Senator Collins convinces House-Senate negotiators to approve plan to allow heavier trucks to use Maine’s federal interstates for at least 20 years

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—U.S. Senator Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, has successfully negotiated an agreement that would allow the heaviest trucks to travel on federal interstates in Maine for at least 20 years instead of forcing them off the highways and onto Maine’s secondary roads and downtown streets.

While the Senate originally approved Senator Collins’ provision to make this change permanent, the House never approved a similar provision.  As a member of the committee charged with working out the differences between the two bills, Senator Collins successfully negotiated this 20-year compromise agreement. Final votes in the House and Senate are expected next week.  The bill would then be sent to the President for his signature.

Senator Collins has led the effort to allow trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on Maine’s federal interstates –including I-95, 195, 295, and 395.  Senator Collins has worked closely with Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), also a member of the Transportation Subcommittee, and this agreement for Maine is paired with a similar change for Vermont.

“We faced significant opposition to our plan to permanently allow the heaviest trucks to drive on our federal interstates in Maine and Vermont,” said Senator Collins.  “But moving these trucks from our downtown streets and onto the federal interstates where they belong has always been one of my top transportation priorities.  The agreement that I negotiated to allow the heaviest trucks on the highway for at least the next 20 years is a major accomplishment that will help shippers, truckers, and Maine’s job creators.  More important, it will improve safety for Mainers who live, work, and go to school along the secondary roads, and busy downtowns where these trucks are currently forced to travel.”

Senator Collins’ effort is supported by the Association of Police, the Maine State Police, the State Troopers Association, the Maine Department of Public Safety, the Chiefs of Police, the Maine Motor Transport Association, the Parent Teacher Association, and the Bangor School Department, who have all expressed the importance of safety in getting these heaviest trucks off our local roadways and onto the interstates where they belong.

Currently, the heaviest trucks in Maine are diverted onto secondary roadways that cut through our downtowns on narrow streets, creating a major safety concern.  In most of the surrounding New England states and nearby Canadian provinces, the heaviest trucks are free to use the interstates, but not in Maine and Vermont.  This puts Maine businesses at a distinct competitive disadvantage.  Heavy trucks already operate on some 22,500 miles of non-interstate roads in Maine, in addition to the approximately 167 miles of the Maine Turnpike.  But the nearly 260 miles of non-Turnpike interstates that are major economic corridors are off limits.

In 2009, a pilot project that Senator Collins wrote, was included in the 2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill.  This one-year pilot project allowed trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on Maine’s federal interstates.  According to the Maine Department of Transportation, during the one-year period covered by the pilot, the number of crashes involving trucks on Maine’s local roads was reduced by 72 compared to a five-year average.



Governor LePage & Logging Contractors Discuss Prosperous Future for Loggers

New Gloucester – The Board of Directors of the Professional Logging Contractors of Maine met with Governor LePage today to discuss concerns they have about the future of Maine’s logging industry. PLC is a trade organization of loggers serving loggers. “Our Board was excited to meet with Governor LePage today (Tuesday, November 8^th) in Augusta to talk about our concerns”, stated, Tom Cushman, the group’s President.

“This was a great opportunity for these business owners to reach out to Governor LePage, and provide him with a background of the logging business and the challenges and changes we have seen over past two decades. We highlighted our serious concern for the future of our logging contractor’s business viability and the negative impact their exiting the business would have on the entire forest products industry here in Maine. We want to make certain our industry is vibrant for future generations of loggers and we are convinced this is what the Governor wants too,” explained Beardsley, PLC’s Executive Director.

“We are grateful that the Governor agreed to meet with us, this is the first Governor to consent to meet with our Board, it was an honor”, remarked Brian Souers, PLC’s 2^nd Vice President. Souers continued, “We discussed the ‘bonded labor issue’ and the factors contributing to overall capacity issues from the logger’s perspective.  Healthy logging contractors will add capacity in terms of employees and equipment, if their logging operations are profitable and the potential financial rewards outweigh the potential financial risks. We discussed the challenges logging contractors face, possible solutions, and how the administration can help.”

“Governor LePage made it clear that Maine needs to create more jobs and better jobs. Logging contractors provide well paying jobs with benefits.  We met with the Governor, as private enterprises, to discuss ways the state can be more responsive to loggers as business owners, to allow loggers to prosper and serve as a catalyst for job creation in Maine” said Bob Linkletter, PLC’s 1^st Vice President.

