Letter: Tired of scaremongering over cost of Pine Tree Power

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 14, 2023

I’m frustrated by the lies of the “No on 3” campaign. The ads claim Pine Tree Power will cost $13.5 billion, be rife with grift and will increase our utility bills. Based on a Maine Public Utilities Commission estimate, the sum is likely closer to $5 billion. While that number seems daunting, the trade-off, according to the Pine Tree Power campaign, is that Maine ratepayers will save an estimated $9 billion over the next 30 years. Publicly owned utilities keep money in the community, focus on reinvestment instead of shareholder enrichment and keep prices low for all. Vote “yes” on Question 3. ~ Austin Sims, Portland

Biden awards $7 billion for clean hydrogen hubs across U.S. to help replace fossil fuels

ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 14, 2023

The Biden administration has selected clean-energy projects from Pennsylvania to California for a $7 billion program to kickstart development and production of hydrogen fuel, a key component of President Biden’s agenda to slow climate change. Biden called clean hydrogen essential to his vision of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. by 2050. His goal is to establish seven regional hubs to help replace fossil fuels such as coal and oil with cleaner-burning hydrogen as an energy source for vehicles, manufacturing and generating electricity.

Letter: Benefits of the beach belong to all

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 14, 2023

Beaches are a rare commodity – less than 1% of Maine’s storied granite shoreline. The governor and Legislature should enact whatever laws are necessary to bring all private beaches back into the public domain. Barring their unwillingness to act, a referendum to expropriate beaches at fair market value should be initiated. Access to the physical, spiritual and emotional benefits of beaches are far too valuable to be left to the whims of a privileged few. ~ Michael R. Petit, Portland

Who Has The Disgusting Job Of Picking Up The Road Kill in Maine?

92 MOOSE • October 13, 2023

You wonder, who on Earth gets the job of dealing with this and removing Maine road kill? If your city has animal control, like Rockland, Maine for example, the city has the responsibility to remove road kill from public roads. Some cities have police departments that hold lists of people who would like road kill. So you can call your local Animal Control or Police Department and they will use their resources to remove it. If this is your private property and you prefer not to remove it yourself, you can google up a list of people that offer those services. But it is your responsibility to handle it. However, if you hit an eagle, hawk or another endangered species, you should call Maine Fish and Wildlife.

School of Forest Resources receives Austin H. Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award

UMAINE • October 13, 2023

The School of Forest Resources at the University of Maine will receive the Austin H. Wilkins Forest Stewardship Award for the impact the school’s teaching and research has made on Maine’s working forests. The award is given by the Maine TREE Foundation in partnership with the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation, and Forestry. It recognizes an individual or organization that has managed Maine’s working forest in an honorable and sustainable manner. “For more than 120 years, the School of Forest Resources has prepared foresters for careers in the Maine woods, graduating more than 5,000 students, and producing numerous leaders who have had successful careers in forestry, globally,” said Logan Johnson, executive director of the Maine TREE Foundation.

"Apples and the Art of Detection" by John Bunker, Oct 18

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • October 13, 2023

Apple expert John Bunker will give a presentation on the many varieties of apples in Maine and read from his book, Apples and the Art of Detection. At Sherman's Maine Coast Book Shop, Topsham, October 18, 6 pm, free.

Lecture: Invasive Jumping Worms in Maine, Oct 17

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • October 13, 2023

Brittany Schappach, entomologist, Maine Forest Service, gives an introduction to jumping worms, the presence of this invasive in Maine, and how the jumping worm can impact our local gardens and environment. Zoom, October 17, 6 pm, preregister. Sponsored by Kennebec Estuary Land Trust.

Woodland Pulp workers to strike this weekend

MAINE PUBLIC • October 13, 2023

Union employees at a Baileyville paper will go on strike starting tonight. The machinists will walk out just after midnight, followed by employees with the Service Employees International Union Sunday night and millwrights sometime next week. The three unions are at an impasse with woodland pulp over a proposal from the company to classify all employees as general workers to be trained in all job duties, eliminating classified positions such as millwright or pipefitter.

