“Today marks an important milestone on the trail to prosperity for Maine people. We applaud the committee for listening to businesses and families from every corner of the state who said that a strong economy, clean environment, and healthy people all go hand-in-hand,” said Maureen Drouin, Executive Director of the Maine Conservation Voters Education Fund. “We all benefit when our laws and regulations are implemented in an efficient, cost-effective, predictable, and fair manner. The new LD 1 helps ensure a strong economy, good jobs, and a clean and healthy environment. And that’s a victory for all of us.”

The coalition opposed the original LD 1 language submitted by the LePage Administration to the committee that was comprised of 63 proposals, many of which would have weakened protections for our clean water, clean air, public health and natural heritage. The LD 1 Committee sent the majority of these controversial proposals to the committees of jurisdiction and focused instead on improving systems and processes so Maine companies can do their jobs more efficiently and effectively.

“The bill does not include any major environmental rollbacks, and that’s a tribute to the hard work of the Committee and the strong communications from Maine people to their legislators. Although we still have some suggested amendments, our overall view is that LD 1 is a good bill. We’ve come a long way since the initial hearings on LD 1, and we now have a draft that properly focuses on improving the process, not weakening protections for our waters, air and natural areas. That’s the right strategy for a state like Maine where our economy and our environment are so tightly intertwined,” said NRCM Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim.

“We applaud the Regulatory Fairness and Reform Committee for rejecting efforts to weaken the rules protecting Maine’s air, land, and water and instead focusing like a laser beam on process improvements to implement our laws more fairly and effectively. We urge other committees that are considering numerous proposals to weaken Maine’s environmental protections to similarly protect the environmental values that so many Mainers share and that make our state a special place to live, work, and visit,” said Environment Maine Director Emily Figdor.

“We commend the members of the subcommittee who worked on the environmental aspects of LD 1 for their time and effort which has, in many respects, created a more balanced and thoughtful approach to achieving the goal of improving our system of environmental protections than was set forth in the original proposals from the Governor’s office and in the original version of LD 1,” said Sean Mahoney, Director of Conservation Law Foundation – Maine.

“The trail to good jobs recognizes that Maine’s water, land, and wildlife are central to our economy and our quality of life. Maine’s natural resources remain one of our most important assets – they are what set us apart, the engine for our $10 billion annual tourism industry, and a draw for new businesses and workers attracted to our quality of life. Every step we take must keep us on this trail to prosperity, and the new LD 1 is a step in the right direction,” concluded Drouin.

For more information, visit www.protectmaine.org/environmentalpriorities.asp

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PRESS RELEASE

Environmental Community Outraged by Governor’s Proposal

Augusta, ME – Members of the Environmental Priorities Coalition, a coalition of twenty-four environmental, conservation and public health organizations representing over 100,000 collective members statewide, blasted Governor LePage’s proposal to weaken a wide range of protections for Maine’s clean air, clean water, public health and natural heritage. Many of the Governor’s recommendations weaken decades of successful legislation that passed in the state legislature with bi-partisan support.

“A dirty environment is not the way to bring new jobs to Maine,” said Maureen Drouin, Executive Director of the Maine League of Conservation Voters. “In fact, Maine’s water, land, and wildlife are the heartbeat of our economy and our way of life. This proposal is nothing short of reckless. Dismantling our environmental protections flies in the face of common sense and takes us in the completely wrong direction.”

Governor LePage’s sixty-three recommendations include: repealing a law that passed unanimously in the Senate last year (LD 1662) to protect children’s health from sulfur dioxide pollution; abolishing the Board of Environmental Protection; and opening up 30% of Maine’s North Woods to development.
“This radical set of proposals from Governor LePage would dismantle decades of progress protecting Maine’s environment and preserving our natural heritage. If passed, these policies would increase air pollution, threaten wildlife, open the North Woods to rampant development, and make companies that break the rules less accountable, among many other far reaching impacts,” said Environment Maine Director Emily Figdor.
The impact of Maine’s environment on its economy is significant. The state’s forest-based manufacturing, tourism, and recreation contributes $6.5 billion annually to Maine’s economy; wildlife-related recreation contributes $1.5 billion; and Maine’s fishing industry contributes $1 billion.

“Just last November, despite challenging economic times and a sweeping change in political leadership, Maine people still voted overwhelmingly to protect our environment,” said Jenn Gray of Maine Audubon. “Over 59% of Maine people said ‘yes’ to investing in land conservation by voting for renewed funding for Land for Maine’s Future program.”

Other proposals include scaling back hazardous waste and water quality standards.

“This proposal cuts down our core values: clean drinking water and clean air for our families, an energy future that reduces pollution and cuts our dependence on oil and the conservation of our natural legacy for future generations,” said Jane West of the Conservation Law Foundation. “We need a more sophisticated approach to improving our regulatory systems than simply tearing down the solid foundation that benefits every family and business in Maine.”