PLC was created in 1995 by a group of Maine Loggers to provide loggers a voice in a rapidly changing industry. We continue this effort today, representing loggers that harvest 75% of the actively harvested land in Maine. From the outset, PLC has focused on advocacy, safety, quality operations and business innovation. Our Members realize that harvesting is more than just cutting trees. They are highly skilled, business professionals and are an integral part of Maine’s economic engine. Our Members are dedicated to maintaining a safe work environment, a healthy forest and industry, as well as being efficient and profitable. Always have been, always will be. PLC of Maine is standing strong for loggers, yesterday, today and tomorrow. For more information visit our website www.maineloggers.com or call our office 207-688-8195.

By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff

EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage heralded the revival of the Main Street paper mill on Monday as its owners announced plans to hire another 220 workers when they start to make torrefied wood, a coal substitute, there and at the Millinocket mill as early as 2013.

Standing among huge rolls of finished newsprint destined for a Connecticut newspaper, LePage complimented Cate Street Capital of Portsmouth, N.H., for creating the new Great Northern Paper Co. as company officials discussed their ambitious plans to produce 500,000 tons of torrefied wood between the East Millinocket and Millinocket paper mill sites annually.

Source: Bangor Daily News

By Jonathan Riskind jriskind@mainetoday.com

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)

WASHINGTON – The Senate is on the verge of passing legislation that would allow trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to exit Maine’s side roads and use all Maine interstate highways.

The truck weight measure has been long sought by the Maine congressional delegation, state officials and many local residents worried about big rigs rumbling through intersections,  past homes and schools.

Currently, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds can use only the Maine Turnpike.

Read full story on PortlandPressHerald.com

MEMPHIS, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Verso Paper Corp. (NYSE: VRS) today announced that it will permanently reduce its annual production capacity by 193,000 tons. This will be accomplished by the permanent shutdown of the No. 2 coated groundwood paper machine at its mill in Bucksport, Maine, effective October 23 and two supercalendered (SC) paper machines at its mill in Sartell, Minnesota, effective December 14.

The shutdown of the No. 2 paper machine at the Bucksport Mill will reduce Verso’s annual coated groundwood capacity by 90,000 tons or approximately 10 percent. With an annual capacity after the shutdown of 925,000 tons, Verso will remain the second largest producer of coated groundwood paper in North America. The Bucksport Mill’s workforce will be reduced by approximately 125 employees.

Source: Verso Paper Corp.

Full Senate Appropriations Committee agrees to include provision in funding bill that would allow heavier trucks to use Maine’s federal interstates.

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The full Senate Appropriations Committee today approved a provision, authored by Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, that would permanently allow the heaviest trucks to travel on federal interstates instead of forcing them off the highway and onto Maine’s secondary roads and downtown streets.

Senator Collins’ provision, which received bipartisan support, is included in the Fiscal Year 2012 Transportation funding bill that must now be approved by the full Senate.  Similar language is not, however, included in the House version of this bill.

Senator Collins has led the effort to allow trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on Maine’s federal interstates –including I-95, 195, 295, and 395.  Her provision for Maine is paired with a similar change for Vermont, authored by Senator Patrick Leahy, also a member of the Transportation Subcommittee, who has worked closely with Senator Collins on this issue.

“Wherever I go in Maine, from the supermarket in Bangor, to the post office in Lincoln, to the China Dinah—people tell me that they want the heaviest trucks allowed to drive our federal interstates rather than being forced to use secondary roads and travel through crowded downtowns, like Bangor,” said Senator Collins.  “Safety is my top concern.  My provision would not increase the size or weight of trucks.  Maine law already allows trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to operate on state and municipal roads.  But these same trucks are not allowed on the interstates, where it is safer for them to travel.”

Senator Collins’ effort is supported by the Association of Police, the Maine State Police, the State Troopers Association, the Maine Department of Public Safety, the Chiefs of Police, the Maine Motor Transport Association, the Parent Teacher Association, and the Bangor School Department, who have all expressed the importance of safety in getting these heaviest trucks off our local roadways once and for all and onto the interstate where they belong.

Currently, the heaviest trucks in Maine are diverted onto secondary roadways that cut through our downtowns on narrow streets, creating a major safety concern.  In most of the surrounding New England states and nearby Canadian provinces, trucks weighing 100,000 pounds are free to use the interstates, but not in Maine and Vermont.  Maine law already allows trucks up to 100,000 pounds to operate on state and municipal roads.  Heavy trucks already operate on some 22,500 miles of non-interstate roads in Maine, in addition to the approximately 167 miles of the Maine Turnpike.  But the nearly 260 miles of non-Turnpike interstates that are major economic corridors are off limits.

