LePage's Environment Nominee One Of Only 6 To Get LCG 0, But It's OK Since He Grew Up On A Farm

[hatrack]

EDIT

A socially and fiscally conservative Republican, Brown served in the House of Representatives from 1978 to 1986. In his last session, he was one of only six of 151 House members to receive a zero ranking from the Maine League of Conservation Voters. The group says Brown voted the wrong way on bills related to hazardous waste, acid rain, energy standards, freshwater wetlands and chemical insecticides. The group's executive director, Maureen Drouin, in a statement called the record "troubling."

Nobody doubts his technical background, though. Brown graduated second in his class in 1962 at Richmond High School. His family could not afford to send him to college, but a teacher encouraged him to apply for an Eastern States Governors Scholarship, which was customarily given to one rural student in each New England state.

He won the scholarship -- Gov. John Reed handed him the award at a gathering of the six New England governors in Massachusetts. Brown graduated from the University of Maine in 1966 with a soil science degree and later earned his graduate degree in agronomy. While he was away at college, Brown's parents sold the farm. As he was the last of their children to leave home, there was no one left to help with the heavy work. Today, the farm is turning back to forest. He used his education to build a career helping developers build projects, particularly subdivisions and golf courses.

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In 2006, at a conference in Bethel about managing growth, Brown said Maine has a harsh regulatory environment, and he pointed to regulations for managing storm water, wetlands, vernal pools and streams. Ultimately, despite best growth-management efforts, natural resources and the market dictate what development occurs, he said at the forum, according to an account by the Sun Journal of Lewiston. "The free market system is the final arbiter in land use," he said.

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http://www.pressherald.com/news/self-described-conservationist-draws-bead-on-dep-attitude_2011-01-30.html

[hobbit709]

1. He should take a good look at the ecological history of Easter Island.

[jpak]

2. Free maket = turn Northern Maine into New Jersey and cash in while it's hot

yup