Maine Governor green lights renewable chemicals tax credit

Bio Market Insights • March 24, 2020

Maine Governor Janet Mills has approved a new tax credit to incentivise the production of chemicals and fuels made from renewable resources. The US north-east state of Maine is well known for its forests and natural landscape. Investment attracted by the tax credit (also called LD 1698) is projected to create or retain more than 1,000 manufacturing jobs in the US forest sector alone over the next 10 years, according to an analysis by trade body Biobased Maine.

Column: Pondering the coronavirus outbreak

TURNER PUBLISHING • March 24, 2020

I would like to remind people to pick up the phone. Stay in touch. Don’t isolate yourself socially. Not only that, but get outside. Get some fresh air. Do some yard work. Take a walk in the woods, or at least around your yard. Enjoy the trees and the sounds of spring. Spring is here, and with it comes hope of a new beginning. This crisis will pass, at some point, and be nothing but an unpleasant memory, leaving us stronger and smarter. ~ Robert Fogg

Judge kicks anti-corridor referendum back to Dunlap after 2 allege signatures were forged

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 23, 2020

A Maine judge has kicked the question of whether some signatures for a referendum aimed at killing Central Maine Power’s proposed corridor are invalid back to Secretary of State Matt Dunlap after two people said their names were forged. The Monday order by Superior Court judge Michaela Murphy gives Dunlap’s office until April 1 to decide whether signatures gathered by opponents of the $1 billion New England Clean Energy Connect project are illegitimate after an ally of the utility brought a lawsuit earlier this month.

Bar Harbor To Tourists: Please Stay Away

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 23, 2020

Tourist season along Maine’s coast typically doesn’t start until May, but the Town Council in Bar Harbor — a town that, aside from the presence of Jackson Laboratory, is almost entirely dependent on tourism — is taking a highly unusual step in asking tourists to stay away for the time being due to coronavirus concerns. The council has enacted an emergency ordinance to prevent public access to all town buildings and to cancel all municipal board and committee meetings.

York Shutters Beaches As Out-Of-Towners Congregate

MAINE PUBLIC • March 23, 2020

The Town of York has closed its beaches in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. In a letter on Monday, Town Manager Stephen Burns announced that the town’s four beaches would be closed indefinitely. Burns says the decision came after reports of large groups of visitors to area parks and beaches – many from out of town. He says so many people packed into a small space at the beach went against recommendations from state and federal officials.

Letter: Demand some common ground

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 23, 2020

Climate change is not a conspiracy theory; it is a reality. It seems prudent policies are gone, along with ethics and civility. It is time for a reality check, and time for us to ask our leaders to be honest brokers of our country’s important issues. We may not agree on all policies, but we need compromise and positive solutions. Discard the dissension, the bellyaching and demand some common ground. It’s the right thing to do. ~ Alan Chubba Kane, Gouldsboro

Injured New Sharon hiker, 30, rescued from Tumbledown Mountain

SUN JOURNAL • March 22, 2020

Amelia Hutchinson, 30, was hiking up the loop trail on Tumbledown Mountain with her two children, ages 10 and 8, at about 11 a.m. when they came to a trail that was impassable due to accumulation of ice. The family turned around and was headed back down the trail when Hutchinson slipped and fell down a steep slope and struck a tree, breaking her ankle. The Maine Forest Service’s efforts to rescue Hutchinson by helicopter were called off due to high winds. Emergency workers from the Maine Warden Service, Maine Forest Service, fire rescue departments from Phillips, Weld and Wilton, Mount Blue State Park and Franklin County Search and Rescue loaded Hutchinson into an emergency rescue toboggan and carried or pulled her down the icy, snow-covered terrain.

Maine Man Dies In Mapleton Snowmobile Crash

ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 22, 2020

Officials say Brian Buck Jr., of Mapleton, failed to negotiate a curve Saturday night and struck a large snowbank on the side of the trail. The snowmobile became airborne and tumbled end-over-end before coming to rest on its side. Buck was thrown from the snowmobile and suffered fatal injuries. An initial investigation by the Maine Warden Service found excessive speed appears to be the major factor in the crash.

Maine’s lands and waters 200 years later? Very different

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 22, 2020

Suburban sprawl, the construction of roads and dams, granite quarrying, coastal development for shipping and later tourism, invasive pests and plants — all of these have dramatically altered the state’s landscapes and waterways in the past two centuries. Here, we examine two other factors that have had a major impact: climate change and logging.

