How Trump's Supreme Court Pick Might Hinder Climate Action

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO • October 8, 2020

Nearly all of President Trump's climate rollbacks have been challenged, and several are likely headed to the high court. And some conservative allies with ties to the fossil fuel industry say they'd like to relitigate a key decision that underpins climate regulations. It's difficult to predict how Amy Coney Barrett would rule on specific cases, but her judicial philosophy shows skepticism of government and favors deregulation over regulation. Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr. with the Hip Hop Caucus. says he wants a different kind of justice who will lead on fixing big problems like climate change. "It is a lifetime position," he says, and requires someone who "understands the nuances of the world that we live in today." He's among those who want the Senate to wait on a confirmation vote until after the presidential election.

This whimsical stone path weaves up a mountain in Acadia National Park

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 8, 2020

Constructed in 1915, the Beachcroft Path is a historic memorial trail in Acadia National Park that’s famous for its twisting pathways and staircases built of granite blocks. Measuring just over a mile, the trail climbs over a small mountain called Huguenot Head, then climbs the west slope of Champlain Mountain to its summit. The trail was funded by Anna Warren Ingersoll Smith in memory of her husband Charles Morton Smith, and was named after their summer cottage in Bar Harbor. In 1926, she established an endowment fund for its continued maintenance.

Opinion: Climate change is not just getting worse, it’s getting harder to predict

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 8, 2020

Extreme weather events are now among the most destructive ever experienced. Climate and weather disasters in the United States since 2010 have averaged $80.2 billion in economic damage with 521 lives lost per year. But that number is going up. Between 2015 and 2019, annual damages averaged $106.3 billion with 772 lives lost. None of this is news to people who have been impacted by extreme weather and to scientists like me who have been paying close attention to these troubling trends. The climate pendulums are no longer returning to equilibrium at their lowest points in their arcs. Their pivot points are moving and accelerating in a dangerous direction (the long-term trends) so that the swinging weights of the pendulums are blowing by their historical limits into some very dark extremes. ~ Gary Yohe, Wesleyan University 

New England Clean Energy Connect may start construction in November, despite opposition

MORNING SENTINEL • October 8, 2020

Pending a permit from the United States Army Corps of Engineers, construction on the New England Clean Energy Connect will start early next month, the head of the NECEC Transmission company told members of the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce at their October Business Breakfast on Thursday. Sens. Russell Black, R-Franklin; Scott Cyrway, R-Kennebec and Rep. Dennis Keschl, R-Belgrade, sent a letter to Lindlof later Thursday saying they were “troubled” that only one side of the controversial corridor project was presented at the event. They are requesting a second business breakfast so members may hear from opponents of the project.

In a Boothbay Harbor, scientists are tying lobstermen’s ropes in knots to protect whales

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 7, 2020

A group of state researchers in Boothbay Harbor are testing how much force it takes to snap hundreds of pieces of rope apart as they try to identify knot combinations and configurations of fishing line that will help protect whales from life-threatening entanglements. Since early 2019, the small group of scientists at the Maine Department of Marine Resources have been testing a variety of different types of rope knotted together by putting them under strain with an old hydraulic tensile testing machine. The idea is to come up with a way Maine lobstermen can affordably satisfy federal laws that prohibit fishing activity from harming protected marine species such as North Atlantic right whales, of which only 400 or so remain.

Column: An autumn bee

MORNING SENTINEL • October 7, 2020

Beside the driveway one September morning, I stopped to watch a bee with rust-colored midparts pore over some New England asters, bright purple-blue-rayed medallions in tight clusters. Suddenly my vision shifted and I was living in the bee’s world. I saw into the aster disks, the scant sweet moisture there, and the maples, spruces and raspberry thicket, the flowers and withered goldenrod were one intensely vivid, yawning, blank enormity. It was a completely fathomless wilderness. ~ Dana Wilde 

Two men rescued off Knife Edge in Baxter State Park

WABI-TV5 • October 7, 2020

A Massachusetts man and his nephew had to be rescued by helicopter off Knife Edge in Baxter State Park. Officials say the 75-year-old and 25-year-old lost the trail early this morning in dark and foggy conditions. They got in touch with authorities who told them to shelter in place until daylight. Officials say they got another call a few hours later from the nephew saying his uncle had been injured after falling more than 50 feet. At first light, rangers were able to get to the two men. They say the older hiker was flown to a Bangor hospital and is in critical condition. The younger hiker was taken to the same hospital to be treated for hypothermia and exhaustion.

Once shut out, Maine cannabis industry now eligible for sustainable energy grants

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 7, 2020

One of Maine’s most energy-intensive industries will no longer be shut out of the state’s energy efficiency incentive programs. Efficiency Maine voted 5-2 Wednesday to allow state-legal marijuana businesses to apply for energy efficiency program grants.

Historic alewife restoration initiative hits another milestone

TOWN LINE • October 7, 2020

Six dams in six years — that was the goal, says Matt Streeter, project manager for the China Lake Alewife Restoration Initiative, and it’s a goal they are likely to meet — and maybe even surpass. The team invited me to view their progress on the new fishway currently under construction. Once complete, it will be another milestone on the way to opening up migratory fish passage into China Lake for the first time in nearly two centuries. It’s been a long haul for the project team, which is headed up by the nonprofit Maine Rivers, working in collaboration with the towns of China and Vassalboro, the Maine Department of Marine Resources, the Kennebec Water District, the Sabasticook Regional Land Trust and the China Region Lakes Alliance.

