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Clean Water: Muskie and the Environment

Edmund S. Muskie and family, 1968

Edmund S. Muskie and family, 1968

Item 10815 info
Edmund S. Muskie Archives and Special Collections Library

Edmund S. Muskie knew about river pollution first hand.

Muskie grew up in Rumford near the Androscoggin River, which received pollutants from paper mills and municipal sewage as well as sources like agricultural and street runoff.

The geographic and geologic attributes of the Androscoggin, like other rivers in Maine and elsewhere, made it ideal for industry -- and pollution.