Senate OKs plan to boost conservation, national park maintenance

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 17, 2020

The Senate has approved a bipartisan bill that would spend nearly $3 billion on conservation projects, outdoor recreation and maintenance of national parks and other public lands, a measure supporters say would be the most significant conservation legislation enacted in nearly half a century. The 73-25 vote on Wednesday sends the Great American Outdoors Act to the House, where approval is expected. The bill would spend about $900 million a year – double current spending – on the popular Land and Water Conservation Fund, and another $1.9 billion per year on improvements at national parks, forests, wildlife refuges and rangelands.

Maine towns’ trash disposal future in limbo as buyer sought for beleaguered plant

MORNING SENTINEL • June 17, 2020

Officials with a nonprofit organization representing the trash-disposal interests of more than 100 Maine communities told members Wednesday they’re trying to find a new owner and financing to keep afloat the Fiberight plant in Hampden, a beleaguered waste-to-energy facility that suspended operations last month. Coastal Maine LLC, which owns and operates the Fiberight facility, closed May 28 because of financial problems and waste from member communities is being diverted to landfills such as the Waste Management-Crossroads landfill in Norridgewock and Juniper Ridge Landfill in Old Town. Coastal’s parent company is Fiberight.

Environmental groups sue Trump for opening marine monument to fishing

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 17, 2020

Environmental groups—the Conservation Law Foundation, Natural Resources Defense Council, Center for Biological Diversity and Zack Klyver, a naturalist at the Bar Harbor Whale Watch Co. in Maine—are suing President Trump over a decision he announced during a June 5 visit to Maine to open a national marine monument off the coast of southern New England to commercial fishing, arguing the president’s proclamation is in violation of federal law.

Great American Outdoors Act Passes Senate

NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION • June 17, 2020

After years of bipartisan efforts to tackle the National Park Service’s staggering deferred maintenance needs, the U.S. Senate today passed the Great American Outdoors Act. It was shepherded through the Senate by Senator Angus King (I-ME) among others.

Maine business owners frustrated by New England’s patchwork of travel restrictions

MAINE PUBLIC • June 17, 2020

For more than a week, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont have been encouraging travel around northern New England as a step toward reviving their tourism-dependent economies that have been suppressed by the pandemic. But where exactly you hail from can make a big difference. Visitors from New Hampshire and Vermont can stay in Maine without any sort of quarantine. New Hampshire is not making distinctions among travelers from northern and southern New England, or anywhere else. Travelers from counties in New England and New York where infection rates are below 400 per million people are free to visit Vermont without restriction. But those from counties where infection rates are higher must follow specific quarantine or testing rules.

US Senate Passes Great American Outdoors Act to Reinvest in Maine’s Outdoor Economy

NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE • June 17, 2020

The United States Senate today overwhelmingly passed the Great American Outdoors Act to expand access to the outdoors and support Maine’s recreation economy. The bill, which was championed by Senators Susan Collins and Angus King, will fully and permanently fund the popular and effective Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and provide additional funding to invest in the upkeep of national parks and protected lands. The U.S. House of Representatives is now expected to debate a bipartisan companion bill that is co-sponsored by Maine Congressman Jared Golden and supported by Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree, both of whom have long called for permanent LWCF funding.

Great American Outdoors Act passes Senate

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • June 17, 2020

Senator Angus King tweeted that the “Senate just passed the Great American Outdoors Act, monumental legislation that will address the $12 billion maintenance backlog at National Parks from Acadia to Zion and ensure LWCF funding is not caught up in unrelated partisan fights.”

Suit Claims Trump's Decision To Open Northeast Marine Monument Is Unlawful

MAINE PUBLIC • June 17, 2020

An environmental advocacy group is filing a lawsuit in federal court, challenging President Trump’s decision to open nearly 5,000-square-miles of protected ocean to new commercial fishing. Trump rolled back protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument earlier this month.  Opponents argue that Trump’s decision was unlawful – that only Congress has that authority. Brad Campbell is the president of the Conservation Law Foundation, the group filing the lawsuit. "President Trump has treated these protections as simply another nuisance that he can sweep away with the stroke of a pen. We're going to court to show that he doesn't have that power."

Angus King Says He Worries About Job Losses In Renewable Energy Sector

MAINE PUBLIC • June 16, 2020

A Senate committee on Tuesday focused on the plight of the energy conservation and renewables workforce, which has declined by more than 17 percent during the pandemic. U.S. Sen. Angus King of Maine, who serves on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, says he’s very worried about the potential long-term effects. King says efforts to reduce energy consumption and protect the environment could be jeopardized if the job losses continue and are never restored.

