Editorial: Affordable housing project uses material with a lot of potential for Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 17, 2020

An affordable housing project under construction in Portland is making good use of cross-laminated lumber, a building material that is growing in popularity and holds great potential for Maine’s wood products industry. Unfortunately, it had to come all the way from Montana. Maine has the trees necessary to make cross-laminated lumber, and it has a workforce that knows how to turn raw timber into world-class products. But as of yet, no one has been able to take advantage. Having a plant close by would make contractors, always reluctant to change their ways, more likely to adopt the new technology, cutting down on costs and carbon emissions.

Now’s the time for Moosehead region to chart its new course

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 17, 2020

For years after its announcement in 2005, conservationists and some Moosehead Lake area residents battled a development plan that they say would have changed the character of the region forever. That plan, which was developed by land owner Plum Creek, was eventually approved by state regulators. That development, you may have noticed, never happened and Plum Creek doesn’t even exist anymore, but the public benefits that were part of the finished document will remain. What’s next? Moosehead Lake residents, along with those who love the area, will have the chance to once again determine what they want their future to be.

Letter: Banging pots and pans against NECEC

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 17, 2020

Nearly 70,000 Maine people signed a petition to get the transmission corridor issue on the ballot in November. Central Maine Power keeps trying to find a way to thwart our efforts, and then on June 29, CMP was shot down by the Cumberland County Superior Court judge. We signed that petition to be heard! Our way of banging pots and pans! The judge heard us! These corporations are so large and influential, apparently they won’t tolerate us saying no to them. We the people matter, not the corporations. ~ Marjorie Monteleon, Southwest Harbor

Obituary: Eric Baxter

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • July 16, 2020

Eric Stoddard Baxter completed his life circle in the early hours of July 15, 2020. Eric was mindful of his family’s legacy. He proceeded to do his part in his board work as family representative to the Baxter State Park Authority, Maine Historical Society, and Olmstead Alliance to name a few.

In countersuit, owners of shuttered Hampden waste plant blame problems on contractor

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 16, 2020

The owners of the recently shuttered Hampden waste plant are blaming many of its financial problems on a contractor that staffed and ran the facility, arguing in court documents that the contractor hired and then poorly supervised unqualified workers at the plant. In a counter lawsuit filed Wednesday, Coastal Resources alleged contractor NAES breached its contract with substandard work. It was the latest twist for a young facility that was once billed as a sustainable means to keeping the trash from more than 100 Maine towns out of the landfill, but that is now mired in financial problems and uncertainty about its future.

Borestone Mountain is a popular hike with trails for all abilities

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 16, 2020

Rising nearly 2,000 feet above sea level, Borestone Mountain is a popular hike in Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness region. From the mountain’s two bald peaks, hikers are rewarded with breathtaking 360-degree views of the area. The mountain is located in Borestone Mountain Audubon Sanctuary, which encompasses nearly 1,600 acres and also includes rare older forest and three crystal clear ponds: Sunrise, Midday and Sunset.

Local Organizations Promoting Food Access with Seedlings

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • July 16, 2020

The midcoast Maine region is home to a particularly high density of farms and organizations committed to promoting food access. Over the past months, a number of local farms, along with the Merrymeeting Gleaners and the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust, have been working together on an ambitious project to collect and distribute hundreds of seedlings to dozens of food access programs across the southern midcoast region. The project is already proving hugely successful, with thousands of plants having been distributed. In time, these seedlings will mature in various gardens around the region and yield significantly more food per unit than redistributing already grown vegetables.

Two species of rare beaked whales beached in Maine within weeks of each other

TIMES RECORD • July 16, 2020

The first, a Blainville's beaked whale, was found in York, while the second, a Sowerby's beaked whale, was found in Phippsburg just a few weeks later. Local experts say these deep-diving whales should not be in coastal waters, but have no clue as to what brought them here or what happened to them.

PCSWCD joins as partner on the Maine Aquatic Connectivity Restoration Project

PISCATAQUIS OBSERVER • July 16, 2020

The Maine Aquatic Connectivity Restoration Project is a five-year, $6 million effort that provides significant financial and technical assistance to private landowners to upgrade road-stream crossings. The project improves road safety and stability while increasing opportunities for fish and other aquatic life to thrive. Made possible through the Regional Conservation Partnership Program of the Natural Resources Conservation Services in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, the project is available from 2018-22. The project is supported by a collaboration of 26 tribal, state, federal, nonprofit and private landowners, and covers 25,255 square miles of project area, including the last endangered Atlantic salmon-listed watersheds in the U.S. and critical Eastern brook trout habitat. The overall goal is to restore aquatic organism passage to at least 50 miles of stream, brook and river habitat. 

Gas Companies To Spend $6M To Boost Opposition To CMP Transmission Project

MAINE PUBLIC • July 16, 2020

Two national companies with natural gas plants in Maine will dump nearly $6 million on television ads aimed at shoring up opposition to a high-profile transmission project benefitting Central Maine Power and Hydro-Quebec. The post-Labor Day television ad buy will be accompanied by a digital campaign and is designed to counter a combined $16.7 million in spending by CMP and Hydro-Quebec. The anti-corridor campaign is financed by Mainers for Local Power, a political action committee funded by Calpine and Vistra, Texas-based companies with natural gas pants in Westbrook and Veazie, respectively.