Ask a Naturalist: Help a bird build a nest

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 22, 2020

Most bird species haven’t started building nests yet. We can do a few things to help, but we need to be sure we aren’t doing anything that will accidentally hurt. The simple answer is to put out only natural, organic items for birds to use in constructing their nests. Anything synthetic could do harm. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox

Column: The fate of wild salmon may point to the fate of the planet

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 22, 2020

Best-selling author Mark Kurlansky in his latest book, “Salmon: A Fish, the Earth and the History of Their Common Fate,” makes a blunt prediction: If what’s left of the world’s wild salmon stocks are allowed to die off, there is little hope for the planet’s overall survival. The right fix, says Kurlanksy, lies in rethinking the notion that economic development trumps all things environmental. ~ Christine Burns Rudalevige

Letter: To fight climate change, harness existing incentives

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • March 22, 2020

I know many concerned citizens who are making uneconomical purchases to lower their carbon footprints, but we must not expect do-gooders to bear the brunt of climate mitigation. Everyone needs to participate. That requires leadership and a comprehensive national policy. ~ Dorothy Jones, Brunswick

Maine Scallops Continue Downward Trend After Years Of Growth

ASSOCIATED PRESS • March 21, 2020

Maine's prized scallop fleet caught fewer of the shellfish for the second year in a row despite nationwide trends toward increased catch. Maine is home to a scallop industry that operates in near-shore waters and is beloved in the culinary world. The state's scallops have cachet in part because of how quickly fishermen are able to get freshly caught product to consumers. But the fishermen harvested about 415,000 pounds of scallop meat in 2019, down more than 200,000 pounds from 2018. And that year was a dip from 2017, when fishermen brought nearly 800,000 pounds to land.

Column: SAM fighting for rights of state’s sportsmen

SUN JOURNAL • March 21, 2020

Over the years, the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM) has proven itself a mature, reliable and extremely effective voice for the interests and rights of state sportsmen. Likewise, SAM has excelled as a keen-nosed watchdog of the political arena. When it comes to the gun rights of state sportsmen, SAM has its nose to the wind and its collective ears to the ground. Take away our guns and you take away our hunting. It is good to know that SAM is in the fight. ~ V. Paul Reynolds

State denies water quality certification for Ellsworth dam license renewal

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 21, 2020

Citing insufficient environmental protections, state regulators have denied a dam operator’s request for state support in renewing the dam’s federal license. Because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requires the state certify the effect of the Ellsworth dam on the Union River’s water quality, the denial means the federal agency is unlikely to approve Black Bear Hydro’s current application to renew its operating license for the dam.

This Guilford company is one of the world’s top 2 makers of COVID-19 testing swabs

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 21, 2020

Puritan Medical Products Co., which is a part of a Guilford manufacturing business with about 550 employees, is one of the top two makers of the specialized testing swabs that are desperately needed in areas hit by the virus. But the company has struggled to keep up with the new demand. Puritan Medical Products is part of a family company, Hardwood Products Company LP, that started out making toothpicks but soon expanded into medical products such as tongue depressors and wood applicators.

Letter: Let DEP know how you feel about CMP project

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • March 21, 2020

Central Maine Power’s transmission line project is bad for the environment. It’s pretty obvious that cutting down 53 miles of trees in one of the most beautiful areas of our state isn’t exactly environmentally friendly. Not to mention that the corridor would permanently damage critical wildlife habitat for some of our iconic species, like the brook trout. In fact, not a single environmental group supports CMP’s corridor. By March 27 at 5 p.m., submit your comment by emailing DEP at NECEC.DEP@maine.gov or by submitting a written comment to: Jim Beyer, Maine DEP, State House Station #17, Augusta, ME 04333. ~ Sandra Howard , Say NO to NECEC, Caratunk

Letter: Time to say no to CMP line

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • March 21, 2020

Central Maine Power’s corridor project isn’t going away, so I’m asking people to help me out in stopping it. Maine DEP is about to approve Central Maine Power’s corridor project, which we all know is bad for Maine’s environment. Please write to Maine DEP today about why you believe CMP’s corridor would be bad for Maine’s environment. ~ Carol Howard, New Gloucester