Mishmash of how U.S. heat deaths are counted complicates efforts to keep people safe as Earth warms

ASSOCIATED PRESS • August 13, 2023

Even when it seems obvious that extreme heat was a factor, death certificates don’t always reflect the role it played. Experts say a mishmash of ways more than 3,000 counties calculate heat deaths means we don’t really know how many people die in the U.S. each year because of high temperatures in an ever warming world. That imprecision harms efforts to better protect people from extreme heat because officials who set policies and fund programs can’t get the financial and other support needed to make a difference.

Tap Lines: Allagash among breweries experimenting with sustainable grain

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 14, 2023

Allagash Brewing Co. recently partnered with Patagonia Provisions – the food and beverage arm of the outdoor outfitter Patagonia – to brew an experimental beer using Kernza. Kernza is an “intermediate wheatgrass” and is billed as a perennial grain crop. Allagash was one of 11 independent craft breweries from across the country to participate as part of the inaugural Good Grain Collaborative program. The goal is to encourage regenerative farming practices by promoting the use of ingredients with a lower environmental impact. For brewers and the farmers they rely on, that means developing more sustainable forms of ingredient production. Last month, Allagash was recertified as a B (“Benefit”) Corporation, which means a company demonstrates measurably positive social and environmental impacts and a commitment to accountability to all stakeholders (as opposed to merely shareholders).

A new hurdle for the CMP corridor has backers getting impatient

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 13, 2023

Work has resumed on the $1 billion hydropower project through western Maine, but it still is not clear who will pay for the up to $500 million in additional costs caused by legal and construction delays, causing some supporters to become impatient. Public Advocate William Harwood expressed concern Friday about the construction delays and projected cost increases for the project that is being spearheaded by Central Maine Power’s parent company Avangrid and Hydro-Quebec. Contracts must be renegotiated to consider the added costs, and Massachusetts lawmakers need to approve that. Despite lawmakers including provisions in their spending bills to allow changes, a slimmed-down budget passed recently without them. That means the project has resumed without knowing if or how the additional costs will be covered.

Bigelow leading project to assess cyanobacteria in drinking water

BOOTHBAY REGISTER • August 13, 2023

The Boothbay Region Clean Drinking Water Initiative is a collaboration of organizations working to protect the quality of our drinking water. This summer, Bigelow Laboratory is leading efforts to assess potentially harmful cyanobacteria in our drinking water supplies before it becomes a problem. Nutrients are essential for the growth and health of all organisms. But when too many nutrients run off the land into lakes and coastal waters, populations of algae and cyanobacteria may grow out of control, blooming into a slick mess that can restrict recreation and starve fish of oxygen.

Buxton swimming closed, East End and other beaches have bacteria warnings

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 13, 2023

Buxton’s Pleasant Point Park swimming area has been closed since Friday because of high levels of E.coli bacteria in the water. Portland’s East End Beach, and Gooch’s and Laudholm beaches in Kennebunk have been flying orange flags warning visitors of high enterococci bacteria levels, but they have not been closed. The orange flags warn visitors that bacteria levels are higher than normal.

Longtime Manchester residents donate 68 acres of land to local trust

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • August 13, 2023

The Wagner family has donated their land, spanning 68 acres, to the Kennebec Land Trust, which will work to conserve the land’s habitats and potentially utilize the property to offer recreational activities to residents. The Wagner Woods Conservation Area shares its borders with 1,368 acres of ecological conservation landscape. That includes the 228-acre Manchester conservation lands and the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife’s 1,140-acre Jamie’s Pond Wildlife Management Area. The Kennebec Land Trust is a local organization that works collaboratively with landowners and communities to conserve natural habitats and resources. Founded in 1988, the organization has conserved over 7,690 acres of land and constructed more than 58 miles of trails.

