2 CMP-aligned groups spending nearly $17M to persuade voters to back corridor

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 7, 2020

Two company-funded groups opposing the November referendum on the Central Maine Power corridor have spent a combined $16.7 million through the end of June. A referendum aiming to block the transmission corridor that would bring hydropower from Canada through western Maine will be on the ballot in November. Clean Energy Matters, a political committee primarily funded by CMP and its parent company Avangrid, has spent $10.5 million to oppose the referendum. A second group supportive of the corridor, affiliated with the Canadian energy company Hydro-Quebec, has spent $6.2 million. A 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Stop the Corridor, is not registered as a political committee, so both its spending and sources of funding are mostly unknown. Stop the Corridor has spent more than $1 million on TV ads opposing the corridor and gave $85,000 to the No CMP Corridor. It also made a contribution of an unknown amount to the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Dog-killing toxic algae may be forming in South Portland park

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 7, 2020

South Portland Parks and Recreation said it found signs of a toxic blue-green algae bloom in Hinckley Park on Monday. Blue-green algae is a type of photosynthesizing bacteria called cyanobacteria. It exists in all Maine lakes but is harmless in low concentrations. But when the population of this bacteria explodes during an algal bloom it can sometimes produce toxins that, when ingested, can kill dogs, according to Scott Williams, executive director of the Lake Stewards of Maine. It can also harm humans.

Maine bird lovers will go on with annual loon count

ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 7, 2020

The Maine Audubon Society is going ahead with its annual count of common loons this year. Loons have recovered slowly in population in Maine over the past four decades. The Audubon Society said its 37th annual count is scheduled to take place on the morning of July 18. Hundreds of volunteers head to lakes around the state to look for loons as part of the count. They typically found about 1,500 during the counts of the mid-1980s. Last year, they counted 3,129 adult loons.

Driver uninjured after crashing into moose in Aroostook County

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 6, 2020

Robert Morrow, 27, of Ashland was eastbound on Saturday afternoon on Route 163 in Township 11 Range 4 Wels — between Ashland and Mapleton — when he was unable to avoid hitting a moose that had entered the roadway. Morrow’s 2004 Kia sedan struck the moose, which went through the windshield and died on impact, police said. The moose came to rest on the passenger seat of the vehicle. Morrow was driving without passengers and was not injured.

York town employee rescues diver in distress

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 6, 2020

A York Parks and Recreation employee pulled a diver in distress from the water near Nubble Lighthouse Monday morning, according to police. The 57-year-old diver was suffering from exhaustion and needed assistance in the ocean current, police said. After the diver was helped from the water by the town employee, he was treated on scene by medical personnel. Police did not release the name of the diver and did not have information about where he was from.

As Belfast fish farm awaits final OKs, environmental scientists explain what’s at stake

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 6, 2020

Two and a half years after Norway-based Nordic Aquafarms announced that it plans to build one of the world’s largest indoor salmon farms near the Little River in Belfast, the $500 million project is in a waiting game. Officials from Maine Board of Environmental Protection, the Bureau of Public Lands and the Belfast Planning board are still considering whether to issue operating permits for the project, which plans to produce 72.7 million pounds of Atlantic salmon annually for consumers in the northeastern United States. The project has been mired with substantial legal challenges.

During coronavirus, backyard birding takes flight in Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 6, 2020

At Freeport Wild Bird Supply, sales are soaring as socially distanced telecommuters discover a new world just beyond their walls. “May was our best month ever in 16 years of being in business,” said Derek Lovitch, co-owner of the Route 1 birding shop. “Due to the circumstances of the spring, I think a lot of people started realizing how cool this stuff was. And because you were home with nothing else to do, you took a second look. Then you looked longer.”

Portland, South Portland advance climate action partnership

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 6, 2020

South Portland will continue to address climate issues in partnership with neighboring Portland under shared municipal energy priorities that the City Council is expected to approve Tuesday. The proposed priorities include preparing for future legislative authorization that would allow municipalities to phase out natural gas use and require more sustainable and renewable heating options. Both cities have committed to using only renewable energy for municipal operations by 2040 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent citywide by 2050.

Maine hotels step up safety measures to prove quarantines aren’t needed

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 6, 2020

Hotels and inns have insisted for months that they are taking the pandemic seriously and doing everything they can to protect their guests, staff and communities. A dedication to safety has been the industry’s major argument for why Gov. Janet Mills should allow more out-of-state tourists to visit Maine without undergoing a 14-day self-quarantine upon arrival or attesting to a recent, negative COVID-19 test. More than 2,000 hospitality workers have completed a specialized course for COVID-19 protocols designed by the trade group HospitalityMaine and Eastern Maine Community College. A checklist created by the state includes specific operating procedures for lodging businesses intended to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus.

