The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
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Sincerely,
Jym St. Pierre
Editor, Maine Environmental News
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 10, 2026
A report from the Portland Bicycle Pedestrian Advisory Committee contains some surprising findings. In the six years following installation of parking-protected bike lanes on Park Avenue:
• All injury crashes, including motorists, were reduced by 44.9%, from 98 to 54.
• Bicycle crashes increased by 11%, from 9 to 10, including one fatality.
• Pedestrian crashes at intersections increased 233%, from 3 to 10.
It seems that the general guiding principle of reducing the road width (known as a “road diet”) is sound when it comes to slowing down cars and reducing serious crashes, but in this case, deficiencies in the design have actually been harmful to bicyclists and pedestrians. Separated bicycle facilities may be the right solution for some streets but infrastructure must be designed to create a seamless network of safe connections for all. ~ Zack Barowitz and Winston Lumpkins IV
MAINE PUBLIC • January 9, 2026
A superior court judge has ruled in favor of the Penobscot Nation in an appeal over the expansion of the Juniper Ridge Landfill. The court ordered the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to redo a study that determined there was a public benefit associated with expansion. Justice Bruce Mallonee found that the DEP did not complete fact finding critical to its public benefit determination for the expansion of Juniper Ridge, the state-owned landfill in Old Town. He's now ordered the department to consider the cumulative environmental burdens placed on the Penobscot Nation and on the tribe's intimate relationship with the Penobscot River. By not considering those factors originally, the DEP failed to properly apply environmental justice standards required under Maine law. The Penobscot Nation and Conservation Law Foundation had appealed the DEP's public benefit finding.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 9, 2026
L.L.Bean has promoted a longtime employee to be the next president and chief executive officer of the 114-year-old retail company based in Freeport. Greg Elder, who began working for L.L.Bean in 2007, will transition into the new roles in late February, the iconic Maine retailer announced Friday. “This brand has shaped who I am,” Elder said, “not just as a leader, but as someone who deeply believes in the power of the outdoors to bring people together.”
SPECTRUM NEWS • January 10, 2026
What started as a student paper has become a roadmap for dealing with the harmful chemicals known as PFAS. For nearly two years, University of Maine undergraduate student Eddie Nachamie has been researching Maine’s response to the so-called “forever chemicals,” which have contaminated wells and farmland across the country. Certain levels of PFAS may also lead to cancer, immune system disorders and other health problems. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, there are thousands of PFAS chemicals, and they are found in many different consumer, commercial and industrial products. Through his verified work, he’s discovered that the state of Maine is leading the nation in PFAS regulation. Nachamie said, “There’s been the most robust response in Maine out of any other state.” Maine also has more supports for those who have been affected by the chemicals. His work can now be used as a framework for other states that are still figuring out how to implement PFAS legislation.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • January 9, 2026
The Intergovernmental Science Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) regrets the deeply disappointing news of the United States’ intention to withdraw its participation in IPBES, along with more than 60 other international organizations and bodies. The United States is a founding member of IPBES and scientists, policymakers and stakeholders – including Indigenous Peoples and local communities – from the U.S. have been among the most engaged contributors to the work of IPBES since its establishment in 2012, making valuable contributions to objective science-based assessments of the state of the planet, for people and nature. Unfortunately, we cannot withdraw from the fact that more than 1 million species of plants and animals face extinction. Nor can we change the fact that the global economy is losing as much as $25 trillion per year in environmental impacts or restore the missed opportunities of not acting now to generate more than $10 trillion in business opportunity value and 395 million jobs by 2030.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 9, 2026
This week the Wild Seed Project, a North Yarmouth organization dedicated to promoting and restoring native plants in Maine through sharing seeds, announced Alice Friberg will be its new executive director. Friberg began her career in planting as a small business owner, running an organic farm in Whitefield for 11 years raising both crops and livestock. She served on the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association’s board of directors for eight years as well. In 2014, she joined Fedco Seeds, a cooperatively-owned agricultural supply business in Clinton, where she worked as a department manager, marketing chair and chief financial officer.
CBS 13 • January 9, 2026
Crews battled a fire at a Maine Wildlife Park shop in Gray late Thursday night. When crews arrived just before 11:30 p.m., they found a Maine Wildlife Park shop building was fully involved and a second-alarm was struck. Maine Wildlife Park is operated by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The park is home to more than 30 species of Maine wildlife that cannot be returned to their natural habitats. The park is closed for the season.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 9, 2026
A man who moved to Maine with dreams of opening an animal sanctuary is being sued by the state for damaging a stream and clearing vegetation without permission. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is suing Robert Altieri for three violations of the state’s laws to protect natural resources that he allegedly committed when he started work to build a home in Milford. Altieri built a driveway across and in Otter Stream and cleared land without permits or approval from the Maine DEP. The property had wetlands and habitat for “high value” inland waterfowl and wading birds. He dreamed of opening an animal sanctuary mainly wanted to help dogs but was interested in helping “horses, cows, tigers, whatever.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS • January 8, 2026
President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the entire United Nations climate-fighting apparatus takes America’s environmental isolation to another level and is likely to damage both the United States and the world as the planet flirts with ecological tipping points, experts say. Leaders from around the world say the United States will be left behind as more than 190 other nations join in what they call a blossoming green economy that is transitioning from polluting coal, oil and gas to cleaner and cheaper solar, wind and other renewable energies.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 8, 2026
Vertical Harvest, a hydroponic farm in downtown Westbrook, is being sued for allegedly failing to fully pay back a broker that secured a $48.75 million federal loan to get the farm started. The lawsuit alleges Raiven Fund Management, a Canadian venture capital firm, misled the broker, Waterside Commercial Finance, into agreeing to defer payment of 2% of the proceeds of the USDA loan, which amounts to about $975,000. Waterside is seeking full payment of damages, attorneys’ fees and any other penalty the court finds appropriate. Vertical Harvest is a four-story hydroponic farm that expects to produce 3 million pounds of leafy greens annually. It received nearly $60 million in financing. CEO Nona Yehia said Thursday, “the claims being asserted are inaccurate and materially misleading.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 8, 2026
The residents of a large Gorham mobile home park have been left without safe drinking water for two weeks since learning their community wells tested just over the state limit for harmful forever chemicals. The state is working with the owner of Friendly Village to address the problem. To comply with Maine law, the park must now either install a water treatment system, drill a new clean well or hook up to the municipal water system. Because Friendly Village was not tested as part of Maine’s sludge spreading investigation the cost of resolving the problem falls to the park owner, not the state. Maine has spent more than $100 million as it became a national leader in the fight against per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, but state officials say dwindling funds will soon force it to make difficult choices about whom to help.