Governor LePage would also repeal a rule to get the toxic Bisphenol-A (BPA) out of baby bottles and other consumer products, and overturn the 2008 Kids-Safe Products Act.

“Everyone wins when Maine prevents disease, expands business opportunities, and reduces health care costs by replacing the most dangerous chemicals in everyday products with safer alternatives,” said Steve Taylor, Program Director for the Environmental Health Strategy Center. “Maine’s Kid-Safe Products Act passed with virtually unanimous bipartisan support, because it’s a practical, common-sense policy. Maine should not sacrifice children’s health to benefit international chemical companies.”

“This out-of-touch proposal strikes at the heart of all that is important to Maine people,” says Karen Woodsum of Maine Sierra Club, “Conserving our natural legacy takes vision and vigilance, and our elected officials play a central role.”

The Governor’s submission goes to the Committee on Regulatory Fairness and Reform.

“The Governor has assured the people of Maine that his Administration would not weaken Maine’s environmental standards, but these proposals are all about weakening Maine’s environmental standards – including the elimination of programs that protect public health, reduce toxic and air pollution, and save taxpayers money. We urge the Legislature to reject the entire package, and focus instead on improving the efficiency of implementation of Maine’s laws. That’s what this process was supposed to be about,” says Pete Didisheim, Advocacy Director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

“Maine businesses and homeowners face real problems, such the roughly $2 billion exported out of state and overseas to run our businesses and heat our homes,” said Ellen Hawes of Environment Northeast. “We had hoped that this evaluation of regulations would be careful and thoughtful – and produce good and new ideas for the future. Instead it is a list of rollbacks that would turn the clock back to the 1950s and would damage public health under the guise of reducing business costs.”

“Maine’s beautiful environment is the foundation to our prosperity and our way of life,” concludes Drouin. “We are counting on the Legislature to fight this irresponsible proposal and make wise-use of our extraordinary environment so Maine people and our economy can thrive.”

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BACKGROUND:

The Environmental Priorities Coalition includes 24 environmental, conservation, and public health organizations representing over 100,000 members who want to protect the good health, good jobs and quality of life provided by Maine’s environment.

Coalition members include: American Lung Association in Maine, Appalachian Mountain Club, Atlantic Salmon Federation, Bicycle Coalition of Maine, Conservation Law Foundation, Environmental Health Strategy Center, Environment Maine, Environment Northeast, Friends of Casco Bay, Maine Audubon, Maine Center for Economic Policy, Maine Congress of Lake Associations, Maine Council of Churches, Maine Council of Trout Unlimited, Maine Conservation Voters Education Fund, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, Maine People’s Alliance, Maine Rivers, Natural Resources Council of Maine, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Maine Chapter, RESTORE: The North Woods, Sierra Club, Maine Chapter, The Ocean Conservancy, The Wilderness Society, Toxics Action Center

Never before has there been a “one-stop” shopping handbook that connects Mainers to helpful local information on everything that is green, sustainable, organic, and natural. Now, in celebration of its 5th anniversary, the SunriseGuide has expanded its offerings from southern ME to the Midcoast area for the first time. Readers will find nearly 300 coupons (almost doubled from last year’s edition) and more than $8,500 in savings in the best of what’s healthy, local and green in Maine.

Other coupons include natural food stores and co-ops, massage, yoga and acupuncture services, green home improvements, natural pet care and garden pest control, as well as Date Night or Girls’ Night discounts for arts and cultural events.

Developed by a team in southern ME who spent the first year criss-crossing the state seeking out the best resources, the SunriseGuide was designed to be a “community bulletin board” connecting like-minded people all around Maine to eco-friendly products and services. The SunriseGuide is set up in easy-to-use sections, on topics such as:

• Food & Dining
• Travel & Transportation
• Home & Garden
• Weatherization & Efficiency
• Health & Outdoor Living
• Community & Culture
• Style & Personal Care

The SunriseGuide covers everything from the greening of Maine’s restaurants and grocery stores and advice on where to deposit hard-to-recycle items to do-it-yourself energy savers and eco-friendly holiday party ideas.

“It provides a perfect example of how to combine a frugal lifestyle with greener living,” says Monica Bidwell from Portland. “I think many people are under the impression that you have to be ‘well-off’ to make more sustainable choices. By providing both valuable information AND money saving coupons you’re allowing people to see that that’s not necessarily the case.

