Maine beachgoers need to stay away from piping plover nests

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 25, 2020

Maine wildlife managers said the chicks and eggs of endangered piping plovers have been harmed several times this season, and beachgoers need to be mindful of the rare birds. The shorebirds nest on sandy beaches in southern Maine. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife said beachgoers can help by keeping dogs on leashes and keeping a close eye on their children. If you witnesses someone harming plovers or disturbing nesting areas report it by calling 1-800-452-4664.

Column: All life matters

TIMES RECORD • June 25, 2020

“White supremacy” has nothing on our believed species superiority, our systemic speciesism. “All Life Matters” champions all living things. Humanity’s opportunity towards that crucial enlightenment now faces a rapidly shortening window, beyond which no amount of amazing grace will be able to save us. Our redemptive hour of first belief needs all the collective awareness and unity we can muster. We no longer have time for a supremacist luxury of continued systemic blindness to the world around us. ~ Gary Anderson, Bath

Column: Hope springs for controlling invasive crabs

TIMES RECORD • June 25, 2020

Green crabs are not native to Maine and have wreaked havoc on the ecosystem by multiplying like crazy and nibbling away at all of the precious eelgrass that provides protection for lots of little critters along with supplying the water with a fresh supply of oxygen. They’ve also decimated the clam population in the past, crunching through the shells of these valuable species. Various groups have placed traps along the intertidal to remove these invasive crabs. If you find invasive crabs, you can report them to the Maine Department of Marine Resources (denis-marc.nault@maine.gov). ~ Susan Olcott

Editorial: ‘Alarm bells’ continue to ring on climate

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2020

Just as new cases of COVID-19 are spiking in places where gathering rules have been relaxed, our reliance on carbon-based fuels continues to warm the planet to dangerous levels. And just like the novel coronavirus, climate change is a reality that we have to confront whether we want to or not. As one expert said, “Alarm bells should be ringing.” Instead, the United States is moving backwards. We need investment in clean energy and infrastructure that matches the size of the problem posed by climate change, as well as the speed with which it is overtaking us. And we need the U.S. to reassert itself as a world leader on climate change, by committing itself to widespread change – and demanding it of other countries as well.

When these trees couldn’t be sold, they were donated to become new orchards instead

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 25, 2020

Lauren Cormier, a purchaser at Fedco Trees, said it became evident around March that they would not be able to hold its annual spring tree sale at their Clinton warehouse. Fedco didn’t want them to go to waste. About half of the thousand trees were distributed to organizations, community gardens and individual homes of the various tribes throughout the state, including the Houlton Band of Maliseets, the Aroostook Band of Micmacs and the Passamaquoddy Tribe.

Pandemic, dry weather contributing to nuisance bear calls

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 25, 2020

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife on Wednesday has a cautionary message for people in three Maine counties: there have been “high bear conflicts” in those areas. Jennifer Vashon, the state’s bear biologist, said the weather and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have likely increased the number of complaints during what is typically the state’s busiest month for similar problems. Keeping bears from getting in a habit of visiting is a pretty simple thing, according to the DIF&W: Figure out what’s drawing the bear to the area, and remove that attractant. Then, talk to your neighbors and get them to do the same thing.

Opinion: The world of Maine trash is about to fall off the cliff

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 25, 2020

We are on the edge of losing the two most valuable solutions to the future of solid waste management and reverting back to the archaic act of filling our landfills. PERC is running at about 50 percent capacity, according to data from the company, and Coastal Resources of Maine is temporarily closed. Both have the capacity to handle waste and restore the Maine economy. With Coastal Resources, the Old Town mill reprocessing facility and PERC, the lower Penobscot basin could service a major international population with recycle, reuse and repurpose businesses. Maine’s economy could become the center of a global solution. ~ Rep. Dick Campbell, Orrington

Letter: A power line with climate-fighting muscle

DAILY BULLDOG • June 25, 2020

In a letter, Monica McCarthy made the bet that readers wouldn’t double check the fallacies in her writing. While she claims the opposite, Maine experts at the Public Utilities Commission, Land Use and Planning Commission and Department of Environmental Protection all gave the project the green light as it is in the public interest of the state and adheres to strict environmental standards. The Conservation Law Foundation made this statement: “NECEC will allow New England to retire dirty fossil fuel plants in the coming years, which is a win for our health and our climate.” In addition, the power line will provide $258 million in direct monetary contributions to Maine. Say NO to fossil fuel polluters and their plans to take this economic jump starter of a project away from Maine! ~ Lynn St-Laurent, Hydro-Québec

Lawyers ask judge to pull referendum on CMP corridor from November ballot

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 24, 2020

Attorneys who contend that a referendum on a $1 billion hydropower transmission project is unconstitutional asked a Superior Court judge on Wednesday to remove the question from the November ballot. The lawsuit contends the Maine Constitution links referendums to legislative acts, not agency decisions. It also contends the referendum violates the state constitution’s separation of powers. Hydro Quebec would supply the energy that supporters say would reduce carbon pollution and stabilize utility rates. Critics say the environmental benefits are overstated and the project would spoil part of Maine’s North Woods.

American Chestnut Trees Planted in Topsham

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • June 24, 2020

On Monday, Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust welcomed Larry Totten of the American Chestnut Foundation to the Tarbox Preserve in Topsham. ACF is a national organization whose mission is to preserve and protect the native chestnut tree as well as to cultivate and plant blight-resistant trees. Totten, brought twelve saplings grown at UMaine-Orono. With the help of Stewardship Manager Margaret Gerber and summer interns, the Tarbox Preserve is now home to those twelve chestnut saplings, which will eventually grow into a small grove.

