University of Maine Water Research Institute to be Named for Maine Senator George J. Mitchell
July 19, 2000
Contact: Steve Kahl, Water Research Institute, 207-581-3286
Nick Houtman, Office of Public Affairs, 207-581-3777
ORONO, Maine -- The University of Maine will honor the environmental achievements of Maine Senator George J. Mitchell by dedicating the Water Research Institute (WRI) in his name. During his years in the Senate, Mitchell played key roles in such landmark environmental legislation as the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Safe Drinking Water Act.
The WRI conducts research on topics related to each of those measures. It will be known as the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research. Mitchell will be at the University of Maine on Friday, October 6 for a ceremony to highlight the naming of the Center.
“I am honored to be associated with an internationally recognized research center that is investigating the wide variety of environmental issues that affect most of Maine's economy and quality of life,” says Mitchell. “I am especially pleased with the Center's commitment to graduate education which complements the Mitchell scholarship program for Maine undergraduates.”
WRI scientists conduct research on topics such as acid rain, lake pollution, mercury in fish, drinking water source protection and MTBE and arsenic in groundwater. The Institute has been awarded more than $15 million in grants and contracts over the past decade. Institute staff have testified in Washington D.C. on issues related to reauthorization of the Clean Air Act and contributed to environmental management in Maine through co-chairing the Governor's Council on Environmental Monitoring and Assessment and serving on the Great Pond Task Force.
“Senator Mitchell has been an outspoken leader on environmental issues for more than two decades,” says University of Maine President Peter S. Hoff. “In 1989, he dedicated the University's Sawyer Environmental Research Center where the Water Research Institute is located. It is time formally to link the Senator and his accomplishments with the leading environmental research center in Maine.”
The WRI has won awards from the State of Maine, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes for Water Research for its research and for programs designed to foster education and public awareness of water resources issues.
Mitchell was appointed to the Senate in 1980 to complete the term of Senator Edmund Muskie who had resigned to become Secretary of State. His ensuing 14-year Senate career included authorship of the first national oil spill prevention and clean-up law as well as legislation on child care, education, civil rights and the environment. He left the Senate as Majority Leader, a position he had held since 1989. He was voted the most respected member of Congress six times.
He is the author of four books, including “World on Fire” that describes the threat of global warming and outlines steps to reduce it. He co-authored “Men of Zeal” with Maine's Bill Cohen, presently Secretary of Defense.
Today, Senator Mitchell is a member of the law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand. He has received numerous prizes for his work for peace, including the Tipperary International Peace Award earlier this month for his negotiations in Northern Ireland.
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