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Stop importing trash
The recent OpEd from the Natural Resources Council of Maine’s CEO Lisa Pohlmann condemned the importation of waste into Maine. Now we are faced with the threat of international garbage shipments bound for the PERC plant in Orrington. What’s happened to Maine’s stated policy of excluding out-of-state waste from our state-owned landfill, which now may include residues from the incineration of plastics coming from who knows where?
This “experimental” shipment was a disaster. Just ask the volunteers and Clean Harbors Environmental folks who responded to the difficult task of separating the shredded plastic pieces from the frozen seaweed along the shore of Sears Island. The scene reminds me of the days when New York city dumped barges of trash into Long Island Sound until enough people complained about the contamination washing up on their favorite beaches.
Don’t Waste ME has worked strenuously over the last several years to implement practices aligned with Maine’s waste hierarchy. We’ve kept open lines of communication with county commissioners, elected officials of Municipal Review Committee towns and state regulators. Our efforts helped divert tens of thousands of tons of curbside garbage from landfills to the waste-to-energy facility in Orrington.
While we realize that PERC, as a commercial entity, needs to remain a viable business to help transition to a better future for Maine’s consumed goods, making deals with a foreign country to offshore the environmental impact of trash remediation onto our citizens is a horrible outcome. This practice should be condemned at all levels of government in Maine and serious consideration should be given to implementing emergency measures to prevent future shipments.
Thanks to the Bangor Daily News for bringing this important issue to light. Transparency with this and other waste management issues facing our communities is critical.
Ed Spencer
Vice Chairman
Don’t Waste ME
Old Town
Why I wear my mask
I voluntarily wear my mask: In respect for essential workers who serve us. In respect for first responders who protect us. In respect to nurses and doctors who care for us. In honor of them, I wear my mask.
Fred Wlodarski
Orono
Congress must deliver relief
I want to tell people about my mother. She is almost 71. New Year’s Eve is also her birthday. My mother was ill last year on her birthday and did not really celebrate. This Maine woman deserves to be celebrated.
Like many Maine mothers and grandmothers, my mother has been a long-term caregiver to many family members. By the time she felt well again, COVID-19 made gathering in-person impossible. My mother has been separated from her extended family longer than most; and our family will not celebrate her again this year out of an abundance of caution. My mother has some health issues, and no one in our family wants to cause her any harm. My mother’s job working with school children puts her health at risk.
My mother’s work is essential to our community and she cannot afford to live without the income from her job. Extending and expanding aid to unemployed people could help people like my mother stay safer, and take care of mortgage payments, buy food and meet other basic needs until the pandemic is better controlled. CARES Act provisions will expire at the end of the month.
Congress must act now to pass a relief package that ensures Mainers with health risks have what they need to make it through to the new year. Stop-gap measures need to include strong housing protections and relief, additional food assistance, and expanded unemployment benefits. Please ask Maine’s congressional delegation to protect Mainers like my mother.
Kimberly Hammill
Levant