Maine nonprofit purchases PFAS-contaminated farm for research on chemicals in agriculture

MAINE PUBLIC • October 10, 2023

Adam Nordell and Johanna Davis had spent years building up Songbird Farm into a successful organic vegetable and grain operation. But in late-2021, tests revealed that sludge used to fertilize the fields decades before they bought had leached toxic levels of PFAS into the soil and water. The discovery forced the young couple to halt all salesand to move to another house with their toddler son after blood tests also revealed elevated levels of PFAS in their bodies. After more than a year and a half of work, Maine Farmland Trust announced that it had purchased the farm and planned to open it up to research on PFAS.

If there’s a new Maine utility, who will manage it?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

If Maine voters approve a publicly owned power company to replace the two dominant utilities, they’ll hand over thousands of miles of transmission and distribution lines to an as-yet-unknown operator. Backers say they can hire a contractor to do the work of the two investor-owned utilities. Opponents are less certain. The question of who will manage the grid in Maine lies at the foundation of the effort to ditch the state’s two investor-owned utilities. Arguments over management capabilities, credentials of overseers and, most especially, politics have made it a volatile discussion since the citizens’ initiative was filed.

Who could be a third-party operator? Here’s the test

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

As part of the legislation connected with Question 3, the PUC would determine that a transmission and distribution utility that serves more than 50,000 customers is considered “unfit” to operate if four or more of the conditions listed below are met. The utility:
• has consistently received low customer satisfaction ratings
• ranks among the lowest in reliability
• has consistently charged residential rates among the highest
• has outsourced work valued at $100,000+ that could have been done by qualified employees
• owns critical infrastructure, and is currently owned by a foreign government
• requires customers to cover the costs of taxes and shareholder profits over 10% on investments
• requires customers to pay for 90+% of damages caused by extreme weather events
• is unable to place needs of customers, workers, or Maine’s climate goals ahead of shareholder profits

Letter: Maine clean cars mandate would be a mistake

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 10, 2023

Electric vehicles use more aluminum to offset battery weight, and aluminum production is very energy-intensive. So is moving tons of earth to find the lithium and other toxic materials that EV batteries require. Then there are the large increases in charging stations and the expensive expansion of the electricity grid that will be needed. Developing this infrastructure should take priority over forced EV sales. The $17 billion in savings that would supposedly result from the mandate doesn’t take any of these upstream costs into account. Consumers will buy EVs when it makes economic sense and when infrastructure improvements reduce the inconvenience and frustrations of ownership. ~ Martin Jones, Freeport

Lacking volunteers and money, an Aroostook snowmobile club will disband

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 10, 2023

Nordic Lakers Snowmobile Club, founded in 1972, traditionally relied on volunteers and a limited supply of money to maintain its 16 miles of trails connecting New Sweden, Westmanland and Stockholm to Caribou’s 110-mile system. Soon the club will legally dissolve and several members will join Caribou Parks & Recreation’s slate of volunteer trail groomers. Half of the Nordic Lakers’ volunteers are over age 50, and many are over 60 or 70 years old. Within the decade, the club has gone from having 100 local volunteers to only 25. The problem of aging members and not enough young people stepping up to replace them is all too familiar to Al Swett, president of the Maine Snowmobile Association. “It’s our biggest problem.”

Letter: Take more action now on climate change

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2023

“The hottest September on record followed the hottest August and the hottest July with the latter being the hottest month ever recorded,” as reported in the Guardian on Oct. 4, 2023. We need more action now. Please urge governments and companies. ~ Pam Person, Orland

Stand up against mining in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2023

Canadian mining company Wolfden Resources is petitioning the Maine Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) to rezone 374 acres of property at Pickett Mountain so that it can mine for zinc and other metals. The outcome petition has the potential to increase the risk of metal mining operations in many other areas of Maine. We cannot allow this to happen. Wolfden’s proposed mining site is near Pickett Mountain, one of the most ecologically rich areas of Maine. It is close to Baxter State Park and Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. A metal mine could destroy or put at significant long-term risk the features that make this a wonderful place — its clean water, scenic beauty, its natural quiet and dark skies. ~ Lori Bailey of Union, Dave Stuart of Warren, and Joe Tassi of Hope, Citizens Against Residential Mining Activity

