Dear John,
Yesterday was a big day inside and outside of the Augusta Civic Center!
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Bees
The Maine House voted to support LD 155, Amendment B—legislation that would protect Maine’s precious pollinators from harmful pesticides—in a bipartisan vote of 92-53 yesterday. It will next move onto the Senate for their vote. The buzz around this bill is growing!
Plastic Bags
As expected after the recent committee vote to keep the state’s single-use plastic bag ban in place, the full legislature voted to do just that. This is good news for our environment, marine life, and communities. Thank you to all that weighed in on this issue!
Pine Tree Amendment
The movement to protect Mainers’ right to a clean and healthy environment now and for future generations made serious progress in the legislature today. LD 489, the Pine Tree Amendment, makes this right a part of our state’s constitution. The amendment received unanimous support in the Senate and a majority in the House. You can follow the Pine Tree Amendment’s progress on Facebook, Instagram, and website. Stay tuned!
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Outside, we joined the Wabanaki Alliance and dozens of our partners at a press conference and live streamed virtual rally to bring attention to legislation that would recognize the Wabanaki Tribe’s inherent sovereignty. As you may know, we’ve been working in partnership with the tribes to ensure their right to manage their land, water, and natural resources is reinstated as soon as possible.
At a safe social distance, we gathered to share our support for this critical issue. Penobscot Nation Ambassador Maulian Dana, her daughter and youth advocate of the Penobscot Indian Island Reservation Carmella Bear, Rev. Ted Kanellakis from the Episcopal Committee on Indian Relations, Rep. Jeff Evangelos of Friendship, and our own Abbie Bradford spoke in support of restoring Tribal Sovereignty to the Wabanaki people yesterday.
Abbie shared why MCV and our environment, conservation, and public health partners have prioritized recognizing the Wabanaki Tribes’ inherent sovereignty:
“Restoring Wabanaki Tribal Sovereignty will be a step of healing for the State of Maine to take — both for our relationships with each other and with the land. This step will make us stronger in the face of our common challenges — including climate change and environmental degradation — and will benefit all of our children."
1,000 people tuned in to watch as participants in the Virtual Rally via Facebook Live stream and over 5,000 have watched the event already! We were blown away by the virtual turnout. Thank you to all of you that joined! If you missed the rally, you can watch the event here.
Next week, there is a public hearing on legislation that would reocognize the Wabanaki Tribes’ inherent sovereignty. To show your support for this issue, click here to sign the Wabanaki Alliance’s petition.
Thank you in advance for taking action to protect Maine’s environment and climate future by supporting justice, equity, and fairness for the tribes in Maine.
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A lot is happening in Augusta and you can count on us to keep you informed.
Onward,
Kathleen
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