Furthermore, trucks up to 100,000 pounds already are permitted on many interstates in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and the neighboring Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec.  This puts Maine businesses at a distinct competitive disadvantage.

In 2009, a pilot project that Senator Collins wrote, was included in the 2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill.  This one-year pilot project allowed trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on Maine’s federal interstates.  According to the Maine Department of Transportation, during the one-year period covered by the pilot, the number of crashes involving trucks on Maine’s local roads was reduced by 72 compared to a five-year average.

By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff

EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — The new owners of the local paper mill toured the facility Wednesday for the first time since buying it last week and announced plans to have it fully operational by Oct. 10, with 215 workers starting to fill a full year of orders.

Full Article on BangorDailyNews.com

SENATE TRANSPORTATION APPROPRIATIONS BILL INCLUDES SENATOR COLLINS’ PROVISION TO PERMANENTLY ALLOW HEAVIEST TRUCKS ON MAINE’S INTERSTATE HIGHWAYS

Senate funding bill includes provision to exempt Maine’s federal highways from the 80,000 pound federal truck weight limit

Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)

WASHINGTON, D.C.–U.S. Senator Susan Collins, Ranking Member of the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, has successfully secured a provision in the Fiscal Year 2012 Transportation funding bill that would permanently allow the heaviest trucks to travel on federal interstates instead of forcing them off the highway and onto Maine’s secondary roads and downtown streets.

Senator Collins, who has led the effort to allow trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on Maine’s federal interstates –including I-95, 195, 295, and 395, called this “an essential first step toward a permanent fix for this very serious problem.”  While the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee approved the bill today, it must now be approved by the full Senate Appropriations Committee, which is scheduled to consider the bill on Wednesday.  Similar language is not, however, included in the House version of this bill.

Senator Collins’ provision for Maine is paired with a similar change for Vermont, authored by Senator Patrick Leahy, also a member of the Transportation Subcommittee and number two in seniority on the overall Appropriations Committee.

“Public safety, our economy, energy independence, and the environment have always been among my top priorities in the Senate,” said Senator Collins.  “My provision to permanently change federal law would advance all of those goals by allowing the heaviest trucks to travel on our federal interstates in Maine rather than being forced to use secondary roads and downtown streets.

I am pleased to have the support of so many groups in Maine including the Association of Police, the Maine State Police, the State Troopers Association, the Maine Department of Public Safety, the Chiefs of Police, the Maine Motor Transport Association, the Parent Teacher Association, and Maine’s Superintendents of Schools, who have all expressed the importance of safety in getting these heaviest trucks off our local roadways once and for all and onto the interstate where they belong,” Senator Collins continued.

Currently, the heaviest trucks in Maine are diverted onto secondary roadways that cut through our downtowns on narrow streets, creating a major safety concern.  In surrounding New England states and nearby Canadian provinces, trucks weighing more than 80,000 pounds are free to use the interstates.  Senator Collins’ provision would not increase the size or weight of trucks.  Maine law already allows trucks up to 100,000 pounds to operate on state and municipal roads.  Heavy trucks already operate on some 22,500 miles of non-interstate roads in Maine, in addition to the approximately 167 miles of the Maine Turnpike.  But the nearly 260 miles of non-Turnpike interstates that are major economic corridors are off limits.

Furthermore, trucks up to 100,000 pounds already are permitted on many interstates in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, and the neighboring Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec.  This puts Maine businesses at a distinct competitive disadvantage.

In 2009, Senator Collins successfully included a provision in the FY 2010 Omnibus Appropriations bill that created a one-year pilot project that allowed trucks weighing up to 100,000 pounds to travel on Maine’s federal interstates.  According to the Maine Department of Transportation, during the one-year period covered by the pilot, the number of crashes involving trucks on Maine’s local roads was reduced by 72 compared to a five-year average.

By Nick Sambides Jr., BDN Staff

EAST MILLINOCKET, Maine — Two days of intensive work culminated late Friday with a New Hampshire investor’s purchase of two paper mills that will employ as many as 250 workers by mid-October and ignite a rebirth of a Katahdin region suffering a 21 percent unemployment rate.

Gov. Paul LePage’s office announced the creation of the new Great Northern Paper Co. with parent company Cate Street Capital of Portsmouth, N.H.,

Published on Wednesday, Sep 7, 2011

RUMFORD — NewPage Corp. announced in a press release Wednesday that the company has filed for Chapter 11 under the United States bankruptcy Code.

Read full article on Lewiston SunJournal.com