Congratulations to New Sierra Club Maine Volunteer Leaders!
A special thank you to all of our members who recently voted for our new cohort of Executive Committee members. The committee sets Sierra Club Maine's priorities, goals, and strategies which directly impact our state. Our new Executive Committee members are:
Julianna DiTomasso: Climate Justice Activist and Organizer, Biddeford
Gary Friedmann: Nonprofit Consultant and Environmental Activist, Bar Harbor
Jim Merkel: Author of Radical Simplicity, former electrical engineer, and sustainability expert, Belfast
Make a New Year’s resolution to give back and protect Maine’s environment by volunteering with Sierra Club Maine! Volunteer opportunities are endless - advocate for a pro-environment bill in Augusta, form a Climate Action Team in your community, organize a speaker series to educate Mainers on various environmental issues, and much more. As a grassroots organization, we rely on the passion and talent of volunteers to achieve our mission to explore, enjoy, and protect Maine.
We will be hosting a volunteer webinar on January 25th. Join us to learn more about who we are and ways you can get involved! Register for the webinar here and complete our volunteer interest form here. We look forward to meeting you!
Legislative Lobbying Training Series Coming Soon!
The 130th legislative session has commenced and we are excited to be offering a training series to empower Mainers to take an active role in our legislative process. These trainings will be led by Sierra Club Maine’s legislative team leader, Jonathan Fulford, and contract lobbyist, Bob Howe. Trainings will include learning how to lobby, analyze a bill, write testimony, build public support, write letters to the editor, and more. By the end of this series, you will know exactly how you can lobby your legislators to enact pro-environment laws. Stay tuned for more information on the events page of our website or contact Matt Cannon at matthew.cannon@sierraclub.org.
Closing the Dangerous Juniper Ridge Landfill Loophole
Sierra Club Maine’s Climate Action Advisory Team has been working to support collaborative efforts to close a dangerous loophole that allows the Juniper Ridge Landfill to bring in toxic out of state waste to Maine. Sunlight Media Collective reports that “over 200,000 tons of out-of-state waste is disposed of at the Juniper Ridge Landfill megadump every year, a publicly owned, privately run landfill in Maine. The waste used to construct it is toxic enough to have been banned from disposal in all 5 other New England states. 10 million gallons of leachate from the Juniper Ridge Landfill is pumped into the Penobscot River every year, the largest river system in the state of Maine.” To find out more about Juniper Ridge, watch this video by Sunlight Media Collective. If you would like to get involved, please email Ania Wright at ania.wright@sierraclub.org.
Update on CMP Corridor Preliminary Injunction
Sierra Club Maine’s motion for a Preliminary Injunction against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was heard in Federal court on December 2nd. With our partners, Appalachian Mountain Club and Natural Resources Council of Maine, we asked for the Court to stop construction from proceeding on the CMP Transmission Line Project until the Court can rule on the merits of the case.
We are disappointed in that the judge decided not to grant a preliminary injunction to prevent work on the CMP corridor until the court can fully consider a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) for its inadequate environmental review of the project. We argued that construction shouldn’t begin on the Project because CMP still doesn’t have all of its federal authorizations. The Project still needs a Presidential Permit from the Department of Energy (DOE).
Sierra Club Maine and our partners will continue to work in 2021 to prevent the harmful effects this project will have on Western Maine and First Nations of Canada.
South Portland Oil Tanks Continue to Pollute Our Air
Sierra Club Maine’s Climate Action Advisory Team and Portland Climate Action Team have been working to support Protect South Portland in their efforts to monitor and change the practices of the South Portland Fuel Tank Farms. For years, operators of South Portland tank farms have violated the Clean Air Act by emitting volatile organic compounds at a rate that far exceeds what they are permitted to emit under state licenses. The next few months will be critical as we lobby for the state legislation to require and enforce the most robust possible monitoring and control of emissions, as well as stricter emission standards for South Portland and Maine as a whole. Sign up here to stay updated on the tank farm fight and see how you can help!.
Green Tip of the Month
By Kyle Bonus
In 2020 fashion, the holiday season looks a bit different this year. Booming Christmas tree sales pose a landfill dilemma. It's important to know your Christmas tree disposal options. There are wonderful alternatives to the landfill and many municipalities even offer Christmas tree recycling programs. As your tree begins to lose its pep, research the options in your area and have a plan!
Did you know you can donate stock to support Maine’s environment? Donating stock shares is a win-win-win situation because your gift is tax deductible and you avoid paying capital gains while helping us to continue our mission to explore, enjoy, and protect the environment.
Want to support our legislative work? You may also make a non-tax deductible donation of stock to support us in championing pro-environment laws and policies in Augusta.
For more information on making either tax or non-tax deductible donations of stock please contact Sarah Leighton at sarah.leighton@sierraclub.org or 207-761-5616.
The Month Ahead
Here are some of the meetings and events we have coming up. We hope to see you soon!
Sirohi’s talk will cover a relatively misunderstood topic in youth activism: performative activism. Using personal experience, Sirohi will dissect the mindset behind activism aimed at gathering social capital (called “cloutivism”), and discuss the dangers it poses to both youth activists and social justice movements.
