The EPA’s ambitious plan to cut auto emissions to slow climate change runs into skepticism

ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 6, 2023

The U.S. government’s most ambitious plan ever to slash planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions from passenger vehicles faces skepticism both about how realistic it is and whether it goes far enough. The Environmental Protection Agency in April announced new strict emissions limits that the agency says are vital to slowing climate change as people around the globe endure record-high temperatures, raging wildfires, and intense storms. The EPA says the industry could meet the limits if 67% of new-vehicle sales are electric by 2032, a pace the auto industry calls unrealistic. However, the new rule would not require automakers to boost electric vehicle sales directly. Instead, it sets emissions limits and allows automakers to choose how to meet them.

U.S. auditors accuse Maine of misusing federal grants to shore up its pension fund

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 6, 2023

Federal auditors have accused Maine of diverting $2.6 million in federal grants meant to fund popular fishing, hunting and wildlife protection programs into its underfunded pension and retiree health care system instead. The investigative arm of the U.S. Department of the Interior has issued several recent audits, the latest released July 28, questioning the practice of using new grants to pay down old pension liabilities within Maine’s Department of Marine Resources and Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife between 2017 and 2019.

Opinion: Bad broccoli, good government: How quick action protected our health

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 6, 2023

Exposure to chlorpyrifos has been linked to many harmful effects, including attention difficulties, autism, intelligence declines, problems with working memory, and increased odds of tumor growth. This acutely toxic pesticide was used nationally for decades and applied to some Maine crops. A bill I sponsored to ban it passed in 2021. About a week ago, an Aroostook County resident was concerned that a farm was illegally spraying a chemical on crops destined for dinner tables. A Board of Pesticide Control environmental specialist gathered samples. Sure enough, chlorpyrifos was found on broccoli that was already loaded on refrigerated trucks and ready for shipment. The crop was deemed unsafe for human consumption and destroyed. Thankfully, our government responded swiftly, taking significant steps to restrict the use of this hazardous chemical. ~ Rep. Vicki Doudera

Home AC units – in Maine, all the cool kids are using them

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 6, 2023

The Maine mystique includes a vision of rugged individualism, of stoic and frugal folks who deal with whatever life throws at them with perseverance and common sense. Spending money on something that has the same effect as a free ocean breeze or wind through the trees is definitely not part of that. It’s a point of pride with some Mainers to bravely battle the elements, whether that means keeping the furnace off until December or sweating through a hot spell with a couple of box fans in August. Mainers’ reluctance to get air conditioning – or any cooling system – may be changing as summer temperatures get hotter each year and people spend more time working from home instead of in air-conditioned offices, especially since the pandemic.

Column: What impact does summer weather have on insects?

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 6, 2023

“Where are the bugs?” Heat can often help insects by speeding up their metabolism and make parts of their life cycles go much quicker. On the flip side, when it is too hot, some insects need to protect themselves and will be less active. It is important to be aware that we are seeing significant population declines across our insects on long-term scales. Some of our short-term observations may be because of how the weather is affecting both them and us! ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox

Column: Pine Tree Power will be a change for the better

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 6, 2023

We loved Central Maine Power when it was locally owned and operated. But we all know that today’s CMP is not the CMP of 1998, and that can be traced back to when it was bought by Iberdrola, a multinational corporation whose primary shareholders are the governments of Norway and Qatar, as well as the investment company Blackrock. Versant Power is owned by Enmax, which is owned by the city of Calgary, Alberta. I have nothing against Norway, Qatar and Calgary, but providing Mainers with the cheapest, most reliable electricity possible is not in their best financial interest. I don’t think Pine Tree Power will fix all our electric woes. But I keep thinking about how, in 2022, CMP made $187 million in profit. What could that $187 million have done if it had been left here in Maine? Improved the grid so that power doesn’t go out as much? Hired more line workers so power could get back on more quickly? Invest in renewable energy, which will save both money and our planet in the long term? ~Victoria Hugo-Vidal

Column: Bethel land trust connecting people with their own backyards

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 6, 2023

The Mahoosuc Land Trust in Bethel has a broader mission than many land trusts. It is trying to protect property that is literally closer to home and lure more people to try gardening. While Mahoosuc does traditional land trust work, too, it puts more emphasis on local gardens and landscapes. ~ Tom Atwell

Column: Campobello Island offers history and trails with amazing views

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 6, 2023

Roosevelt Campobello International Park encompasses 2,800 acres on the southwestern end of Campobello Island. From Friar’s Head and Cranberry Point to Liberty Point and Con Robinson’s Point, the expansive park is home to rocky headlands, secluded coves, sand and pebble beaches, maritime spruce and fir forests, grassy meadows and sphagnum bogs. Pack your rucksack, hiking shoes and camera, because there’s plenty to see and do. ~ Carey Kish

Commentary: Celebrating 3 years of the Great American Outdoors Act

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • August 6, 2023

The National Park Service is in the forever business, and we have a responsibility to future generations to leave our national parks better than we found them. Park rangers regularly find ways to be good stewards of our public lands with extraordinarily limited resources. As the Department of the Interior celebrates the anniversary of the Great American Outdoors Act’s initial $6.5 billion investment in national parks over a five-year period, we cheer the critical foundation it provides for national parks across the country to address maintenance repair backlogs. The Act has funded two major projects in Acadia National Park: construction of a new maintenance facility and repair of a water and wastewater system on the Schoodic Peninsula. ~ Kevin Schneider, superintendent, Acadia National Park

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.