Maine CDC Teams with USDA Wildlife Services to Distribute Rabies Vaccine

MAINE GOVERNMENT NEWS • July 29, 2020

Oral rabies vaccine baits will be distributed in northeastern Maine beginning on or about August 3 through August 7 as part of ongoing, cooperative rabies control efforts aimed at reducing the spread of raccoon rabies in Maine. Approximately 385,000 ORV baits targeting raccoons will be distributed by air and ground over a 2,650-square-mile area. Wildlife Services, a program within the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, will distribute the ORV baits in cooperation with the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maine loosens restrictions, will allow 100 people at outdoor gatherings and events

MORNING SENTINEL • July 29, 2020

The Department of Economic and Community Development announced on Wednesday that large gatherings for groups up to 100 people will be permitted starting Saturday, although the limit on gatherings of up to 50 will remain in place for indoor events.

Column: Life in the time of COVID, and climate change

MORNING SENTINEL • July 29, 2020

The disbelief in COVID-19 is very similar to — probably an extension of — the disbelief in climate change, which probably does not appear to be happening at your house either. It still gets cold in winter, right? But like COVID-19, climate change is, in fact, happening and getting worse by the day in different parts of the world. Unnecessary suffering and death will result. This winter I wrote that maybe the tide has turned on climate change denial. That was before pandemic-denial started swallowing people’s minds whole. Now I don’t know what to think. But real-world events suggest that voting this November is going to be almost literally a matter of life and death. ~ Dana Wilde

Regional Emissions Pact Has Big Health Benefits For Kids, Study Finds

MAINE PUBLIC • July 29, 2020

A regional plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants also made the northeast healthier, by reducing air pollutants like mercury and sulfur dioxide. But a new study focused on children found the benefits were even greater than previously thought, preventing hundreds of childhood illnesses and saving an additional hundreds of millions of dollars. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – or RGGI – was the first regional cap-and-trade plan of its kind in the country. It started up in 2009, and now involves nine states.

What we know about the mysterious seed deliveries in 28 states — including Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 29, 2020

Unsolicited packages of seeds have been arriving in the mailboxes of Mainers and residents of many other states. In each case, the recipients say they did not order the seeds. This has sparked a warning from the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry against planting the unsolicited seeds and asking anyone who receives them to report them to the department or the U.S. Department of Agriculture office in Maine. The motive behind the unsolicited seed mailings is not yet known.

Coastal patrols continue after Maine’s first fatal shark attack

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 29, 2020

The Maine Marine Patrol continued patrolling the coastal waters around Harpswell and urging beachgoers and others to use extra caution following the state’s first fatal shark attack. A seasonal resident of Bailey Island in Harpswell was killed Monday by a great white shark that attacked her as she swam 20 yards from shore. The Maine Marine Patrol is using boats and aircraft to scan the Casco Bay region for sharks, but had not reported any additional shark sightings in the area as of Wednesday afternoon.

Yarmouth shark sighting triggers alert as coastal patrols follow fatal attack

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 29, 2020

The Maine Marine Patrol continued patrolling the coastal waters around Harpswell and urged beachgoers and others to stay out of the water or use extra caution following the state’s first fatal shark attack. A shark sighting Wednesday afternoon near Cousins Island in Yarmouth triggered an alert from the town of Cumberland. “Out of an abundance of caution, we are advising that residents do not enter the water at Broad Cove Reserve beyond ankle-deep,” the town’s alert says.

Maine lawmakers want Hydro-Quebec to stop trying to influence voters on CMP corridor

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 29, 2020

A group of 25 current and former Maine lawmakers wrote a letter Wednesday to Quebec’s premier and Hydro-Quebec’s CEO asking that they stop trying to influence the outcome of a referendum this November on Central Maine Power’s proposed $1 billion hydropower corridor. The letter is the most recent volley in the high stakes debate over the project that would bring Canadian hydropower to the regional grid through western Maine. So far, Clean Energy Matters, a CMP-linked group, and Hydro-Quebec have spent close to $14.7 million to promote the corridor. Gov. Janet Mills on July 10 announced a $170 million deal with Hydro-Quebec to provide discounted electricity to the state through CMP’s transmission corridor, though opponents said it would largely benefit industrial users.

Letter: Health problems plague family who live near Global tanks

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 29, 2020

My family moved to South Portland 13 years ago and we have experienced many severe health problems since we have lived here. I am paying with my life to support profits for Global with no real improvements to these problems. I feel hopeless. ~ Barbara Saulle, South Portland

Biologists haul monster 25-pound togue out of Aroostook County lake

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 29, 2020

State fisheries biologist Frank Frost gave northern Maine anglers one more reason to fish an already popular Aroostook County lake last week, as he and a colleague hauled in a lake trout he estimated at 25 pounds while doing research from Eagle Lake in the town of Eagle Lake. “It was a really cool experience to handle a fish that big. It was the biggest togue I’ve handled, by far,” said Frost, who serves as the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s fisheries resource supervisor for the Fish River Lakes Region.

