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Seabird researchers report good year for razorbills and puffins

MAINE MONITOR • September 16, 2026

There was a record-setting story to tell this summer on Seal Island about razorbills, chunky black-and-white birds that stand about 16 inches tall. Razorbills are cousins of Atlantic puffins and the closest living relative to the extinct great auk. There is no official record of razorbills having historically nested on Seal Island. They were hunted to the extent that Arthur Herbert Norton, a leading expert of Maine’s natural history in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, saw no razorbills in the state from 1894 to 1923. Seal Island saw a record 127 razorbill nests this year, while Eastern Egg Rock saw a record 213 puffin burrows.

Court Upholds Maine’s Stormwater Protections

FRIENDS OF CASCO BAY • September 16, 2026

Maine’s Superior Court has upheld key provisions in a federal stormwater permit that applies to the state’s most urban areas. The court’s action upholds a requirement that regulated municipalities must adopt low impact development ordinances. This is good news for Casco Bay and many other waters in the state because stormwater is one of the largest sources of pollution into our waters. 

Yosemite development scheme recalls admin’s other public lands sell-off efforts

THE WILDERNESS SOCIETY • September 15, 2026

In late August, NOTUS (now The Washington Sun) reported that the Trump administration has been working behind the scenes to give away a piece of Yosemite National Park to a well-connected investment firm. The unprecedented swap would allow an access road for a planned resort, and it’s a priority for political leaders atSecretary Doug Burgum’s Interior Department. The deal harks back to 19th-century robber barons’ efforts to buy up American land and resources, in the days before a strong national conservation ethic could be concretized in law and regulation. But it’s also entirely in keeping with recent proposals, statements and back-room dealings coming out of this administration, which remains fixated on the promise of privatizing, liquidating or trading away millions of acres of our shared public lands (even if they won’t quite say it out-loud).

Why It Seems Like Great White Sharks Are Overrunning Maine

WIRED • September 16, 2026

It was a busy summer for shark sightings along the rest of the East Coast, but Maine, in particular, seems to have had a great white bonanza. A dozen sightings were reported in a two-day period near Pine Point Beach in southern Maine in August. Beaches were temporarily closed all over the state following multiple sightings throughout July and August. The sharks followed beachgoers through the end of summer. Experts say that the reason for our recent glut of shark encounters is a lot more complicated than just attributing them to climate change, especially when it comes to great whites. Instead, a successful conservation effort decades ago is likely starting to pay dividends, coupled with more people bringing technology that can spot sharks to the beach.

Ellsworth composting facility continues to rack up odor complaints

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 16, 2026

The composting facility Ellsworth is suing for violating its odor ordinance has continued to rack up smell complaints in recent months despite ongoing litigation. The complaints are the latest chapter in a years-long saga over the stench emanating from Maine Organics on Industrial Road. Since last year, the city’s code enforcement department has fielded dozens of odor-related complaints from the company’s neighbors, prompting a string of violations against the composting facility.

Letter: BEP should approve energy corridor conservation plan

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 16, 2026

As a lifelong Mainer, landowner, and former director of the Maine Land Use Regulation Commission, I have spent decades studying and teaching land use planning and resource management. After reviewing the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) Conservation Plan, I believe it represents a thoughtful and meaningful commitment to conservation that deserves public support. What stands out most to me is the plan’s permanent protection of 50,000 acres of forest land that will be connected to existing conservation lands in northwestern Maine. ~ Paul B. Frederic, Starks

Shifting Vision: Joel Babb’s Painted Universe

FARNSWORTH ART MUSEUM • September 16, 2026

The imagination of Joel Babb is balanced by his painterly precision, resulting in sweeping landscapes that shift between illusion and reality. His emphasis upon passageways, often defined by light, results from multiple vantage points and degrees of detail. These visual shifts evoke a hiker’s sense of trek and discovery, whether through large-scale, aerial views of Boston or ground-view perspectives of the Maine wilderness. Shifting Vision: Joel Babb’s Painted Universe will feature a dozen large-scale works, ranging from his earliest to most recent Maine paintings, with an examination of philosophical and technical approaches that shape his practice. At Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, October 3, 2026 – January 31, 2027.