Opponents of net metering threaten Maine’s solar projects, state officials say

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 16, 2020

Gov. Janet Mills on Monday asked federal energy regulators to dismiss a request that she said threatens to scuttle Maine’s authority to oversee a program vital to the operation of solar electric installations at more than 6,000 Maine homes, businesses and municipal facilities. At issue is whether states or the federal government should control the regulation of net metering, the billing mechanism that credits solar power generators for the electricity they send to the grid. A petition, from the New England Ratepayers Association, which claims to represent families and businesses, asks FERC the declare federal jurisdiction over wholesale energy sales generated by electric customers.

Opinion: Relief package for logging and trucking companies deserves support

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • June 16, 2020

Maine logging and forest trucking contractors have joined a national effort seeking federal relief for their industry at a time when COVID-19 and its economic impacts are threatening the survival of the companies on which the entire U.S. forest economy depends. The Professional Logging Contractors of Maine found that 88% of respondents have been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Those impacts include revenue losses, layoffs, loss of clients, reduced productivity, and inability to plan for the future. It is our prediction that a minimum of 20% of the annual timber harvest could be impacted, meaning a nearly $86 million direct economic loss for the Maine economy and over 600 jobs eliminated. We need direct federal assistance to both professional timber harvesting businesses and log trucking businesses. ~ Dana Doran, Professional Logging Contractors of Maine

Maine Moose and Winter Ticks

MAINE GOVERNMENT NEWS • June 16, 2020

Maine’s moose population experienced a severe decline to an estimated 2,000 individuals in the early 1900s. However, with improved hunting restrictions and forest regeneration, the moose population experienced significant growth. The Maine Dept. of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife estimated moose at around 76,000 in 2012. Since the recovery, climate change has influenced the proliferation of winter ticks, leading to poor reproduction and low calf survival through the first winter. Without intervention, the population will likely destabilize. MDIFW biologists are working to implement adaptive methods to keep the moose population healthy and stable for the future.

Supreme Court Says Pipeline May Cross Underneath Appalachian Trail

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • June 15, 2020

The Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of a pipeline company in a dispute about whether a new 600-mile natural gas pipeline could cross underneath the Appalachian Trail on federal land. The 7-2 decision overturned one part of a lower court decision that had blocked construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which would run  through the George Washington National Forest from West Virginia to Virginia and North Carolina. Environmental groups had argued that the Forest Service didn't have the authority to issue the permit because the Appalachian Trail is a "unit" of the National Park System.

Dunlap: CMP Ballot Measure May Be Unconstitutional, But Should Still Go To Voters

MAINE PUBLIC • June 15, 2020

Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap says a ballot measure that backers hope would kill Central Maine Power’s proposed power line through the state’s western woods may well be unconstitutional. But he also says it should stay on the ballot. CMP’s parent company, Avangrid Networks, is seeking to get the item struck from the November ballot on constitutional grounds. Dunlap also says voters should get their chance to weigh in, and the item itself should stay on the ballot. He argues that even were the courts to decide that the question had no enforceable effect, it still could be considered as an advisory referendum. 

Ten times Sen. Collins voted to make climate change worse

MAINE BEACON (Maine People's Alliance) • June 15, 2020

Senator Susan Collins, who has taken over $500,000 from the oil and gas industry during her career, is competing for her fifth term in the U.S. Senate as climate change has increasingly become a top concern for voters in Maine and across the county. Take a look at some of the most pivotal votes and actions that Collins has taken on climate that may factor into her re-election bid.

Baxter State Park Begins Reopening

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 15, 2020

Baxter State Park is reopening for day visits. The park on Monday is opening Togue Pond and Matagamon gates for vehicle access on the Tote Road. But camp sites and cabins don't open until July 1. Bunkhouses, which sleep eight to 10 people, will be shut down for the summer. The easing of restriction by the Baxter Park Authority come as the Mills administration moves to reopen the economy.

Large area of working forestland protected in Oxford County

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 15, 2020

The Conservation Fund announced Monday it has purchased several parcels of forestland that total 15,408 acres in Oxford County — most south of Bethel — from Chadbourne Tree Farms, LLC for an undisclosed price. The fund’s acquisition is intended to protect the historic working forestland from development and to improve drinking water protection in the Sebago Lake watershed for residents in Greater Portland. The purchase secures 33.5 miles of river and tributary frontage, including 13.5 miles on the Crooked River, which flows into Sebago Lake.

Conservation Groups To Buy And Preserve 15,000-Acre Tree Farm In Bethel

MAINE PUBLIC • June 15, 2020

A coalition of land conservation groups is buying and preserving a 15,000-acre tree farm in western Maine that's been in one family for 12 generations. Tom Duffus is Maine's representative for the Conservation Fund. He says the Chadbourne parcels include white pine forests that fed the family's sawmills for more than 100 years, as well as secluded trout brooks, and Tumbledown Dick Mountain.  the property will continue to be managed to provide lumber, pulp - and jobs. He adds that some 3,500 acres of the properties will be managed for the health of the watershed of Sebago Lake.