Letter: For EVs to work, we need more infrastructure

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • August 6, 2023

I have a friend who was brought up in Maine and was coming home for a much needed visit. She needed to rent a car. When she got to the airport rental company, they told her she had an electric vehicle. She did not remember renting an EV. The rental company told her for an extra $500 she could have a gas car. She was headed from Portland to some very rural parts of Maine. If we are going to make the transition to EVs, we need a lot more infrastructure to make it work. ~ Deborah Cayer, Chesterville

Letter: Mother Nature has had her fill of us

MORNING SENTINEL • August 6, 2023

Regarding whether or not we need more or fewer people in this country, the answer in my mind is clear. Simple math says that you can’t have an infinite amount of anything in an area that has a finite amount of resources. We’re losing more and more farmland annually. We develop more of our farmland yearly to, yes, house more and more people. More importantly, we’re losing more farmland to weather related issues. Aquifers, rivers and reservoirs are drying up. No water: No resources. We’ve been warned for a long time. Now we pay the consequences. In short, Mother Nature has had her fill of our species. ~ Mychael Bartholf, Mercer

Letter: LePage cost Maine progress on offshore wind

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 6, 2023

It’s so good that Gov. Mills wants Maine to build floating offshore wind turbines – enough turbines to provide halfof Maine’s electricity needs. Too bad then-Gov. Paul LePage sent Statoil packing in 2013, as those turbines would already be in place. His reasoning was that Statoil wasn’t interested in supporting the Maine economy, even though the turbines would have been built (and maintained) by Maine companies. ~ Bruce Bartrug, Nobleboro

Lake homes overtaking camps in northern Aroostook County

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 6, 2023

An influx of people are buying camps and lake homes in northern Aroostook County since the COVID-19 pandemic made working remotely common and the demand for real estate in Maine has been on the rise. Aroostook County Administrator Ryan Pelletier said he has seen this growth firsthand. Pelletier, who lives on Pelletier Island on Long Lake in St. Agatha, said there were roughly six permanent residents in the early 2000s, but now there are approximately 60 permanent residents and about the same number of seasonals

Brewer company known for innovative bridge technology files for bankruptcy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 5, 2023

Advanced Infrastructure Technologies LLC filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection through the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Bangor last month. The company designs and manufactures composite bridge systems meant to last decades longer than traditional steel and concrete structures. Replacement of the Grist Mill Bridge in Hampden was the first project in the nation to use the company’s composite girder technology, which was developed in collaboration with University of Maine researchers.

Maine congressional delegation voices “serious concerns” about High Peaks national wildlife refuge

MAINE MONITOR • August 5, 2023

Maine’s congressional delegation has urged federal officials to halt the still-emerging discussions over a proposed National Wildlife Refuge in the High Peaks Region of western Maine, delivering a serious blow to the idea. The lawmakers said they have “serious concerns” about the refuge and pointed to mounting opposition to the proposal. Those staunchly against the refuge have said state and local conservation efforts in the area are sufficient. They are wary of federal oversight, which they say could limit hunting and recreation access; others say it’s too soon to decide either way. Will Lund, editor of The Maine Sportsman magazine. wrote in the August edition that fellow recreationists should hear out the USFWS and not jump to conclusions while the refuge proposal is in such early planning days.

What Maine could do to kill more invasive green crabs

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 5, 2023

Fishermen and marine ecologists have sounded alarm bells about the rapidly expanding green crab population along the coast for years. Although the state recognizes the threat green crabs pose to fisheries, Maine has not implemented a statewide system to monitor the invasive species’ population and range or done much to combat it beyond the local level. Work on the green crab population presently happens at the local level with support from the Department of Marine Resources.

