Maine Public Utilities Commission dismisses complaint requesting investigation of Auburn Water District

SUN JOURNAL • September 27, 2023

The Maine Public Utilities Commission has dismissed a complaint requesting an investigation into the Auburn Water District, stating that while it raises relevant concerns about water quality, the Water District has taken “adequate steps” to resolve the cause of the complaint. It does, however, request that the Water District submit information to the PUC following any updates in the ongoing litigation between the district and the city of Lewiston. The complaint referenced the Water District’s attempt to revise the Lake Auburn watershed boundary, as well as changes to its septic ordinance, which the residents said could lead to the Water District losing its waiver from filtration.

Tree harvester burns up in northern Franklin County

SUN JOURNAL • September 27, 2023

A tree harvester burned up Wednesday in woods in northern Franklin County. The operator of the feller buncher smelled smoke and saw flames. He went to get help and when he returned the engine and fuel were burning. The cause is likely is electrical. The feller buncher was a total loss.

Paddlers enjoy exercise, wildlife and stunning scenery in Oxford County

ADVERTISER DEMOCRAT • September 27, 2023

Last Thursday, Androscoggin River Watershed Council and the Oxford County Wellness Collaborative organized a group excursion for the Oxford Hills Older Adults Outing Group on the Little Androscoggin River from the Paris River Park on Paris Hill Road. Seven kayakers launched from the river park for an early evening paddle to Stony Brook and back.

Six young climate activists take European governments to court over climate change

ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 27, 2023

Six young adults and children argued that governments across Europe aren’t doing enough to protect people from climate change at the European Court of Human Rights on Wednesday in the latest and largest instance of activists taking governments to court to force climate action. Legal teams for the 32 nations – which includes the 27 EU member countries, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Russia, and Turkey – questioned the admissibility of the case as well as the claim that the plaintiffs are victims of climate change harm. “I am shocked by the countries’ attempt to ignore the evidence that we’ve put in front of them, and trivialize the current state we are facing,” said 15-year-old André Oliveira.

New program introduces asylum seeker students to the Maine outdoors

MAINE PUBLIC • September 27, 2023

#WeOutside is the brainchild of Moon Machar, wellness coordinator at the Maine Association for New Americans. "We are taking groups of new Mainers out into the beautiful nature in Maine," she said, "to help them be able to experience and find home in spaces where, predominantly, people of color really aren't really utilizing, or don't feel welcomed."

Biden vetoes two Republican-led bills to undo protections for the prairie bird and northern bat

ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 27, 2023

President Joe Biden has vetoed Republican-sponsored bills intended to undo federal protections for endangered species that have seen their populations plummet over the years, including the northern long-eared bat. The GOP measures would overturn “science-based rulemaking” that offers important protections for the species and would undermine the Endangered Species Act, Biden said. The long-eared bat is one of 12 bat types decimated by a fungal disease called white-nose syndrome. The disease has spread across nearly 80% of the bat’s historic range in the eastern and north-central U.S. and has caused estimated population declines of at least 97%. “Bats are critical to healthy, functioning ecosystems and contribute at least $3 billion annually to the United States agriculture economy through pest control and pollination,” Biden said. Republicans and the logging industry criticized the endangered listing for the long-eared bat, contending it would hamper logging.

After summer’s extreme weather, more Americans see climate change as a culprit, poll suggests

ASSOCIATED PRESS • September 25, 2023

New polling from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research indicates that extreme weather, including a summer that brought dangerous heat for much of the United States, is bolstering Americans’ belief that they’ve personally felt the impact of climate change. About 9 in 10 Americans (87%) say they have experienced at least one extreme weather event in the past five years – including drought, extreme heat, severe storms, wildfires or flooding – up from 79% who said that just a few months ago in April. And about three-quarters of those believe climate change is at least partly to blame.

Nurses union backs Pine Tree Power ballot measure

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 27, 2023

The union representing 4,000 registered nurses in Maine announced Wednesday that it supports a ballot effort to establish a publicly owned utility. The Maine State Nurses Association said it supports Question 3 because it sees the reliable delivery of electricity as a matter of public health.

Column: After apple picking

MORNING SENTINEL • September 27, 2023

Some Septembers, it’s impossible to imagine anywhere else on Earth with weatherscape more beautiful than central Maine’s. May no fate willfully misunderstand me — that’s all dissolved by January. But in late September, the world balances on a dream of the divine. An autumn day is like a thousand years. ~ Dana Wilde

Opinion: Pine Tree Power is key to addressing climate change, lowering electric rates

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 27, 2023

Pine Tree Power, like other municipal and cooperative electric utilities here and across the country, would exist to serve Maine people. It would invest in renewable energy, increased reliability and improved customer service, because this is what Maine people want. Pine Tree Power is our best bet for meeting our state’s climate goals, lowering rates and ensuring more reliable service. Please join us in voting “yes” for Pine Tree Power on Nov. 7. ~ Susan Inches, author, teacher and environmental advocate from North Yarmouth; Wayne Jortner, attorney formerly with Maine’s Office of the Public Advocate

