The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
Thank you for reading Maine Environmental News. Each year, we post thousands of news summaries, notices, and links related to important environmental issues from across the state (and beyond). If you find this service useful, you can help us continue to provide it by making a donation. Just click on the button below and contribute whatever you can afford. Thanks again for your generous support!
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Jym St. Pierre
Editor, Maine Environmental News
I am not able to post all the usual news while I am traveling overseas. I return soon. Please check back. ~ Jym St. Pierre, Editor
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 29, 2026
Lawmakers in the Maine House of Representatives failed to secure the necessary two-thirds majority to overturn Gov. Janet Mills veto of a bill that would have been the country’s first statewide pause on large data center development. Wednesday’s potential votes in the House and Senate marked the last glimmer of hope for the long-debated measure after the governor rejected it late last week. The measure would have prohibited new permits from being issued for data center projects of at least 20 megawatts. Though a majority of members voted to overturn the veto, the total fell short of the two-thirds threshold required.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 29, 2026
The city of Portland has approved $10.1 million for expanded jetport parking. Jetport officials have been searching for more than two years for a way to add more parking at the airport to accommodate a growing number travelers. But last fall, the city council rejected a plan to expand surface lots in response to pushback from environmental advocacy groups and Jetport neighbors. Under the new plan, the Jetport will pave over a gravel lot and bring another existing surface parking lot up to current standards, for a total of 537 spaces. The lots are smaller than what was previously proposed.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 29, 2026
Opening day for turkey season is coming up. Youth day is Friday and Saturday, and the general season opens May 4. Emilie Cram will be out this season with her toddler Alice. It’s her second year bringing her daughter along. Alice joined Emilie and her husband, Will, on a hunt just 10 days after she was born. How do you keep a toddler quiet when you’re trying to get a tom into range? Snacks.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 28, 2026
Another Earth Day has come and gone. River, beach and city park cleanups have taken place; speeches have been made; and politicians have offered their obligatory support for the natural world. Yet across the country, so much of what makes America great is under threat. Powerful special interests wield far too much influence over our democracy, and constitutional freedoms— like the ability to speak out in public — are being challenged in ways we haven’t seen for years. America’s national parks, national monuments and other public lands are now squarely in the crosshairs of the administration and its cynical efforts to hand over control of our shared heritage to some of the most powerful corporations in the world — all at the expense of our freedom to roam the great outdoors. The days after Earth Day are when Mainers must call on our elected leaders and remind them that protecting America’s public lands is what truly makes our country great. ~ Jeremy Sheaffer, Maine state director, The Wilderness Society
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 28, 2026
A Maine court has sided with a group of Wells neighbors in a lawsuit over the construction of a fence and a driveway that they say have impeded their access to the Webhannet River. In an April 21 decision, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court overturned an earlier decision by the York County Superior Court and remanded the case back to the lower court. In accordance with the opinion issued by Justice Andrew Mead, the case will go back to the Superior Court for further proceedings, including to hear the neighbors’ request for the fence to be taken down.
CENTRAL MAINE • April 28, 2026
When Maine seemed poised to pass the nation’s first temporary ban on new data center development, the country started to pay attention. Gov. Janet Mills shot down the measure, LD 307, late last week. Critics — including environmental advocates and other political figures — were quick to condemn the move. Some prominent members of her own party said they would have made a different call. But others, including labor unions and developers eyeing Maine, praised Mills for taking a stand for local interests amid national scrutiny. The move could have major political ramifications for Mills, who is badly trailing political newcomer Graham Platner in the race for the chance to unseat Republican incumbent Susan Collins.
SUN JOURNAL • April 28, 2026
The Kingfield Planning Board will hold a public hearing May 7 to take input from residents on an application for Bowdoin College’s proposed campsite at the Finnegan McCoul Woodruff Mountain Center. According to Bowdoin’s Outing Club, students will use the space for excursions to the nearby mountains and rivers in the summer and fall months. The 20.7-acre site will feature seven gravel campsites, a pavilion, parking and other spaces set aside for future development. Some residents have been vocal about the increase in traffic on the roads into the site, saying that the school should bear more responsibility in funding the upkeep of the infrastructure used to access the property.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 27, 2026
Supporters of what would have been the nations first statewide pause on large-scale data centers are dismayed by Governor Janet Mills' veto of the measure. "We're incredibly disappointed," said Sarah Woodbury, legislative director at Maine Conservation Voters. "The data center issue is not going to go away, and by vetoing this bill, it basically leaves Maine open to allowing these facilities to come in here, and impact our economy and our environment," Woodbury said in an interview.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 27, 2026
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine's 1st District is spearheading an effort to amend the draft Farm Bill by removing what she said are legal protections for large pesticide producers. At a rally in Washington, D.C., on Monday, Pingree said the bill's current language would override state and local warning label laws for potentially harmful products. Pingree called out the German company Bayer, a major producer of the chemical glyphosate, which some experts have linked to harmful health effects. "They have 53 well-paid lobbyists and are spending millions of dollars lobbying Congress," Pingree said to a crowd of activists. "And that's not to make their products safer. No, it's to protect themselves." The rally was in advance of the U.S. Supreme Court hearing oral arguments on a case that could determine the fate of thousands of lawsuits linking the Bayer herbicide "Roundup" to causing cancer.
