CARMA opposes activities related to metals prospecting and mining in the Georges River watershed.

Oppose mining in Knox County, Maine!
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Are you a registered Union voter? Sign the petition to get metal mining on the ballot.

We need enough UNION registered voters to sign in less than one week to get metal mining on the ballot for a town vote in June! CARMA Volunteers with petitions will visit you in a place that is convenient for you to sign the petition.

Warren will be next!

Schedule a visit to sign the petition

What’s going on?

A group of concerned citizens in Union and Warren are organizing with the hope of preventing toxic metal mining from harming the area. CARMA is seeking signatures on petitions to get metal mining on the ballot in Union and Warren. With enough signatures on the petitions for each, the towns will have an opportunity to vote on whether or not to allow metal mining.

Learn more about carma’s efforts

Community response

“We live in and visitors come to Maine for a reason – it offers the most gorgeous natural beauty available in the world.  Do not let industrial profiteers lull you into complacency.  Talk to your neighbors, communicate with your Select and Planning Boards and write to Exiro to let them know your opposition to mining in our residential communities.”

— Stuart Finkelstein of Warren, Maine

Read the full letter in the PenBay Pilot

Make your voice heard!
Write to your Town Office or reps:
Warren
Union
HOPE
Maine & USA

Get involved

The most important thing you can do is make your voice heard. If you haven’t already, contact your Town Office.

Help us spread the word about the dangers of mining in residential communities. Download the fact sheet on the effects of metallic mineral mining. And click below to volunteer or donate.

Donations will be used to fight for a metals-mining-free future in Knox County.  This includes education, awareness, and legal costs associated with challenging and defeating metals mining proposals in our communities.

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About CARMA

Citizens Against Residential Mining Activity (CARMA) opposes activities related to metals prospecting and mining in the Georges River watershed.  As a collection of residential communities and interconnected waterways and wetlands, Warren, Union, and the other towns in the watershed are at significant risk of irreversible environmental degradation and contamination.  CARMA offers information and education about this type of mining activity in Warren, Union, and Hope, and advocates for a ban in these towns.

read more about CARMA
The red dotted line shows the area Exiro Minerals is proposing for heavy metals mining prospecting.

Updates from CARMA

CARMA on Instagram

Mining operations interfere with local animal species by destroying or altering habitat, releasing pollutants into the environment, and creating noise and other disturbances. "There are a range of strategies to minimize the need for new mining for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, including extending product life through improved design and refurbishment for reuse, and recovering metals through recycling at end of life. Every stage of the mining process, including the ore extraction, generation of solid waste, and ore refining and processing, creates air pollution that has environmental and public health impacts. Tailings: Each year, mining companies dump over 180 million tonnes of these hazardous mine wastes into water bodies — more than 1.5 times the amount of waste that U.S. cities send to landfills each year. When a natural resource is ruined, it's gone forever. It's not worth the risk. Registered voters in Union we need your help! "Maine's laws and ordinances will not protect us from current mining threats Acid Mine Drainage- AMD is a serious consequence of mining. The ore lies in sulfide bearing rock and once extracted, could produce AMD through a series of chemical reactions. The sulfide rock left as “waste rock” would sit in a large pile and naturally be exposed to the two components that would start the chemical sequence, air and water. There is no way to prevent air from interacting with the sulfide rock. AMD, once introduced into the ecosystem, acts as a solvent and takes heavy metals along with it to the waterways. This is a major concern and rightly so. AMD has poisoned over 18,000 miles of river in the U.S. alone. The 15 mile stretch of the St. George River, from Appleton to Warren, supports an assemblage of rare plants, invertebrates, and natural communities that is found nowhere else in central or coastal Maine.

Follow CARMA on Instagram @carma.maine