Face the Music: Maggie Rogers returning to Portland for environmental benefit

FORECASTER • October 9, 2023

Singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers is performing a solo, acoustic set of songs in Portland on Sunday, playing a guitar made from wood that came from a forest in Montana to raise awareness about land protection. The performance is part of an event at Merrill Auditorium called Climate Aid: The Voice of the Forest, a benefit for Maine-based Protect Ancient Forests and Montana’s Yaak Valley Forest Council. The evening will also feature musical acts Alisa Amador from the Boston area and Maine’s Halycon String Quartet, Mississippi poet Beth Ann Fennelly, and environmentalists Bill McKibben, Terry Tempest Williams and Rick Bass. Michael and Alyssa O’Brien, who live in Linconville, launched Protect Ancient Forests last year because they care deeply about the environment and the impact of climate change in Maine and around the country.

Rich nations vowed billions for climate damages. They haven’t delivered.

WASHINGTON POST • October 9, 2023

After years of promises of new climate funding, the developing world is coming to grips with a disappointing reality: Money still isn’t coming through fast enough to address the mounting challenges of climate change. Promises from some of the world’s biggest economies, including the United States and China, haven’t been panning out. Many are years behind schedule or still years away from sending money, delayed by political fights, bureaucratic snags and debates over new rules to expedite aid from development banks and private donors.

Wabanaki place names are everywhere in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2023

Before many were replaced by English or French names, most places in what is now Maine had already been named by the original inhabitants of the land: the Wabanaki, or the People of the Dawn, who include today’s Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Band of Maliseets and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs, or Mi’kmaq. There are still many Wabanaki names that dot the landscape of Maine, which is known as the Dawnland, though their meanings can be lost on most people as they climb Katahdin, vacation in Kennebunk, or drive over a bridge across the Kennebec River.

Downeaster pitches fare increases for the first time in five years

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 9, 2023

For the first time in five years, Amtrak’s Downeaster has pitched a plan to raise certain fares by $2 to $10, depending on destinations, accommodations and special offers. The Northern New England Passenger Rail Authority proposed the increases in response to inflation and rising costs that have driven up Downeaster’s operating expenses 20% in that period. At the same time, ridership growth has resumed since the pandemic, with marked gains through the summer months.

Letter: Advertising should not dictate Maine’s energy future

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 9, 2023

Why should we trust a utility company ranked at the bottom of the heap by a nationally recognized rating organization? Why trust the same for spending millions for subverting the electoral will of Mainers? Being bombarded by advertising in order to maintain the status quo of foreign influence on Maine politics is not the way to determine what is best for our energy future. Questions 2 and 3 allow Mainers to determine what is best for their energy needs. We don’t need a company that has to sell itself as the only choice. ~ Douglas Yohman, East Waterboro

Letter: Let’s show CMP we’re paying attention

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 9, 2023

How dumb does Central Maine Power think we are? It’s spending millions on ads that try to scare us with dire predictions about how Pine Tree Power wouldn’t work. It’s trying to confuse us with an inflated purchase cost and suggestions that “politicians” would be running the new company. It thinks we don’t remember living through CMP’s multiday power outages and screwed-up billing. So just keep those power outages coming. Or maybe we’re not as dumb as CMP thinks we are. Please vote “yes” on Question 3. ~ Jan Brennan, Kennebunk

Letter: Music and conservation come together Sunday at ‘Voice of the Forest’

FORECASTER • October 9, 2023

The people of Montana owe a debt of gratitude to the people of Maine who raised their voices to stop the Black Ram timber sale in northwest Montana’s Yaak Valley. I can’t think of another time an entire state has stood up to defend a forest thousands of miles away. But Maine has. And it is our privilege to celebrate the defense of Black Ram with music, poetry and kinship Sunday night at Merrill Auditorium with “Climate Aid: The Voice of the Forest.” Tickets are still available at PortTix. I look forward to hosting the evening alongside our guests from across the country: Maggie, Francis, Leslie, Terry Tempest Williams, Bill McKibben and Beth Ann Fennelly. Every person in the Merrill Auditorium will make a difference. See you Sunday. ~ Rick Bass, Troy, Montana