Anglers encouraged to keep logbooks that will help management efforts

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 16, 2020

For decades, we have recruited serious anglers to keep voluntary record books of their fishing in Maine through a citizen science project. If you are interested in keeping a voluntary record book and assisting us with the management of the fisheries across the state, please contact a fisheries biologist at one of the regional offices near you. ~ Tim Obrey, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife

Column: Marine life makes its own sunscreen

TIMES RECORD • July 16, 2020

Phytoplankton, along with other marine creatures, have evolved ways to protect themselves against UV radiation. It works much like sunscreen – either chemical blocks or physical blocks. Some have chemicals in their tissues that help to reflect or scatter UV light. Others have arrangements of layers of cells that act like tiny mirrors, bouncing the radiation right back. As often is the case, we learn our best lessons by emulating solutions that nature has spent much time evolving. Our sunscreen gives us the chemical or physical capacity to reflect UV light that we humans don’t naturally have. ~ Susan Olcott

Letter: CMP line project is not a good deal

MORNING SENTINEL • July 16, 2020

Tony Marple’s arguments for Iberdrola/Avangrid/Central Maine Power’s proposed power corridor are weak and inaccurate (“CMP line would bring clean power to New England,” July 1). The only “green” in this profiteering plan are greenbacks, for foreigners, executives, and the political elite. His claim that Spain’s Iberdrola wants a Maine corridor to supply Canadian electricity to Massachusetts because they care about us is absurd.   Wise Mainers are not swayed by the “It’s a good deal!” propaganda campaign, which has cost millions. ~ Gary Henry, Winslow

These self-cloning ticks could spread to Maine, experts say

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 16, 2020

Maine tick experts are keeping an eye out for the Asian longhorned tick, a foreign tick species that can reproduce without mating and has been documented as close as Connecticut. Reported for the first time in the United States in 2017, this tick species has now established populations in at least 12 states, all of which are in the northeastern half of the country. The Asian longhorned tick is known to carry and transmit a variety of dangerous diseases in its home range.

KELT protects 27 acres in Richmond

KENNEBEC ESTUARY LAND TRUST • July 15, 2020

At the beginning of June, Barbara Vickery and family conserved a portion of her upland property with a conservation easement and donated to KELT half a mile of river front and shoreland nestled between the old rail line and the Kennebec River. The two conserved properties together protect a total of 27 acres, including upland forest habitat with a mix of red oaks, white pines, white ash, red maples, American beech, and maple-leaf viburnum. Within the upland forest lie forested wetlands that support four species of ferns and a rich canopy of yellow birch, red maple, and green ash trees. A stream runs through the upland forest, providing a home for salamanders and other amphibians.

One of Maine’s best known lighthouses is now part of Acadia National Park

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 15, 2020

Ownership of Bass Harbor Head Light on Mount Desert Island has been transferred from the U.S. Coast Guard to Acadia National Park, a move that should lead to improved public access as well as greater public education about the site’s historical significance.

3 teens catch massive 700-pound tuna after 7-hour ocean battle off Maine coast

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 15, 2020

When Wyatt Morse of Auburn named his new boat Fat 2na, it was a bold statement for the 17-year-old who has spent the past four years learning about fishing for tuna off the Maine coast. Over the course of seven hours, a monstrous bluefin tuna — it measured 109 inches from its nose to the fork of its tail — hauled the teens more than 10 miles in the 24-foot lobster boat as they attempted to tire it out and land it. It was Fat 2na’s first tuna-fishing trip, and provided an adventure the boys won’t soon forget.

Downeaster to make more runs daily between Maine and Boston starting Monday

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 15, 2020

The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority said Tuesday the Downeaster would begin operating four round-trip trains between Brunswick, Maine, and Boston every day starting July 20. The move is part of the service’s restoration in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, which has disrupted train travel in New England and around the country. Amtrak said trains will be sanitized and disinfected every day with enhanced cleaning between trips. Face coverings will be required, and the number of passengers will be limited to no more than 50% of available seating capacity.

Trump reins in major environmental law to speed big projects

ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 15, 2020

President Trump announced Wednesday that he is rolling back a foundational Nixon-era environmental law that he says stifles infrastructure projects, but that is credited with keeping big construction projects from fouling up the environment and ensuring there is public input on major projects. He aims to make it easier to build highways, pipelines, chemical plants and other projects. “This may be the single biggest giveaway to polluters in the past 40 years,” said Brett Hartl, of the Center for Biological Diversity. Environmental groups say the regulatory rollbacks threaten public health and make it harder to curb global warming.

Maine salmon population highest in 9 years despite warm weather

ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 15, 2020

The number of Atlantic salmon swimming upstream in the Penobscot River is already the highest in nine years, despite warm water temperatures. On Monday, researchers with the Maine Department of Marine Resources said they counted over 1,300 salmon migrating upstream so far this year. Atlantic salmon are endangered in Maine, and fishing them is prohibited. The fish swim upstream to spawn.