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • April 26, 2026
The reality is that fishing is food production, and what fishermen produce is some of the best food you can eat. Yet, while our neighbors in the heartland have long benefited from the robust support of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, our fishermen have been left to navigate a different, often more precarious, path. Now is the time to bridge that gap and fully integrate seafood into our national food framework. When we build a stronger supply chain here at home, we aren’t just helping fishermen, we’re making sure Maine and the rest of the country can feed itself. ~ Ben Martens, Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 25, 2026
During an Earth Day cleanup event hosted by Portland Parks Conservancy and the City of Portland at 18 locations across the city volunteers took to the streets and sidewalks, ditches and pond banks.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 24, 2026
The biggest change at Acadia National Park this year is for foreign tourists. An America The Beautiful Pass, which covers entrance fees at many national parks and federal lands, jumped to $250 for non-U.S. residents in 2026. The pass will still cost $80 for U.S. citizens and residents. Foreign visitors who do not have that pass will need to pay an extra $100 per person on top of the standard entrance fee to get into the 11 busiest national parks, including Acadia. Current daily entrance fees for Acadia range from $20 to $35. Baxter State Park introduced a change to its reservation system for 2026. Now, campers will be able to book four consecutive nights at the same site online. Reservations across the12 state campgrounds managed by the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands have been strong. Two campgrounds that were closed last year for upgrades — Aroostook State Park and Cobscook Bay State Park — will be open again.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 24, 2026
An invasive species was found in southern Aroostook County trees this month, far north and south of where the species is known to be in Maine. A logger reported a tree in Benedicta that they suspected was infested with an emerald ash borer this month and their presence has since been confirmed, the Maine Forest Service said in a notice Friday. The invasive species can injure and kill ash trees and cause them to become brittle, and the agency considers them “one of the most serious invasive species threatening our forests.” The emerald ash borer is a small wood-boring beetle from Asia that invaded North America via transported wood, according to the Forest Service, and was first detected in Maine in 2018. Most of southern and central Maine, and part of northern Aroostok County, are considered quarantine areas, meaning ash wood should not be transported outside those areas.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 23, 2026
A lobsterman’s body was found in a Down East bay Wednesday morning after he was reported missing the night prior. Thomas West, 63, of Steuben, was found dead in Dyer Bay near his 35-foot lobster boat, according to a news release from the Maine Marine Patrol. Local fishermen reported West missing Tuesday evening after his boat, named Aces and Eights, was found running with no one aboard. Marine Patrol searched for him through the night but suspended the search around 2:30 a.m. because of low visibility, according to the release. His family found his body around 6 a.m. near the boat, which was moored near a wharf on Merritt Road in Steuben.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 23, 2026
The Mi’kmaq Nation, based in Presque Isle, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service signed a historic agreement Wednesday that grants the two organizations mutual access to their respective abutting lands at the Aroostook National Wildlife Refuge. Co-stewardship agreements are a rarity in the eastern United States, said Shannon Hill, the tribe’s environmental health director. The agreement signed Wednesday codifies what has long been a positive relationship between the two neighbors. It started after a forest ranger contacted the tribe several years ago to tell them that he had found brown ash within the refuge. The tree species, imperiled by an invasive beetle, is traditionally used by Mi’kmaq basketmakers. The Fish and Wildlife Service is building a trail connecting tribal land to the refuge, replete with signs in the Mi’kmaq language, Hill said in a March interview.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 23, 2026
About two dozen students have gathered in a cafe at Thomas College in Waterville to hear Meghan Sterling read her poems that deal with the climate crisis and the natural world. Sterling is taking requests for poems from a gathered group of college students at a cafe at Thomas College in Waterville. Sterling co-edited the work of 65 writers from around the state for a poetry anthology titled A Dangerous New World: Maine Voices on the Climate Crisis, published in early 2020 with a forward from Gov. Janet Mills. From her home in Gardiner, Sterling says that having a sense of community is one of the things that makes her feel better in the face of climate change. Processing her emotions about the climate crisis by writing poetry is another.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 23, 2026
Since January, Buzz Scott's non-profit, OceansWide, and the crew have processed and recycled nearly 5,400 derelict lobster traps — more than 170 tons — from Vinalhaven alone. Scott believes they've only scratched the surface. "I think there's 60,000 to 100,000 traps on this island that need to be processed and removed," he said. Scott grew up on Matinicus but spent much of his childhood on Vinalhaven. He said he worried at first that fishermen might not be on board with what he was doing. But once they learned that OceansWide wanted to remove derelict traps from the waters surrounding the island, Scott said the fishermen starting showing him where to search. Then they asked Scott to help them remove old traps from the shore, and the initiative took off. Eventually, word spread on the island, he said, and fishermen started showing up to the processing site looking to help.
TIMES RECORD • April 22, 2026
A fuel island set to be constructed next to Brunswick’s Public Works facility is prompting alarm among nearby residents, who say they are worried about fumes, traffic, disruption and the future of Brunswick’s Senior Gardens — which will be demolished in the construction. Several neighbors who live in the area of Water Street — which leads to Industry Road, where the Public Works building is located — told the Brunswick Town Council at its meeting Tuesday night that they’re concerned about the possible environmental impacts. “The construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure is directly contradictory to the town’s climate action plan,” said Paul Whitcomb, a Brunswick resident.