Indexed by advertisers and by region, Mainers can now do their holiday shopping strategically with coupons that apply to businesses near their homes and when they travel. At still only $20, the SunriseGuide pays for itself in discounted savings from the coupons and makes the perfect holiday gift. For those who prefer to shop locally, using or giving the SunriseGuide this season provides Maine businesses with incentive to stay and flourish. SunriseGuides are available at many local businesses like Whole Foods and Coffee By Design or can be found at specific locations by going to: www.thesunriseguide.com/buy-the-book/local-retail-stores.html Learn more and find out where to pick up a copy at www.thesunriseguide.com

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Housing complex for medical students is celebrated as southern Maine’s most environmentally sensitive commercial building, housing resource.

Portland, MAINE (June 17, 2010) – Gov. John Baldacci and other community leaders today officially opened the Crescent Heights student housing complex, which is one of the most environmentally sensitive commercial structures in Maine and a showpiece for “smart growth” urban-development techniques.

The building at 25 Crescent St. was constructed by Portland-based Developers Collaborative and is expected to be certified at the Platinum —or highest – level for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. It uses 37 percent less energy and 30 percent less water than a typical housing building.

“The location itself is a wonderful green feature of the building,” said Jay Waterman, a LEED consultant and senior project manager at Fore Solutions. Residents can walk the nearby hospital and area businesses. “You can have the most ‘green’ building in the world, but if you have to drive 45 miles to get there, you are putting a lot of pollution into the environment.”

The building’s 11 suites help keep area rents affordable, while providing housing for medical students and support for a program that adds to our health care infrastructure and helps train the next generation of physicians

“Crescent Heights meets a lot of community needs, without creating the impact that sometimes comes from a new building,” said Kevin Bunker, a principal in Developers Collaborative. “We have been able to take a third-of-an-acre lot and produce 44 bedrooms for students. We’ve been able to do that without adding traffic or on-street parking.”

On the inside, Crescent Heights has unique features, meant to appeal to the particular needs of medical students. An interior design consultant researched the lifestyle of these students, using social science journals, interviews, focus groups, site visits and surveys, so that she could more fully understand the needs and meet their desires of medical students, on everything from vibrant colors to carefully selected furnishings.

“I designed it like a boat: Everything is space efficient and meets their needs,” said Lisa Whited, a design consultant with Whited Planning and Design. “The whole thing about this project is to have the students have a wonderful experience and stay in Maine.”

All units come with amenities such as 42-inch flat-screen televisions and WiFi internet access; offer views of the White Mountains, Back Cove or the Portland cityscape; and in some cases, have balconies.

Furnishings in shared spaces within the units are designed to move easily and encourage social interaction among students who are putting in long hours. Artistic nature photography from Maine, carpeting from Angela Adams and other Maine-focused design elements help create a pleasing environment and puts the state in a good light with physicians-in-training. Purchasing materials and furnishings in Maine supports local businesses and protects the environment, because items do not have to be transported far.

“We do a lot of listening at Developers Collaborative because we believe that projects need to work effectively for communities as well as tenants,” Bunker said. “We work hard to make sure our projects like Crescent Heights address needs and make our communities stronger.”

About Developers Collaborative
Portland-based Developers Collaborative is an association of allied real-estate developers who produce state-of-the-art buildings that contribute to host communities by meeting specific local needs. Developers Collaborative can be reached at (207) 772-7673, info@developerscollaborative.com or on the web at www.developerscollaborative.com.

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“Earth Day is our holiday, an opportunity to do more for our planet and our community. As a relatively young holiday, we’re starting to see traditions beginning to form with annual events and clean-ups; and I’d love to see more emerging,” said Heather Chandler, president and founder of The SunriseGuide.

“Holiday traditions root us in the meaning of the day and provide a way for us to celebrate. Mainers take Earth Day seriously and we’ve identified numerous activities around the state where people can get involved and celebrate together, like the Scarborough Marsh Earth Day Clean Up, Wells Reserve Earth Day Celebration and the week-long celebrations at Frontier Café & Cinema in Brunswick. Our website www.thesunriseguide.com/earthday has a comprehensive list of local events, as well as the history of earth day and tips for celebrating. In addition, we are excited to launch a new Earth Day Scavenger Hunt to get friends and family outside and explore their communities.”

“We plan to start a tradition of planting something every year on Earth Day with our son, something that we can watch grow together,” said Robin Tannenbaum, a Westbrook resident and architectural designer who has a 1-year-old son. “My son loves the dirt and being outside. My husband is a landscape architect and loves the natural world. It seems only fitting that our family traditions reflect that too.”

Below is a sampling of ideas for starting your own Earth Day traditions.