MAINE PUBLIC • January 8, 2026
Small businesses and nonprofit groups in Maine that were negatively affected by abnormally rainy and cold conditions last May can now apply for federal disaster loans. The U.S. Small Business Administration Tuesday announced loans of up to $2 million with interest rates as low as 4%. The agency says they can be used to pay debts, payroll, and other expenses directly related to the abnormal weather conditions. Parts of Maine received double the normal amount of rainfall in May, and a rare late spring nor'easter hit the state just before Memorial Day.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 8, 2026
Former state Rep. Denise Harlow, 55, a progressive who represented Portland and an elite marathoner who qualified in 2000 for the U.S. Olympic Trials, died Sunday from cancer. Harlow represented Portland in the Maine House of Representatives from 2010 to 2018. She was most passionate about nature, and served on the Legislature’s committees dealing with the environment and inland fisheries and wildlife.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 8, 2026
In 2019, Maine seemed poised to be a leader in promoting energy alternatives. It hasn’t worked out. Heat pumps have been a winner. Electric vehicles, not so much. Gov. Mills’ predecessor, Paul LePage, also liked heat pumps. On all other energy matters, LePage’s views resemble President Trump’s, whose opposition to wind, solar and energy storage has been irrational. Whatever energy policy Trump is espousing, Maine should do the opposite. But what can be done, in the face of massive federal hostility? First, we can acknowledge Maine’s failures in energy policy, while building on promising initiatives. Mills’ confidence in plug-in cars was misplaced as was spending at least $1 billion entirely on the highway system, not even investigating greater use of buses, trains, ferries, pedestrian access and ride-sharing. It will take investment, and lots of it, to actually achieve our energy goals. ~ Douglas Rooks
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 8, 2026
Thanks to cold temperatures to start the year, coastal smelt camps are opening after several years of poor ice conditions. A true cottage industry, these camps spring up almost overnight when the ice is safe and are busiest on weekends. You can usually tell which camps are hosting a few drinks by the increasing noise as the night goes on. My longtime fishing partner told a story of a drunken angler who fell into his race hole, only to pop up in a shack downstream. Another time, a muskrat popped into his shack, looked around and then departed. I guess anything is possible on the ice. ~ Tom Roth
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 7, 2026
On Wednesday, Jan. 14, Bath Climate Conversations will focus on how young people can unite communities for local solutions to the climate challenge. The event will happen in the Community Room of the Patten Free Library, both in-person and on Zoom, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Leia Lowery, cofounder and director of The Climate Initiative (a Maine-based nonpartisan organization), and Jackson Chadwick, advocacy director of the Maine Youth for Climate Justice (MYCJ), will talk about successful efforts to get young people engaged with their communities through climate action.
MAINE MORNING STAR • January 7, 2026
Lawmakers are considering a proposal that could help Maine renters lower electricity costs through the use of solar energy. State Sen. Nicole Grohoski (D-Hancock) said LD 1730 would allow for small, plug-in solar units so renters and other Mainers can access the renewable energy source without the large upfront investment of traditional panels and without adding costs to the state or other ratepayers. This focus on costs comes as Central Maine Power and Versant customers are slated to see their bills increase by an average of $13 to $17, according to an analysis by the Office of Public Advocate.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 7, 2026
The devastating storms of the winter of 2023-2024 inflicted an estimated $90 million in damage to Maine’s public infrastructure. Rising temperatures contribute to increasingly intense storms. Even the U.S. Geological Survey — an agency of a federal administration now openly contemptuous of climate action — observes that “with increasing global surface temperatures the possibility of…increased intensity of storms will likely occur.” The Maine Climate Council says that “rising sea levels have caused recent increases in coastal flooding, such as the record-breaking storm events of January 2024.” The Legislature has the opportunity to pass LD 1870, which would establish a Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program Fund, funded by fees assessed to any “entity that was engaged in the trade or business of extracting fossil fuel or refining crude oil between Jan. 1, 1995 and Dec. 31, 2024.” The fund would pay for “climate change adaptation projects in the State. The times call for courage. ~ Nate Davis, Rockland city councilor
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 7, 2026
It will now take about 1,500 truckloads of rocky material and topsoil to complete the final step of a yearslong process to remediate the Callahan Mine in Brooksville, a Superfund site. Work was most recently expected to wrap up there in 2026, but it may now stretch into 2027, according to state project manager Iver McLeod. The last step, capping waste rocks from metal mining that took place in the 1960s and ‘70s, will bring to a close 15 years of active, multimillion-dollar projects to clean up serious environmental contamination. Most of that funding comes from the federal government.