Cultural and Historical Benefits of Expanding the National Park System

NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER • August 13, 2023

There are dozens of natural areas across the United States that could be added to the National Park System, both to protect unique ecosystems as well as biodiversity, and there also are many cultural and historic sites that tell chapters of the country's history. "We ought to be thinking big," believes Michael Kellett of RESTORE: The North Woods. "The National Trust for Historic Preservation has their 11 Most Endangered places list. We're losing these areas, a lot of these important places that could be protected and wouldn't cost that much in the bigger scheme of things. It wouldn't be that expensive to save these places. We ought to be doing that, just like natural areas."

State investment has jumpstarted Loring revitalization, officials say

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 13, 2023

Limestone’s former Air Force base is poised for a revitalization. A start-up sustainable aviation fuel manufacturer and artificial intelligence research center have agreed to invest millions to build or renovate facilities and create hundreds of jobs. Private investors from Green 4 Maine LLC acquired 450 acres last year, aiming to turn their land into a hub for companies with national and local interests. DG Fuels chose Loring as one of two U.S. sites for a $4 billion sustainable aviation fuel facility. The vast open land for building, railroad and pipeline access and proximity to forest products were key selling points. And the new Maine Space Corporation, which wants Loring to become a launch and manufacturing site for satellites and small rockets.

Opinion: Let’s hope we’re approaching a public opinion tipping point on climate

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 13, 2023

Scientists have defined the issue, engineers have invented the technology to slow climate change. Now we regular Americans need to step forward and force our politicians to act. Research shows that if a group can convince 25% of the population of a new idea, then the entire population will swing in its favor. Most of our legislators understand that the planet is in serious trouble, but they do not act because they are concerned about being voted out of office. They need to know that an increasing number of Americans want them to act. ~ Nancy Hasenfus, Citizens Climate Lobby, Brunswick

Federal agency allows emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program acres

MAINE PUBLIC • August 13, 2023

The Maine Farm Service Agency is allowing emergency haying and grazing on Conservation Reserve Program acres for livestock producers whose fields have been impacted by this summer's excessive rain. FSA State Executive Director Sherry Hamel says 3,200 acres in Aroostook, Franklin, Oxford and Penobscot counties are available for farmers and ranchers enrolled in the CRP program in those counties. "People who produce hay have been able to maybe get 1 cutting this season, when they usually get 2 or 3 per season," she said. "So this is creating a hardship for livestock producers, the lack of feed is going to drive prices up.”

20 stunning photos from iconic Acadia hiking trails

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 13, 2023

There’s no such thing as a bad view in Acadia National Park. With more than 120 miles of hiking trails and 26 mountains to summit within the park, there are countless places to soak in the sights of Mount Desert Island, the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding Maine coast. Here are 20 photos that show what awaits you on these iconic trails.

How to make wetland crossings more resilient

MAINE MONITOR • August 13, 2023

Last month, a group of more than 30 organizations, headed by the Department of Marine Resources’ Maine Coastal Program, released a 100-page long guide on how to make those tidal crossings more resilient. The document is aimed at municipal staff, engineers, road owners and anyone else who’s “interested in helping to replace tidal road culverts and bridges with safe, climate-resilient crossings.”

Public feedback process for decision on offshore wind port a charade, environmentalists claim

MAINE MONITOR • August 13, 2023

Environmentalists are decrying a year-long process meant to gather public feedback on where to build a deepwater offshore wind port, calling it a “charade.”  They say state officials failed to adequately engage the public or tribal communities and effectively decided where to construct the port long before the process began. The Maine Department of Transportation has been making an internal case for Sears Island while “giving an illusion of an impartial analysis of port possibilities to the public,” said Matt Cannon, the state conservation and energy director for Sierra Club Maine.

Column: Should anti-hunting activists be included in shaping wildlife management strategies?