Around the House

• Lights out and electronics free for the day
• Craft projects with recycled materials —cards, puzzles, magazine pages, etc. The recycle bin is a great source of materials for this.
• Start a garden or work in your garden, build a raised bed. Learn about and plant some native plants – visit the University of Maine’s resource link (http://www.umext.maine.edu/onlinepubs/htmpubs/2502.htm
• Break bread with friends and neighbors showcasing local dishes where most ingredients used are grown or produced right here in Maine.
• Spring clean and donate clothes, recycle the rest (FreeCycle.org as a way to give away anything, the Habitat ReStore in Portland or Bath for furniture and building materials, and Goodwill for computer equipment. They take it free of charge.)

Around the Community

• Commute to work on bike or explore your local neighborhoods on bike with your kids.
• Explore your local public lands and take a hike with family or friends, check out www.healthymainewalks.com for ideas.
• Trail clean up – contact your local land trust or trails organization to volunteer for a cleanup project, i.e. Portland Trails, Maine Island Trails, South Portland Land Trust.
• Team up with your local school or child care center to start a community children’s garden.
• Host an Earth Day scavenger / nature hunt for kids of all ages (visit www.thesunriseguide.com/earthday for ideas on what to hunt).

Recognized on April 22 each year, Earth Day is a celebration of the environment designed to inspire awareness and concern for our planet. The tradition began in 1970 when U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced his idea for a nationwide teach-in day on the environment. It is widely seen as a kind of birthday for the modern environmental movement.

The SunriseGuide is an annual resource guide and coupon book for living green in southern Maine. It contains more than 165 coupons for healthy and eco-friendly products and services, plus articles with tips for healthy and sustainable living. Topics include food and dining, outdoor living, home and garden, travel and transportation, community and culture, and more. Look for the 2010 edition at school and community fundraisers, natural food stores, bookstores, and other retail outlets. Learn more and find out where to pick up a copy at www.thesunriseguide.com.

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Last year, Stanford secured $25.5 million in US Department of Agriculture Rural Development Funds for the revitalization of more than 78 housing properties in Stanford’s portfolio, including properties in Maine, Connecticut, Mississippi and Pennsylvania. The funds will help create hundreds of jobs in Maine because most of the contracts will be given to local individuals and vendors for the work that includes repairing/replacing roofs, making ADA upgrades to the parking lot and common areas, elevator system updates, replacing windows and repairing or replacing siding.

And where possible, the upgrades will be completed with hundreds of yards of carpets made from recycled materials and hundreds of gallons of Sherwin-Williams paint with the GreenSure® designation that are designed and manufactured to reduce environmental impact and meet or exceed the most stringent regulatory requirements.

“The residents are going to see big changes to their properties that will make them more comfortable and attractive,” said Rosa Scarcelli, owner and president of Stanford Management. “But they’ll be doubly pleased to know that we’re using materials that don’t harm the environment. And for a major upgrade like this where we’ll be using lots of paint and materials, it’s good to know that companies like Sherwin-Williams offer products that are eco-friendly and meet high performance standards as well.”

For example, Sherwin-Williams Harmony Interior Latex Coating has zero-VOCs (volatile organic compounds emitted by some products that have adverse health effects) and carries the company’s GreenSure® designation. It is also GreenGuard Indoor Air Quality Certified® and GreenGuard Certified for Children and Schools.

Furthermore the paint comes in containers made from plastic that is 100% recycled from post-consumer resin. The label contains 75% recovered fiber and 25% post-consumer waste, and is
printed using soy ink. The containers are manufactured at four plants around the US to lower the distance from plant to store.

“Sherwin-Williams leads the industry in the development of environmentally responsible products through our GreenSure® designation, which takes into consideration product performance and environmental factors,” said Steve Revnew of Sherwin Williams. “However, it is important to us that we offer products to our customers that are third-party tested and certified through the GreenGuard Environmental Institute. These GreenGuard certified products meet or exceed the most stringent green building specifications.”

“It is refreshing for us to work with a company like Stanford Management who understand the importance of using products that help protect the environment for future generations. Sherwin Williams is committed to providing the products, product knowledge and training to help ensure Stanford Management meets it’s goal of going green.” said Richard Alley of the Belfast Sherwin Williams.

About Stanford Management: Stanford Management is the largest woman owned affordable housing provider in the United States and one of the largest women owned companies in the state of Maine. It operates nearly 60 affordable housing facilities in Maine from Madawaska to Old Orchard Beach and provides housing for more than 5,000 families and individuals, as well as properties in three other states. In 2008, Affordable Housing Magazine named Stanford as one of the top 10 affordable housing providers in the country. Rosa Scarcelli, a native of Wilton, Maine, is owner and President. For more information see www.stanfordmanagement.com or go to http://pitch.pe/7464
For more information on Sherwin-Williams eco-friendly products, see www.swgreenspecs.com

CONTACT: For Stanford Management, Dennis Bailey, Savvy, Inc., 207-347-6077