Rep. Thomas Saviello, Sen. John Martin and Rep. Anne Perry,Special to the Sun Journal

Over the last 15 years, we’ve seen tremendous improvements to water quality in the state. As a matter of fact, the Androscoggin is frequently cited as one of the great successes of the Clean Water Act and is the host today to an outstanding smallmouth bass fishery, stocked salmon and trout, nesting eagles, as well as significant investment along the river, such as the proposed $29 million riverfront condominium and boutique development in Lewiston.

Maine’s rivers are indeed one of our most treasured natural resources. Once considered the backbone of industry and commerce, Maine’s rivers continue to sustain our economy and way of life, providing agricultural and municipal water supplies, sewer treatment capabilities, power for hydroelectric generation, transportation, industrial capacity and countless recreational opportunities.

All of Maine’s rivers exhibit different environmental characteristics, and few remain natural or pristine.

We must continue to be vigilant in protecting our rivers, all the while recognizing that legislated water quality standards by necessity represent a careful management of competing interests. The livelihoods of thousands of Maine families are dependent on a sensible balance.

Last year, after much debate and considerable testimony by experts, the 121st Legislature overwhelmingly adopted a dissolved oxygen standard for Class C waters. The legislation in no way degrades or compromises the water quality of rivers such as the Androscoggin and St. Croix, but rather creates a standard where previously none existed; that standard improves the water quality of Maine rivers.

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection had for some time applied a monthly average dissolved oxygen standard at various temperature thresholds to discharge license and water quality certificate applicants. The enacted legislation upheld previously applied standards and, where licenses or water quality certificates had not yet been issued, authorized a 6.5 parts per million dissolved oxygen 30-day average standard whenever the daily water temperature is equal to or less than 71.6 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius).

The standard set by the 121st Legislature was well within the range of recommended dissolved oxygen and temperature criteria established by the Environmental Protection Agency. In fact, the EPA’s Gold Book standard for dissolved oxygen of 6.5 parts per million would allow a less stringent standard to be set at 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius), but the Legislature decided to enact a more stringent standard for Maine.

The bill that Rep. Elaine Makas has submitted seeks to overturn the intelligent and thoughtful efforts of the 121st Legislature, the Maine DEP, stakeholders and countless others to set a dissolved oxygen standard based on good science that provides significant environmental safeguards and maintains a suitable balance of uses.

L.D. 99 requires that all Class C waters meet a dissolved oxygen 30-day average standard of 6.5 parts per million at 75.2 degrees Fahrenheit (24 degrees Celsius). Indeed, Class C waters are classified to provide suitable conditions for the survival, growth and reproduction of cold-water fish indigenous to Maine streams such as salmon and trout. But scientific research and the common sense of fishermen alike corroborate the fact that in shallow, warm rivers like the Androscoggin, cold-water fish seek refuge long before the temperature reaches 75 degrees. Trout can be found in the spring and salmon migrate through as well but most leave in the summer.

Over the past summer the deepest portions of Gulf Island Pond directly above the dam failed to meet the dissolved oxygen standard 1 percent of the time. Maine DEP water quality specialists confirm that the addition of the oxygen bubbler and diffuser system in Gulf Island Pond coupled with dramatic discharge reductions from paper mills have increased dissolved oxygen levels but even if all of the mills along the Androscoggin were shut down deeper areas of the water column 50 to 70 feet deep in the pond will not meet the standard.

Some may have you believe that Gulf Island Pond is the only point of noncompliance on the Androscoggin River. However, a portion of the river downstream of Lewiston-Auburn also fails to meet Class C standards following rainstorms due to sewer overflows – more than 300 million gallons of untreated sewage was released into the Androscoggin during the summer of 2004.

With the exception of those sections stated above, the Androscoggin from New Hampshire to Merrymeeting Bay meets Class C water quality standards. L.D. 99 does not correct the noncompliance issue in Gulf Island Pond or in the portion of the Androscoggin downstream of Lewiston-Auburn.

Furthermore, portions of other Class C rivers including the Sabattus, Sebasticook and St. Croix that fail to meet a particular water quality standard will not come into compliance utilizing the standard put forth in Rep. Makas’ bill.

Maine has lost more than 17,000 manufacturing jobs in the last three years. At a time when mills are closing and thousands of jobs are being lost, it’s just bad policy to mandate new environmental requirements that serve no real purpose.

Rep. Thomas Saviello and Sen. John Martin are members of Natural Resources Committee. Rep. Anne Perry is the chair of the Insurance and Financial Services Committee.

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