Mr. Varney says that Angus King told him to tell everyone that in addition to being a 50 year part time resident, he's also been a taxpayer in Maine for that whole time!
He thanks all of the sponsors of the event.
There are major challenges facing Maine's water quality. We have been working hard and accomplishing a lot towards water quality, and points out that it is a remarkable achievement that we've come so far in 40 years. Whenever he travels he is happy that Maine and New England has done such a good job.
Where he worked previously, at EPA, he only was in charge of 18 miles of beaches, and yet he still couldn't get an A+ for water quality. He made sure from that point that he would work harder to improve water quality. Also while at the EPA, Mr. Varney started an important program to help improve water quality monitoring in New England. They didn't stop at monitoring, however. There was just as much emphasis at tracing the problems back to the source, and to never blame the beach problems on the rain. While rain does contribute to the problem, the actual cause of pollution is stormwater and its infrastructure, not the rain. By getting to the roots of the problems, beaches will be cleaner.
This year, beach monitoring has a budget of about 55 thousand dollars. This is a thin amount for the enormous Maine coastline. Accomplishing a large no-discharge area from New York to Casco Bay is one of his big projects, and there has been a lot of progress towards that goal. While some gaps need to be filled in, many areas including all of CT, Boston harbor and many spots in Maine are already no-discharge zones.
The stimulus money, he says, has been a huge boost. About 30 million dollars has been given to ME for wastewater projects. The Clinton Street project in Portland was highlighted in a 100 days report from the Obama Administration. While 30 million is a great start, he says, Maine needs 300 million dollars to meet all the needs.
Stormwater is also a big need. How do we retroactively deal with existing development? The collaborative effort at Long Creek in Portland has been a great indication of how to possibly proceed, and has been touted by the DEP and others for this effort. New development is easy, he says, but existing development is the trouble.
These are troubling times, but as we look to the future we must remember that keeping the quality of Maine's environment is critical to both our happiness and health, but also to our economy. Keep this in mind when you talk to state and local officials. By working together, we can get there.
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