Simply Shellfish! Trump slammed for talking about dead lobsters and ignoring ‘123,000 Americans' who died in pandemic

Media Entertainment Arts WorldWide • June 24, 2020

President Donald Trump took to Twitter Wednesday to slam former President Barack Obama for "destroying" the lobster and fishing industry. Many social media users slammed him and pointed out how Obama helped preserve our planet’s various species of fish. Exposing how he was a liar, one said, "We've never had a more shellfish President than Trump," and continued, "After China imposed tariffs on lobster, Maine’s lobster exports to China dropped from 600,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds. The Chinese tariff was imposed because of tariffs the Trump administration had imposed on Chinese goods.

With a black bear high atop a tree in Ellsworth, police can only wait for it to come down

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2020

A black bear that has been hanging out near Ellsworth Elementary Middle School for the last several days climbed a tree on Wednesday morning, giving animal welfare workers a chance to put a tranquilizer dart into it so it can be relocated before it or anybody in the area can be harmed. Except for this: The bear was too high in the tree to make the dart a safe option. And it wouldn’t come down on its own. 

‘Out of the blue,’ Trump directs trade offset aid to Maine lobster industry

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2020

President Donald Trump directed his administration on Wednesday to provide lobstermen with financial assistance to make up for lost income from Chinese tariffs in a move that one of Maine’s senators praised and said “came out of the blue.” Trump signed a memorandum Wednesday calling on the U.S.D.A. to make available to the lobster industry subsidies like those given to soybean and other agricultural growers. Maine accounts for 80 percent of the U.S. lobster haul. In a Wednesday tweet, Trump said former President Barack Obama “destroyed the lobster and fishing industry in Maine” and falsely said “it’s back, bigger and better than anyone ever thought possible.”

Trump: Lobster industry deserves cut of farming trade bailout

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 24, 2020

On Wednesday, President Trump ordered Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue to consider including seafood producers, specifically the U.S. lobster industry, in any future federal agricultural assistance offered to food producers impacted by China’s retaliatory tariffs. Over the last two years, U.S. lobster has faced retaliatory Chinese tariffs of up to 35 percent. But it is unclear how or when this order will pay literal dividends for the lobster industry. There would have to be a third round of funding and the order’s wording only calls for Perdue to consider giving seafood a piece of the agricultural aid.

Secretive police unit gathers information on Maine citizens, commissioner tells lawmakers

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 24, 2020

A secretive unit of the Maine State Police does gather information about groups and organizations even when they are not suspected of crimes, including people who are participating in protests, a top law enforcement official told lawmakers Wednesday. Among the groups the fusion center focused on, according to a federal whistleblower lawsuit, was Say No to the New England Clean Energy Corridor, a nonprofit that has demonstrated against the controversial Central Maine Power transmission line project.

Bayer paying up to $10.9 billion to settle Monsanto weedkiller case

ASSOCIATED PRESS • June 24, 2020

Bayer said Wednesday that it will pay up to $10.9 billion to settle litigation over the weedkiller Roundup, which has faced thousands of lawsuits over claims it causes cancer. Bayer said it was also paying up $1.22 billion to settle two additional areas of intense litigation, one involving toxic chemical PCB in water, and one involving dicamba, another weedkiller. In the settlement over Roundup, Bayer will make a payment of $8.8 billion to $9.6 billion to resolve current litigation, and $1.25 billion to address potential future litigation, even as the company continues to maintain that Roundup is safe.

Eyeing A Possible Crash, Lobstermen Consider Different Ways To Protect The Market

MAINE PUBLIC • June 24, 2020

Maine's lobstermen, dealers and regulators are warily eyeing the possibility of a market crash when the big seasonal harvest of recently-molted lobsters — called “shedders” — come in. With restaurants and other end-buyers still struggling, there is talk within the industry of reducing the size or timing of the catch to avoid a glut, but no one appears to be enthusiastic about the options. One idea: raise minimum sizes, that is, throw more of the smaller lobsters back to bank them underwater for a time when market demand is better. Other possibilities include requiring that "culls" be thrown back. The theory is that by removing the lower-quality lobsters with just a single claw or no claws at all, the overall product quality increases, and that should help the price.

3 land trusts celebrate state’s bicentennial with challenge

SEACOAST ONLINE • June 24, 2020

To celebrate Maine’s 200th anniversary, the Kennebunk Land Trust, Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and Arundel Conservation Trust have created a Maine Bicen”trail”ial challenge. As Maine forges ahead for the next two centuries, take time to recognize the history of the land we have today and all the amazing places the community has protected.

Dry conditions shut down fire permits, drain wells across central Maine

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • June 24, 2020

Green leaves and blooming gardens mark the start of summer of Maine as they do every year, but this year that greenery is masking unusually dry conditions across the state. With temperatures forecast in the next couple of weeks to be higher than average, those dry conditions will persist or get worse, prompting concern about fires and the availability of water across the state.

No Filter Needed: Latest $150M Green Bonds Purchase Protects Pristine Water Parcel

FORBES • June 24, 2020

There are still some places on Earth where the water is so clean, you can drink it unfiltered. The Conservation Fund recently acquired more than 15,000 acres of pine forestland in Western Maine. Money for the purchase of 15,408 acres of Chadbourne Tree Farms came from proceeds of The Conservation Fund’s first-ever sale of $150 million in “green bonds” issued last year. The property is managed by the 11th and 12th generations of the Chadbourne family. The Chadbourne project is just one of six made possible by the green bonds, including the Pleasant River Headwaters in Maine.