean Production Project Director

Making a difference in the Gulf

I received an email a few weeks ago from the librarian at Nobleboro Central School. The fifth grade students there spent the year selling items that range from pencil erasers to bubbles to "locker buddies" and more in their school store. Now that the school year is over, they got to choose where to donate their profits. This year, the class chose to donate their money to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in order to help with their clean up of wildlife, like sea turtles and pelicans, affected by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since the Natural Resources Council of Maine is the state's affiliate of NWF, we were asked if someone from NRCM could come accept the check from the students and thank them for their donation.

I was delighted to be able to go to Nobleboro on Tuesday morning to thank the students, read an award of appreciation and letter from NWF, and accept their giant $300 check (I came back to NRCM to ask our bookkeeper if she could start paying me my salary on a giant check...it seemed much more fun and exciting than a regular payroll stub!).

The students were very attentive while I talked about NRCM and the work we do to protect Maine's air, water, forests, and public health. They were all sitting at their desks doing work on their laptops, so I talked briefly about Maine's e-waste law and our work to protect Mainers from toxics in various toys and other household items. One boy in the front row raised his hand and asked if I had heard about the "McDonald's cups." I said that I had...that 12 million Shrek glasses had to be recalled because of toxic chemicals found in them. It was so great to see young students so aware of current events related to the environment!

I thanked them for their decision to use their money to help wildlife in the Gulf. We talked about how it's important to help your friends and neighbors (and even your brothers and sisters...though that is sometimes harder!) nearby, but it is also important to help others (people and animals) around the country and around the world. We talked about how their gift was going to make a big difference to the wildlife clean up efforts along the Gulf Coast.

These students should be commended for their hard work and dedication to helping others. In years past, their school store funds have gone to local food pantries, animal shelters, and toward home heating assistance programs. This year, they decided to do what they can to help wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Way to go Nobleboro Central School! You are making a difference - here in Maine, and far away. I hope others are inspired by your good deeds and do all they can to help those affected by the disaster in the Gulf.

- Beth Dimond
NRCM Public Affairs Coordinator

Take Action Tuesday!

Each year, the Natural Resources Council of Maine hosts our annual Citizen Action Day in Augusta.  It's not too late to register and plan to attend - join us this Tuesday, February 23rd.  Come learn about important environmental legislation, then head over to the State House to meet with your legislators.  We will even feed you lunch! 

If you want to get involved to protect Maine's environment, this is a great way to get started.  You will meet lots of great people, learn about talking with your legislators, and have a chance to take action. Read a first-hand account from Ed Robeau, a citizen activist who attends Citizen Action Day each year. 

We hope you to see you on Tuesday. 

-Beth Dimond