‘Shark Week’ Flips All Logic On Its Head As Maine Perplexes Over Summerlong Great White Invasion

MAINE WIRE (Maine Policy Institute) • September 15, 2026

North Atlantic analysts are still gobsmacked over the number of killer sharks lurking off the Maine coast this summer. Even a Gulf of Maine “scientist” failed to come up with any solid theory. Apparently the moral to the story is killer sharks are as sharks can be. After 400 million years lurking beneath, they evidently aren’t ready to spill their strategy to not only surviving but prospering.

Scarborough Marsh wraps up for the summer

MAINE AUDUBON • September 15, 2026

At the Scarborough Marsh Audubon Center, Labor Day Weekend means the end of the summer season, but one that ended with some of our busiest days of the year! The weekend brought sunny skies and warm temperatures which meant canoes and kayaks paddled along the Dunstan River all day long. Kids and adults alike crafted their own animal puppets and made seed balls filled with native aster, goldenrod, and milkweed seeds. Many folks stopped by to check out our used book sale as well. Over the course of the summer, we saw more than 1,500 visitors from all over the United States and the world.

In Abandoning Limits on Carbon Pollution, EPA Abandons Its Mission to Protect Health

NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE • September 15, 2026

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced yesterday that the federal government would abandon regulations put in place to limit harmful greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel power plants. It is the latest step by the Trump Administration to deny climate change is happening and ignore the high cost that fossil fuel dependence has on the American people. In response, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, released a statement from Federal Policy Advocate Anya Fetcher: “Mainers are paying the price for our dependence on imported fossil fuels….States like Maine must continue to show leadership by advancing solutions that reduce pollution, protect human health, safeguard our natural environment, and deliver more affordable, reliable energy.”

Maine’s U.S. Senators push to extend pause on right whale protections, citing lobster industry impact

NEWS CENTER MAINE • September 15, 2026

U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King urged the Commerce Committee to consider a bill that extends the moratorium on North Atlantic right whale regulations. There is currently a moratorium on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 20-year policy that protects the critically endangered whale from boat strikes. The policy has left fishermen having to adapt to conservation requirements. Rep. Jared Golden’s Northeast Lobstermen Protection Act would extend the moratorium from 2028 to 2035. Collins and King wrote to the Senate committee chair and ranking member to advance the bill as soon as possible.

Endangered salmon may soon swim freely up a downeast river. But as the climate changes, a comeback isn’t guaranteed

MAINE MONITOR • September 15, 2026

On a recent trip to the upper reaches of the Narraguagus River, Ellie Mason saw prime Atlantic salmon habitat everywhere. Mason, a 29-year-old habitat restoration project manager at the Downeast Salmon Federation, is running the show day to day. Although she grew up nearby on Mount Desert Island, she had never seen an adult salmon until last year. Mason and other young conservationists are the latest of multiple generations of people in Maine and Canada who have pitched in to help these fish. The rest of the river is ready and waiting. But there’s no guarantee Atlantic salmon will come back. Other challenges remain. These endangered fish have been dying in large numbers at sea. Researchers have different theories, but many of them fall “under the broad brush of climate change,” said Rory Saunders, a fisheries biologist with NOAA.

Tiny ocean plankton holds clues to the future of Maine lobster

MOUNT DESERT ISLANDER • September 15, 2026

The future of Maine’s lobster industry may depend on a creature the size of a sesame seed. Researchers at the University of Maine have discovered that planktonic baby lobsters, or larvae, preferentially feed on Calanus finmarchicus, a tiny, calorie-rich zooplankton species, during one of the most vulnerable stages of their lives, according to a UMaine press release. Their new study upholds a theory advanced by scientists in the past decade, and one that may be relevant to recent declines in Maine’s lobster harvest. Scientists have also observed declines in both the availability of this key food source and the number of young lobsters surviving into adulthood in the Gulf of Maine.

