BEP gives preliminary OK to controversial mining rules
In a 5-0 vote Friday, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection adopted new mining rules that will govern metallic mining operations in the state.
The proposed rules were developed by the Department of Environmental Protection to support LD 1853, the sweeping new mining legislation enacted in 2012. They now will go to a legislative committee that will decide whether to forward them to the full Legislature for a vote. Enactment faces a statutory deadline of July 1, 2014.
The rules and the legislation they support update the state's 20-year-old mining regulations. They came up in response to the proposal by Canadian timber company J.D. Irving Ltd., to mine a 500-acre site for copper and zinc at Aroostook County’s Bald Mountain.
According to a report in The Kennebec Journal, the Natural Resources Council of Maine considers the new mining rules “a disaster” and is urging the Legislature to reject them. Among the environmental group’s objections is the lack of any assurances that taxpayer money wouldn’t be used to clean up a mine’s pollution if a company goes bankrupt.
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