Column: Dog days of summer are togue time

SUN JOURNAL • August 5, 2023

The Dog Days of August are upon us. With most of our state game fish hunkered down in deep water or spring holes, diehard anglers, those who just never get enough of feeling that tug on the line, will go after lake trout, or, in the Maine vernacular, togue. This time of year, togue hunters go deep with either down riggers or yards and yards of lead core line. In Maine, the record togue was caught in 2020, when Erik Poland of Andover, Maine, boated a new state record at Richardson Lake. The monster togue weighed in officially at 39.2 pounds. ~ V. Paul Reynolds

Paying a premium: The challenge of insurance in a climate-altered world

MAINE MONITOR • August 5, 2023

Construction is booming where wildfires leveled homes in California and hurricanes left rubble in Florida — even as major insurance companies stop writing new policies in these states, deterred by the growing likelihood of climate-driven disasters. Maine is not at imminent risk of having insurance companies withdraw, but as cascading catastrophes destabilize the industry, we are vulnerable. Our state might be just one disaster away from significant disruptions in its insurance marketplace. Maine should do more to prepare for ripple effects from disasters elsewhere and for extreme weather events here.

This family has had access to Popham Beach since the 1940s. Now their neighbors are suing them.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 5, 2023

Members of the Hill family said that for as long as they can remember, they have used a footpath from their grandparents’ cottage. That was until April 2021, when they got a letter from their neighbors Richard and Sheila Tappen. “Kindly cease and desist from all further use of this property.” The Hills thought it was a common area. The Tappen family has owned a beachfront cottage in the neighborhood for nearly as long as the Hills. In 2021 they purchased the rights to another 3.5 acres. On that sliver of land, the Hills have over the years built a boardwalk, a deck, a ramp, and a shed. The Tappens want it all gone. Their attorney says they want to protect the dunes from further erosion.

700-pound tuna caught off the coast of Maine are no fish tales

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2023

The Casco Bay Bluefin Bonanza is an annual fishing tournament where dozens of massive tuna were caught, and money was raised for scholarships at Maine’s community colleges. The heaviest tuna tallied on the leaderboard during the five-day bonanza weighed 756 pounds. It was brought to shore on Thursday by My Three Blondes, captained by Joe Pinkham of Five Islands. The biggest bluefin tuna catch on record was a 1,496-pound monster caught in Nova Scotia in 1979. Although there are concerns about many marine species in Maine and around the world, bluefin, the largest species of tuna, seem to be doing just fine.

Column: Midsummer birding is boring

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2023

Boring. Midsummer birding is boring. Songbirds aren’t singing. Nestlings have fledged and are becoming independent. Parents are more relaxed. Most birds are staying in the trees, obscured by the thick foliage of August. There are boredom exceptions, of course. Marshes are particularly lively right now. Still, birding adventures right now are tame, unless you know one secret: Watch their behaviors. Even in the doldrums of summer, there’s a lot to watch. You just have to know what you’re watching.

After helping prevent extinctions for 50 years, the Endangered Species Act itself may be in peril

ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 4, 2023

Enacted in 1973 amid fear for iconic creatures such as the bald eagle, grizzly bear and gray wolf, the Endangered Species Act, the bedrock U.S. law intended to keep animal and plant types from dying out, extends legal protection to 1,683 domestic species. More than 99% of those listed as “endangered” – on the verge of extinction – or the less severe “threatened” have survived. Fifty years after the law took effect, environmental advocates and scientists say it’s as essential as ever. Habitat loss, pollution, climate change and disease are putting an estimated 1 million species worldwide at risk. Yet conservative administrations and lawmakers have stepped up efforts to weaken it, backed by landowner and industry groups that contend the act s tifles property rights and economic growth. Members of Congress try increasingly to overrule government experts on protecting individual species.