Opinion: Manufacturers need a lesson in toxic chemicals transparency

CENTRAL MAINE • September 27, 2023

American chemical companies have to learn it doesn’t pay to keep secrets. DuPont and four other companies have filed to block legal that filings that reveal how much the companies are paying to settle a lawsuit over the contamination of a river with “forever chemicals.” Manufacturers upstream use PFAS, a possible carcinogen, in the making of carpeting and flooring. The case is one of more than an estimated 15,000 claims that have been filed nationwide against DuPont, 3M, and smaller companies for PFAS contamination. The biggest PFAS manufacturers spent four decades suppressing information about the dangers. Now they are paying the price for that secrecy. The massive litigation underway might have been avoided if two of the biggest manufacturers of PFAS had been more forthcoming in the 1970s when they first learned about the health impacts of these forever chemicals. Instead, they suppressed unfavorable scientific research. More than $200 billion dollars later, we know what happened when the tobacco industry did that. PFAS producing companies got themselves into this mess by keeping secrets. Maybe the truth will help set them, and us, free. ~ Nedra Rhonethe, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Yarmouth Town Council votes to support ‘trail until rail’

FORECASTER • September 26, 2023

The Yarmouth Town Council voted unanimously last week to support a “trail until rail” from Portland to Auburn and to recommend the Legislature authorize the recreational pathway. The trail is part of a 72-mile loop proposed by the Casco Bay Trail Alliance. The unused rail corridor would be transformed into a walking and biking trail until the state has use for the rail lines.

Wind power in Maine is no breeze as regulators move slowly

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 26, 2023

Gov. Janet Mills and federal energy officials on Tuesday extolled Maine’s potential floating offshore wind power resources that are still years in the making. Maine’s application for a research lease for offshore wind, known as the Maine Research Array, is expected to be generating energy for the state by the end of the decade. A land-based wind project, the planned Aroostook Renewable Gateway, to bring power from northern Maine to ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator, has been moving ahead of offshore floating wind projects in the regulatory process. A citizens’ initiative passed in 2021 requires that construction of a high-voltage transmission line be approved by the Legislature, which approved the Gateway project in June. The ruling came in the wake of the highly controversial New England Clean Energy Connect Project intended to bring hydropower from Quebec to the New England grid.

Potential federal shutdown looms over Bar Harbor

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 26, 2023

Bar Harbor’s hoteliers, restaurateurs and other tourism-based business owners are holding their collective breath as a potential government shutdown draws near, threatening to close one of the area’s greatest attractions just as the busy fall season is picking up steam. Acadia National Park drew nearly 4 million visitors last year, contributing $479 million to the local economy. It’s a vital economic engine for the state and the surrounding area, especially during leaf-peeping season when tourists arrive to see the vibrant fall foliage, replenishing visitation following the end-of-summer dip. The park is likely to close if Congress cannot reach a budget agreement before Sunday, the first day of the new fiscal year. But Mount Desert Island has plenty to offer and they will remain open for business regardless.

This Maine-based nonprofit is fighting climate change with conservation

NEWS CENTER MAINE • September 25, 2023

The Forest Society of Maine is conserving Scammon Ridge in Greenville. “It affects climate change on a global scale.” FMS is working to conserve a million acres of forestland.

Game wardens rescue teen injured in fall on Tumbledown Mountain

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 25, 2023

Maine game wardens rescued a boy who fractured his leg in a fall on Tumbledown Mountain Sunday afternoon, calling in a Maine Forest Service helicopter to get him off the mountain. Kyle Lund, 15, of Dixfield, was hiking off trail with a friend on a steep section of Tumbledown near the Loop Trail when he slipped and fell about 60 feet and sustained a compound fracture of his left leg.

Electric buses are now helping to transport people around Acadia National Park

MAINE PUBLIC • September 25, 2023

Acadia National Park is in the midst of testing electric buses on its Island Explorer bus routes. The 32 buses in Acadia's Island Explorer fleet carry as many as 650,000 passengers annually. Since 1999, they've been powered by propane, in an effort to reduce emissions. This month, the National Park Service is taking the first step toward electric buses, testing out models by two different manufacturers in a pilot project supported by the U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Transportation. The early results are promising.

Commentary: Public power was a win-win for my city, and the scary ads proved untrue

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 25, 2023

There are not a lot of similarities between Maine and the city of Winter Park, Florida. However, the pros and cons of community-owned power are likely the same. During a voter referendum in Winter Park the investor-owned utility spent $523,750 on a campaign against the purchase filled with strong predictions of failure and potential bankruptcy, but 69% voted in favor of the purchase. Since the purchase, our rates have consistently been lower. We have run over 70% of the system underground and expect to be 100% by 2030. Our reliability numbers are 75% better than when we took over, and the need for drastic tree trimming has been eliminated. Our hurricane response has been some of the best in the region. We recently received an upgrade to AA- from Fitch Ratings. Overall, a huge success. More recently, we have begun investing in renewable energy. Winter Park’s success does not guarantee it is right for Maine but don’t let the investor-owned utility scare tactics be a deciding factor. ~ Randy Knight, city manager, Winter Park, Florida

Letter: Pickett Mountain rezoning application must be rejected

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 25, 2023

The Katahdin region – packed with rugged mountains, serene woods and wild waterways – is one of our crown jewels. Yet we may be about to risk the health of this ecosystem forever to let a Canadian company try to earn a few dollars in the short term. In Bangor on Oct. 23 and in Millinocket on Oct. 16, 17 and 18, the state’s Land Use Planning Commission is set to hold public hearings about this company’s application to rezone Pickett Mountain (about nine miles from Patten, on land that, at present, is sensibly zoned for small cabins) for an industrial mining operation. There are more riches, metaphorical and literal, to be had in preserving this land than there is in letting some corporation tear it apart. ~ Joshua Jackson, Brunswick