Maine’s Ocean

MAINE PUBLIC • October 7, 2020

Featured Speaker: Dr. Heather M. Leslie, Director, Darling Marine Center, UMaine
Panelists:
Geoff Smith, Director of Marine Programs, The Nature Conservancy in Maine
Rebecca Clark-Uchenna, STEM Education Specialist, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance
Ben Martens, Executive Director, Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association
Gabrielle Hillyer, Project Coordinator, Maine Shellfish Learning Network

Maine hospitality industry expects $1B loss in 2020

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 6, 2020

“Maine hospitality industry expects $1B revenue loss in 2020 as virus ends growth run,” Lori Valigra, BDN: “The 2020 analysis by University of Maine economists Todd Gabe and Andrew Crawley forecasted that revenues including multiplier effects for industries benefiting from the hospitality sector will be $5.2 billion, down $1.7 billion from 2019. The industry will provide 51,000 full- and part-time jobs, a loss of more than 28,000 from 2019. This new information ends a string of 12 straight years of record growth.”

The CMP corridor influence campaign continues as candidates grow skeptical

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 6, 2020

The referendum on the Central Maine Power corridor is not on the ballots this fall, but the influence operation continues with a focus on skeptical candidates. A ballot question to undo a permitting rule allowing the construction of the $1 proposed hydropower corridor from Canada through western Maine was ruled unconstitutional by Maine’s high court earlier this year. Groups that were prepared to campaign on the referendum have not given up as the corridor seems primed to continue as a divisive political issue. 

CMP could have hard 2021 in Augusta as legislative hopefuls turn against corridor

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 6, 2020

A wide majority of legislative candidates who responded to a Bangor Daily News survey indicated opposition to the proposed Central Maine Power corridor, making it likely the utility will find a less-friendly environment in Augusta in 2021. The Nov. 3 election is the first in which the $1 billion project is one of the top-tier issues in state politics. While Maine’s high court struck down a referendumthis year aiming to block the project as unconstitutional, opponents have launched a second initiative and a separate effort would buy out CMP and the state’s other dominant utility to establish a consumer-owned utility.

Maine Voices: Consumer-owned utility will put Maine ratepayers in the driver’s seat

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 6, 2020

the Maine Public Utilities Commission chooses to ignore the issue. The PUC has never engaged in a serious, deep look at the cost of these outages to the people of Maine. And even if the PUC did investigate, what would be the point? CMP and Versant have demonstrated repeatedly that they will not improve. The only solution is the creation of a consumer-owned utility to purchase and operate the entire transmission and distribution system in Maine. ~ Bill Dunn, Yarmouth, consultant with almost 50 years of experience in the electricity industry

Incentive program launched to swap out old wood stoves in Cumberland County

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 6, 2020

Homeowners in Cumberland County who own inefficient wood stoves can apply for a voucher worth $1,000 toward a new stove certified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of  the Cumberland County Wood Stove Changeout Program announced Tuesday by the American Lung Association. The program aims to improve outdoor and indoor air quality by removing older, high-polluting wood stoves and replacing them with cleaner-burning, EPA-certified wood, pellet or gas stoves.

Opinion: What’s at stake in the November election

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • October 6, 2020

Our planet is experiencing accelerating impacts of climate change, with increasingly deadly and destructive consequences. And at the very moment that these hardships are being felt by so many, crucial elements of the social safety net, literal lifelines for the most vulnerable members of our society, are frayed. Climate change impacts are here now, and a strong and decisive response is required from federal and state leaders to address these present and emerging threats. What’s at stake is the last real chance we have to meet the climate crisis with bold federal and state policies that have the power to reshape the trajectory of climate impacts now and for generations to come. ~ Anna McGinn, policy associate, Environmental and Energy Study Institute, and Brieanne Berry, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Anthropology at UMaine

Portland City Council limits when dogs can be off leash in Baxter Woods

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 5, 2020

Members of the Portland City Council voted 8-1 late Monday night to adopt changes to an off-leash dog policy that will require dog owners to keep their dogs on an 8-foot leash at all times between April 1 and July 31 to protect migratory bird nesting sites in Baxter Woods. From Aug. 1 through March 31, the new city policy will allow dog owners to let their pets run unleashed in Baxter Woods between 5-9 a.m. and from 5-10 p.m. But dogs would have to be on an 8-foot leash from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. during those months, a restriction the city felt was needed to protect school children, day care populations and other visitors who are uncomfortable around unleashed dogs. Under the plan, the city also agreed to set aside 5.5 acres of Baxter Woods as protected bird habitat to support migratory bird reproduction.

New England fishermen lament that seals ‘are everywhere’

ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 5, 2020

No one questions that seal and shark numbers are on the rise, mostly due to federal protections. It’s estimated there are as many as 50,000 grey seals in New England waters plus a lesser number of harbor seals. The animals were almost eliminated through hunting and bounties decades ago. But experts maintain there is not enough science to determine whether the current population is too big and little basis for culling the marine mammals. Experts say warming waters and other factors also could be playing a role in declining fisheries.

More 'Adventure' could be coming to Maine's specialty license plate selection

WCSH-TV6 • October 5, 2020

From Acadia to the Allagash, and from the mountains to the beaches, our state is filled with breathtaking scenes at every turn. And with every turn on the road, you'll spot a different license plate. To combine its love for the outdoors and commitment to improving the state's recreational scene, Maine Outdoor Brands is sponsoring the 'Adventure Licisene plate'. it costs $25 to register for the plate. “A portion of the proceeds from every plate would go to efforts to help strengthen Maine’s outdoor recreation economy," Jenny Kordick, Executive Director of Maine Outdoor Brands, said.