Milk With Dignity: the movement urging food suppliers to seek better work conditions on dairy farms

MAINE PUBLIC • August 4, 2023

Milk With Dignity is a worker-driven social responsibility movement that has been pressuring Hannaford to join for years. The group has a code of conduct that sets housing and working condition standards that companies and farms agree to follow. Those standards are enforced by an independent council of investigators and lawyers. In turn, the companies pay the farms a premium to improve worker conditions. It was born after an employee died in a 2009 workplace accident at a Vermont farm suppling milk to Ben & Jerry's, the iconic Vermont ice cream brand. The company agreed to require suppliers to follow the code in 2017. Cheryl Pinto, the company’s lead on the topic, said farmworkers have already seen results. Now, Milk With Dignity is focused on Hannaford, Maine's second largest private employer, with nearly 200 stores throughout the Northeast.

King, Collins and Golden ask feds to halt consideration of wildlife refuge

SUN JOURNAL • August 4, 2023

Maine’s Congressional delegation has sent a letter to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service voicing “serious concerns” regarding a potential National Wildlife Refuge in the High Peaks Region of western Maine. In the letter, U.S. Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, as well as U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, said the federal government should “terminate its evaluation of the High Peaks Region for inclusion in the National Wildlife Refuge system and instead, work with the established local conservation entities and the state to address any wildlife-related issues.” Franklin County Commissioners Bob Carlton said that an attempt 10 years ago to create a refuge in the area failed. He and others don’t trust the federal government, he said.

Belfast board ordered to reconsider challenge to commercial fish farm

MAINE PUBLIC • August 4, 2023

In December 2020, the group Upstream Watch appealed the Belfast planning board's issuance of several permits to Nordic Aquafarms for an estimated $500 million salmon facility. But on Thursday, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court said that a lower court erred when it upheld the Belfast Board of Zoning Appeals decision that Upstream Watch lacked standing. So the court is directing the board to re-consider that appeal. The law court also recently ruled that Nordic lacks right, title and interest to a key piece of property needed for the project.

Letter: Putting the brakes on greenhouse-gas emissions

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 4, 2023

We need many tactics to curtail greenhouse gases at this point, but the single most efficient and effective solution is to raise the prices of fossil fuels to reflect their destructive impact, and thereby curtail demand for them. Carbon pricing can be a logical and efficient way to reduce greenhouse gases by stimulating demand for cheaper green energy. ~ Cynthia Stancioff, Chesterville

Letter: A ‘government takeover’ of Maine energy has already happened

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 4, 2023

Central Maine Power is owned by Avangrid, which is an 81.5 percent owned subsidiary of the Spanish utility Iberdrola. The three largest shareholders of Iberdrola are Qatar Investment Authority, Blackrock Inc, and Norges Bank. Qatar Investment Authority and Norges Bank are financial institutions operated by the governments of Qatar and Norway, respectively, while Blackrock is a large investment fund based in New York City. The people funding the campaign against Pine Tree Power use what I believe to be fearmongering language about a “government takeover” of our electric utility, when that scenario isn’t too far from what already exists. It’s just that the governments benefiting from the profits from CMP aren’t in Maine, or even in the United States. ~ Timothy D’Angelo, Bowdoinham

Maine expands electrical vehicle charging stations statewide

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 3, 2023

The Maine Department of Transportation intends to install 12 more electrical vehicle charging stations across the state. Financing for the expansion comes from a first award of over $6 million from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Program.

Wilton board opposes creating wildlife refuge in High Peaks region

FRANKLIN JOURNAL • August 3, 2023

The Board of Selectpersons voted unanimously Tuesday to sign a letter to U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King, and U.S. Rep. Jared Golden opposing a potential national wildlife refuge in the High Peaks Region of western Maine. Wilton officials joined Avon and Eustis in signing the letter. The U.S Fish and Wildlife Service is studying roughly 200,000 acres straddling the Appalachian Trail, and is looking to establish a refuge of between 5,000 and 15,000 acres, according to Nancy Perlson, a local conservation consultant working with USFWS. The area has 14 of Maine’s highest summits and the largest cluster of peaks over 4,000 feet in the state. The refuge would be in the high peaks region.