SUN JOURNAL • August 12, 2023

A very misguided bill that almost passed in the state legislature, LD 814, would have set back a lot of work in this state to bring back Maine’s declining deer populations in the North Woods. The bill would have ended recreational coyote hunting and trapping as we know it. Why would the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife include two well-known anti-hunting activists on a technical subcommittee charged with evaluating wildlife management strategies? This seems more a political gesture, a bow to “inclusivity,” than it does a wildlife management priority. DIFW has no historical or constitutional obligation to get on bended knee for the anti-hunting activists. ~ V. Paul Reynolds

Maine’s salt marshes play key role in fight against climate change, new report says

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 13, 2023

Maine has at least 54,000 acres, or 84 square miles, of so-called blue carbon reservoirs: salt marsh, eelgrass beds and even phragmites that store at least 1.7 million tons of carbon in the soil and vegetation. That much carbon is equal to the annual carbon emissions of 1.25 million passenger cars. The Maine projections are part of a new first-of-its-kind inventory of New England’s coastal blue carbon reservoirs from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Column: Kennebunk Land Trust offers 20 miles of scenic trails

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 13, 2023

The Kennebunk Land Trust, in partnership with others, has been pursuing their conservation work since 1972, protecting the town’s natural heritage and providing recreational opportunities aplenty. In a half-century, they’ve managed to conserve 1,570 acres across 28 preserves, 13 of which feature a total of 20 miles of well-marked hiking trails. ~ Carey Kish

Column: That bird with the quiet, off-beat call is learning to sing

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 13, 2023

One of the great joys of spring in Maine is hearing the song of a newly arrived white-throated sparrow. It’s distinctive poor-sam-peabody-peabody-peabody (or as our northern neighbors prefer, my-sweet-Canada-Canada-Canada) evokes the Maine woods. We are treated to this song all summer long. I had to grin when I recently heard a song that sounded vaguely like a white-throated sparrow but with a certain hesitancy and missed notes. What I was hearing was a young male, born just a few months ago, learning to sing. ~ Herb Wilson

Column: A long-term view on climate requires near-term sacrifice

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 13, 2023

Climate change is an existential threat to humanity; even if it doesn’t wipe us all out, it’s certainly going to cause an immeasurable amount of human suffering. Floods. Droughts. Wildfires. Ripple effects we can’t even imagine yet. I’ve been working in the medical field long enough to know that in order to stabilize the patient, the first thing to do is stop the bleeding. In this case, we – state, country, world – need to stop burning fossil fuels and throwing carbon dioxide into our overheated atmosphere. We can absolutely do this; we have the technology. Transitioning our economy to 100% renewable energy is humanly possible, but it’s going to take a big upfront investment. I will be voting for the creation of Pine Tree Power. Entropy is a powerful force. So is greed. The rich will not make sacrifices to help save the rest of us unless we make them. ~ Victoria Hugo-Vidal

Commentary: Match rhetoric of Indigenous sovereignty in Maine with reality

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • August 13, 2023

While L.D. 2004 would have augmented Wabanaki sovereignty, it would have continued to prevent the Wabanaki tribes from exercising sovereignty over environmental regulation on tribal lands and waters. While the Environmental Protection Agency continues to wield preeminent authority over pollution standards, its 1984 Indian Policy grants tribes agency in the design and implementation of air and water quality regulation. When EPA regulations are inadequate for tribal needs, federally recognized tribes retain the sovereign power to set stricter pollution standards than federal and state agencies. Preventing full Indigenous sovereignty over pollution regulation in Maine continues to foreclose potentially innovative tribal measures to counteract the disastrous effects of climate change. ~ David W. Everson, assistant professor of sociology, University of Southern Maine

Column: Outdoor pursuits come with inherent risk

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 13, 2023

Have you ever thought about the risk you are taking when you head out the door for your adventure? I have worked and lived on the West Branch of the Penobscot River since 2014. I never thought that this special place that has given me so much could also take something from me. In the past six years, I’ve lost two people I know to the river and both accidents have hit very close to home. I love hiking solo and I know that it comes with added risk. If something happens to me, I am responsible for myself. That’s intimidating. I have to be OK with that. ~ Sarah Sindo