Opinion: Cold storage plan out of scale for Portland waterfront

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 6, 2020

After six years, there’s not so much as a frozen fish stick on a $7-million site the state purchased for cold storage next to Portland’s International Marine Terminal. The problem? Grand dreams have obscured more sensible options. If the Portland Planning Board approves this project, a refrigerated box spanning two acres would soon tower over Portland’s western waterfront. It would be a grand display of Port Authority prowess, but something smaller, linked to an inland facility, would be better for the environment, better for Maine’s economic growth, and better for Portland’s waterfront. Same as five years ago. ~ S. Mark McCain, Portland

Injured hiker rescued by helicopter from Down East trail

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 5, 2020

A person had to be rescued by helicopter after injuring a leg while hiking on the Bold Coast Trail in Washington County on Saturday. The Maine Forest Service did not specify the nature of the person’s leg injury, but said it was too serious for the rescue workers to safely carry the person out. Instead, forest rangers landed a helicopter. The Bold Coast Trail is a strenuous, 10-mile hike that hugs the coast through rocky and forested land in the town of Cutler.

Trump memo on lobster aid leaves industry wondering what’s next

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 5, 2020

President Donald Trump’s June 24 surprise statement that he will extend aid to the lobster industry roared through the beleaguered fishery, but the administration has been silent about any firm actions it might take. The industry and Maine’s congressional delegation lauded the move, which came after the president visited Maine in early June and held a roundtable with commercial fishermen. But none have heard details on what Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue might do to offset the impact on the industry of Trump’s trade war with China. China imposed retaliatory tariffs on American lobster starting in 2018 as part of an escalating trade war between the two countries. Lobster exports from Maine to China plummeted immediately.

Fewer will attend camp this summer, and some camps won’t survive

ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 5, 2020

Nationwide, the summer camp picture is coming into sharper focus with many of the 15,000-plus summer camps opting to close because of health concerns surrounding the pandemic, or because of delays in receiving rules or guidelines from licensing officials. In Maine, where only 20 of 110 licensed overnight camps are opening, guidelines require staff and counselors to quarantine or receive a negative test result. Campers also must quarantine, or get tested, unless they’re from an exempted state. Campers must be broken up into smaller groups for social distancing. There are rigid guidelines for sanitizing, and an isolation area must be established in the event someone falls ill. It was all too much for some camps.

Millinocket group launches $8.5 million in upgrades to former mill site

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 5, 2020

A volunteer development group in Millinocket is launching a second round of infrastructure upgrades at the town’s former paper mill site. In total, Our Katahdin will spend $8.5 million on improvements to its roads, rail, water and sewer systems, as well as to its power grid and data capacity. It is partly funding the upgrades with a $5.36 million grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration. The organization hopes those improvements will help finally lure new industrial tenants to the 1,400-acre site that was a paper mill for Great Northern Paper until it shut down in 2008.

Overfished bluefish subject to less harvest

ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 5, 2020

Bluefish are overfished, and federal regulators are cutting the amount that fishermen can harvest in the coming years. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said commercial fishermen will be able to bring 2.77 million pounds of the fish to land in 2020 and 2021. That’s a reduction of 25 percent. The recreational fishery is also being reduced 39 percent, to 9.48 million pounds.

Column: Holbrook Island Sanctuary offers natural wonders

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 5, 2020

Bordered by Penobscot Bay, the Bagaduce River and Smith Cove, Holbrook Island Sanctuary encompasses 1,230 acres – including the namesake 115-acre Holbrook Island – on the north end of the Cape Rosier peninsula in Brooksville in Hancock County. The sanctuary is owned by the state of Maine and operated as part of the state park system. ~ Carey Kish

Without hordes of tourists, Mainers get summer to ourselves

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 5, 2020

Call it the silver lining in the dark cloud that’s hanging over summer this year. If tourists stay home – whether because of state quarantine policy or skittishness about vacationing in a world where the novel coronavirus is still running rampant – Maine residents can enjoy July and August again. While it may feel selfish to think about having fun when so many businesses in the state are suffering, think about July and August as a time to give back – to Maine businesses that need the cash, and to your coronavirus-weary self.

Column: Party animal hides out on the farm – from ticks, not COVID

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 4, 2020

Because we never go anywhere or do anything, my wife and I find it difficult to believe that millions of Americans are eager to get back to their local pub, church, beach and restaurants. A Facebook friend complained about not being able to get out and about. When I mentioned that these virus-plague things only run for a year or so, he said, “Virus? I ain’t scairt of no virus. It’s the damn ticks.” As careful as I am, ticks got me twice so far this summer, and the pharmacist told me to stay out of the sun while on Lyme disease medication. ~ The humble Farmer

Column: Species seek out their own comfort zones

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • July 5, 2020

The natural world is a mosaic of habitats. An aerial photo of Maine will show patches of forest, marshes, lakes, grasslands, and blueberry barrens along with human-altered patches of towns and farms. Each of these habitats offers a particular set of food and other resources available to animals, all of which need to find and occupy the habitat that best meets their own needs. The choice occurs by a process that ecologists and animal behaviorists call habitat selection, and research is important for crafting methods to help protect and conserve animal populations. ~ Herb Wilson

Commentary: Efficiency Maine Trust has a 10-year record of energy-saving success

For 10 years , Efficiency Maine Trust has administered a suite of programs under the brand “Efficiency Maine” to serve every customer group, business sector and community in the state. Installation of high-efficiency equipment that, over its lifetime, will lower costs for Maine energy consumers by $1.5 billion to $2 billion. Maine has more than 8,600 jobs working in 1,580 businesses in the energy-efficiency supply chain. Efficiency Maine is well positioned to provide help during the transition ahead to more efficient products that run on lower carbon energy. ~ Michael Stoddard, Efficiency Maine Trust