The Maine politicians being paid by CMP and Versant to oppose a takeover

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 9, 2023

Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill in 2021 to let voters decide whether to replace Maine’s two major electric utilities with one overseen by an elected board. Central Maine Power Co. and Versant have injected $35 million into their campaign versus roughly $1 million by Our Power to oppose Question 3 on Maine’s ballot, a referendum launched in response to the veto. An array of political veterans from both major parties have stepped in to oppose the initiative on behalf of the utilities. Former Rep. Charlotte Warren (D) has been a public face of CMP’s campaign. Versant’s political group hired former state Sen. Tom Saviello (R). One of the highest-powered partisans on CMP’s team is Jim Mitchell, a former Maine Democratic Party chair. Former Sen. Andre Cushing (R) has worked for Maine Affordable Energy opposing the referendum. David Pomerantz, executive director of a group critical of utilities, said, “The use of intermediaries to pay former legislators indicates that utilities may suspect that voters would be angry if they learned about the utilities’ involvement.”

Freight railroads police themselves and inspect their own tracks. Some say a disaster is inevitable.

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 8, 2023

A five-month Press Herald investigation reveals poorly maintained lines, unreported accidents and secrecy around the hazardous materials transported through Maine. Eight privately owned freight railroads are responsible for the vast majority of Maine’s train traffic. They own and are expected to maintain 965 of the 1,457 miles of tracks in the state. They are charged with policing themselves, conducting their own inspections and filing their own post-accident reports. The Federal Railroad Administration discovered that in the past six years, railroads failed to report three derailments, two accidents and three employee injuries in Maine. Two of the unreported trains that derailed carried hazardous materials. Maine has no oversight or authority over private freight railroads. It’s only a matter of time before a disastrous derailment in Maine.

Bike-to-school movement is rolling again in Portland and elsewhere

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 8, 2023

In 1969, around 50% of kids ages 5-14 walked or biked to school, according to the National Center for Safe Routes to School. In 2017, only 10% of kids ages 5-17 cycled or walked to school. But biking to school seems to be back in vogue. Students in communities around Maine and the nation are commuting by both e-bike and standard bicycle, often accompanied by parents on their own bikes. It’s an organic movement happening with individuals or families, and sometimes with big groups of neighbors creating bicycle caravans.

Letter: Question 2 will send us down the right path

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 7, 2023

We need the Republican Party to help solve the climate crisis because only a bipartisan solution can be enacted quickly, without danger of being undone after the next election. We saw climate change with our own eyes this summer, and yet the Republican Party now plans to reverse the progress President Biden has made on greenhouse gas emissions. To free the Republican Party from fossil fuel control, we would have to take away the industry’s biggest weapon, its unlimited campaign donations. And we can do that in November. Maine’s Question 2 would give Maine the power to limit the campaign donations of both corporations and foreign countries. Maybe we could finally have a government for the people, not for Big Money. ~ Richard Thomas, Waterville

Letter: Mainers rightly fed up with existing utilities

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 7, 2023

Foreign-owned power companies are investing millions of dollars in the attack on Pine Tree Power. Last year their millions in profit went to big executive salaries and out-of-country investors, while Central Maine Power was again rated the worst power company in the eastern U.S. These companies have a near-monopoly over our electrical service and are accountable primarily to their investors. Mainers are rightly fed up. Pine Tree Power would be all about what’s best for Mainers, not for wealthy investors just out to make big money off our hardworking people. Vote “yes” on Question 3. ~ James Bilancia, Brewer

Moose hunters will hit the woods starting Monday for second round

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 7, 2023

There will be more hunters in the woods starting Monday when the second week of moose season begins. The Oct. 9-14 week has the largest number of permit holders at 1,595, who will join game bird, bear and archery deer hunters already in Maine’s woods. There are 4,106 total permits for the three regular moose season weeks, plus the adaptive hunt days. The success of September’s hunters should be an inspiration to the next group hitting the woods on Monday. Hunters filled 776 of the total 1,050 tags designated for the Sept. 25-30 hunt.