The Androscoggin River Alliance will receive one of three statewide 2006 Environmental Awards today at the Natural Resources Council of Maine annual meeting in Orono.

ARA was picked from about six nominees, said Allison Wells, NRCM public affairs director, on Friday.

“What’s especially amazing about this group is they’ve only been around two years, but their accomplishments are astonishing,” she said.

In the award’s official citation:

“The Androscoggin River Alliance has taken on one of the biggest environmental battles in the state since its formation in 2005: the fight to clean up the Androscoggin River. Even though this is an enormously difficult first issue to tackle, the ARA has persevered and stayed in the fight…

The Alliance continues to make the case for families who for decades have been deprived of the recreational and economic opportunities a clean river would provide them. The Alliance has broadened awareness of the poor health of the river within the community and beyond by bringing together voices from across the Lewiston-Auburn area, including the compelling testimony of Bates College students at a legislative hearing that captured the media spotlight for the cause of getting the Androscoggin cleaned up.”

The other 2006 Environmental Awards winners are Sally Jacobs, a retired University of Maine professor and Dudley Greeley, director of the Office of Sustainability at the University of Southern Maine.

– Kathryn Skelton