Coastal dwellers know a second shark attack is unlikely — but that doesn’t stop the fear

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 29, 2020

A woman was attacked and killed by a great white shark while swimming in Mackerel Cove off Bailey Island in Harpswell on Monday. Two days after the attack, shockwaves reverberated out from Mackerel Cove to the Maine coast and beyond as locals and tourists tried to make sense of the unthinkable.

Letter: Tourist visits to Maine islands a danger to residents

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 29, 2020

The “Do This” column by Ray Routhier on July 20 encourages people to travel to the islands of Casco Bay via public ferry. This is problematic and potentially dangerous. Increasing ridership during the pandemic puts the vessels’ crew at risk by exposing them (and passengers) to larger numbers of riders. ~ Twain Braden, Peaks Island

Fatal Maine shark attack only 3rd in New England since 1936

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 28, 2020

The New York City woman killed in Monday’s shark attack in the water off Harpswell is believed to be only the third person killed by a shark in New England since 1936. In September 2018, a 26-year-old college student from Revere, Massachusetts, was attacked by a suspected great white shark while body-boarding off Wellfleet, but died after making it back to shore, according to Yankee magazine. Before that, a 16-year-old boy was attacked off Mattapoisett, Massachusetts in July 1936.

Penobscot Nation opposes CMP transmission project

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 28, 2020

The Penobscot Nation is coming out in opposition to Central Maine Power’s proposed transmission line through Maine’s western woods. Penobscot Natural Resources Director John Banks said the tribe is in solidarity with Canada’s Innu Nation, whose lands in Labrador have been damaged by decades of flooding to serve energy projects by Hydro-Quebec.

Great whites attracted by plentiful seal populations in Maine waters

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 28, 2020

Monday’s fatal shark attack off Harpswell is the result of rebounding great white shark and seal populations along the Maine coast, experts say. The attack on Julie Dimperio Holowach, 63, was the first fatal shark attack in the state’s history. Seal populations have grown since a 1972 law barred killing of marine mammals and white shark numbers have been rebounding for two decades as a result of a rule that said fishermen could no longer kill them. Tobey Curtis, fishery management specialist at NOAA, said, “There is no reason to suspect warming waters would bring more white sharks to the region; they are already there.”  There are simple steps to avoid being in proximity with great whites, starting by not swimming in areas where seals congregate or large schools of fish are present, and avoid wearing dark wet suits and shiny objects, such as jewelry.

Lewiston readies multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan

SUN JOURNAL • July 28, 2020

The city and local organizations working to reel in a downtown redevelopment grant worth between $10 million and $30 million are moving ahead with their application without knowing an official due date. The 250-page downtown transformation plan, rolled out in 2019, includes plans for a 66-unit, mixed-use development on Pine Street, along Kennedy Park, and a 64-unit, family-oriented redevelopment along Pine and Bartlett streets. It also lays out related beautification projects and a focus on safety, health and education.

Insurers, utilities oppose bill to extend lawsuit window for PFAS contamination

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 28, 2020

Representatives of insurance companies and wastewater utilities testified against a proposal Tuesday that aims to give property owners in Maine more time to file lawsuits over contamination with so-called “forever chemicals.” Tuesday’s legislative hearing came just four days after state agriculture officials announced that milk from a Central Maine dairy farm had “startling” levels of an industrial chemical linked to cancer, reproductive issues and other health ailments. Rep. Craig Hickman, a Winthrop farmer who co-chairs the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee, said the statute of limitations “for a forever chemical may need to be forever.”

Even the low temperatures are breaking heat records in Portland

ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 28, 2020

t’s so hot even the low temperatures are breaking records. The low temperature in Portland was higher on Monday than it had ever been on July 27 in any year, the National Weather Service reported. The temperature in the city never dipped below 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The temperature shattered the old record of 69 degrees, which was set in 1979 and equaled in 1989.

Record low number of U.S. fish stocks subject to overfishing in 2019

ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 28, 2020

A federal government report stated Tuesday that the list of fish stocks that are subject to overfishing in the U.S. fell to an all-time low in 2019. The National Marine Fisheries Service determined that only 22 of 321 fishing stocks were subject to overfishing last year.

Falmouth Land Trust needs more donors as deadline to buy Underwood Springs nears

FORECASTER • July 28, 2020

Faced with a September deadline, fundraising by the Falmouth Land Trust to purchase Underwood Springs Forest is nearing the three-quarter mark, and two local residents have pitched in to encourage others to donate. The trust has raised $580,000 but $250,000 more is needed as  a pair of anonymous donors have now pitched in $25,000 each as challenge grants.