Maine environmental groups denounce power plant pollution rollback

MAINE PUBLIC • September 15, 2026

The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday finalized a repeal of limits to carbon dioxide pollution enacted in 2024. The agency said the limits were an economic burden for power generators and increased electric costs. Anya Fetcher, a federal policy advocate at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, said the agency was abandoning its mission to protect human health. "Carbon emissions have been scientifically found and proven to be warming the planet and causing climate change, which is, in itself, impacting our health and our well-being," Fetcher said. Keith Carson, of Maine Conservation Voters, said the rollback would also lead to more harmful air pollution that drifts into Maine from upwind states.

Dixfield OKs 180-day moratorium on data centers

SUN JOURNAL • September 15, 2026

After some debate and a lot of questions, citizens voted decisively by ballot vote Sept. 14 to enact a 180-day moratorium on any data center considering coming to Dixfield. The Select Board recommended the 180 days, which takes effect immediately, “to gather information regarding the potential effect of data centers on the local energy grid and environment and to develop and implement ordinances and regulations necessary to address these development pressures and protect the public health and safety and welfare of the town’s residents.”

Culling the herd in Tremont necessary for deer, residents

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 15, 2026

I worked on Mount Desert Island for four summers while I was in college, and it was well known that the island had too many deer. Car accidents involving deer were a common occurrence.  Gardens would be decimated, and the number of ticks and Lyme cases were on the rise. Without a way to control them, the deer population was out of control. There is a proposal before the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife Advisory Committee on Wednesday to approve a trial three-year hunt in Tremont. The goal is to curb the overpopulation of deer on the island, specifically in the less touristy areas. While there is pushback to the proposed trial hunt, hopefully the DIF&W decides that a three-year hunt will be the best for the residents of Tremont and the health and sustainability of the deer population on the island. ~ Erin Merrill,

Opinion: Maine’s energy future depends on us building the grid we need

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 15, 2026

The Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program will develop an 800-MW wind project and a 1,200-MW line using existing electricity corridors. This is about far more than electricity transmission lines. It is about unlocking one of the richest renewable energy resources in the Eastern United States and connecting it to hundreds of thousands of homes, businesses and industries across the Northeast. Aroostook County possesses some of the strongest onshore wind resources east of the Mississippi River. Vast stretches of developable land, consistent wind conditions and proximity to existing and future renewable generation make the region uniquely positioned to add thousands of megawatts of clean electricity. The challenge is no longer producing renewable electricity. It is delivering it. ~ Jeff Marks, ClimateWork Maine

New England Affirms Faith in Wind Energy’s Future

INSIDE CLIMATE NEWS • September 15, 2026

On Aug. 25, Maine’s Public Utilities Commission selected winning proposals in a years-long effort to turn more of northern Maine’s howling winds into energy that can power population centers in the southern part of the state and region. The PUC selected one developer to build 800 megawatts of new onshore wind energy in Aroostook County—enough to power over 300,000 homes—and another to build a new transmission line capable of carrying up to 1,200 MW of power to Southern Maine and New England. Six hundred MW of the first tranche of power are reserved for Maine. Advocates of renewable energy cheered the move.

MDOT seeks opinions for study of traffic issues west of Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 15, 2026

The Maine Department of Transportation will host two public meetings next week as part of its Portland-West Study to identify and relieve traffic congestion in the region. The study, launched in May, is focused on transportation challenges in Gorham, Scarborough, South Portland and Westbrook. The study comes in the aftermath of plans the Maine Turnpike Authority shelved last year for a four-lane toll road connector to Gorham. The connector proposal was met with public outcry because it called for cutting a swath through Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook and other properties.