‘Maine Cabin Masters’ fandom drives tourists to Manchester

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • October 13, 2023

The TV show “Maine Cabin Masters,” which first aired in 2017, follows local contractor Chase Morrill; his sister Ashley Morrill, a designer; her husband Ryan Eldridge, dubbed “the voice of reason”; and their longtime friends Matt “Dixie” Dix and Jared “Jedi” Baker as they renovate camps across the state. With a peak audience of 437,000 viewers, it is one of the Magnolia Network’s most popular shows. And now, the show’s popularity has allowed Ashley Morrill to branch out and launch her own home décor line. The town of Manchester has been buoyed by the fandom for the show and the people it attracts to the 1850s homestead the group purchased in 2019 and the restaurant and bar, The Woodshed, it opened there soon after.

Maine Coast Heritage Trust announces major milestone in campaign for Aldermere Farm & Erickson Fields preserves

PENOBSCOT BAY PILOT • October 13, 2023

Maine Coast Heritage Trust, a statewide land conservation organization, said Oct. 12 that it will receive a $500,000 gift toward the campaign for Aldermere Farm and Erickson Fields, two landmark preserves that have had a profound multi-generational impact in the Midcoast by providing food, farming, education, and public demonstration of the agricultural way of life. Friends, partners, and members of the public are preparing to gather Saturday for a Fall Celebration at Erickson Fields Preserve from 1 to 4 p.m.

This family hike has a story walk and unique surprises

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 13, 2023

Law Farm Nature Trails in Dover-Foxcroft has a pollinator garden, a plantation of young chestnut trees and a story walk that disappears into the woods. Steven and Elaine Law purchased the property in 1945, and deeded it to the Piscataquis County Soil and Water Conservation District in 2009. They wanted to place it in the hands of an organization that could manage the forest and teach others about the importance of our natural resources. Since then, PCSWCD has transformed the land into an outdoor learning space.

Refrigeration chemicals are a nightmare for the climate. Experts say alternatives must spread fast

ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 13, 2023

Refrigerants leaking out of an air conditioning system, they are highly destructive to the Earth’s sensitive atmosphere. They’re “the most potent greenhouse gases known to modern science,” as one research paper put it and they’re growing fast. One of the most common ones, with the unfriendly name R-410A, is 2,088 times more damaging to the climate than carbon dioxide, which comes from burning coal and gasoline. So an essential way that people are staying cool is making the world hotter and more unstable. The need to minimize refrigerant leaks has spurred a reuse and reclamation industry. Refrigerants can be used many times over and can last for 30 years. Refrigerant that cannot be reused goes through a very high-temperature process called pyrolysis so the gases are destroyed. Business is booming.

Sunny skies for Saturday’s partial solar eclipse in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 13, 2023

Maine may just luck out this weekend, with fair conditions expected for viewing the partial solar eclipse that will cross over the state on Saturday. You will need eclipse glasses to see the partial eclipse. [It starts at 12:18 pm and ends at 2:31 pm.]

Here's how a Saco startup is making single-use food containers from wood fiber

MAINE PUBLIC • October 13, 2023

A new sustainable packaging manufacturer began production in Maine this week. Tanbark's molded fiber material — which uses ingredients taken from pulp mills — could offer the restaurant industry an alternative to single-use packaging. Tanbark's newly opened facility in Saco currently has two machines producing its molded fiber packaging material. Chief Operating Officer Ben Fogg says the material is made from tree fibers and is far more eco-friendly than plastic.

A $30M expansion at an East Boothbay lab aims to help ‘heal the planet’

SPECTRUM NEWS • October 13, 2023

The expansion of a lab in East Boothbay will help scientists find ways to address the damage done by climate change, the president of the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences said Thursday. “This work has never been more important,” said Deborah Bronk, president and CEO. “When it comes to looking at the ocean and climate change it is all about the microbes. They will determine how the ocean responds to a changing climate and they are our greatest tool at trying to address the damage that’s been done to the ocean and to try to heal the planet.” Bronk’s remarks came at the official groundbreaking for a new 25,000-square-foot Center for Ocean Education and Innovation that’s supported by a $12 million federal grant, $9 million from donors and $8 million from the Harold Alfond Foundation.

Humans may be the ultimate invasive. This Maine scientist sees a better path ahead

MAINE PUBLIC • October 13, 2023

Some scientists say that the most destructive invasive species are humans. Wildlife populations have plunged over the past few decades, with experts pointing to human-caused climate change, pollution, and natural resource exploitation as the drivers of much of that trend. In a 2021 study, University of Maine Associate Professor Jacquelyn Gill, and several other researchers, found that humans have reshaped nearly every corner of the globe for at least 12,000 years. But Gill told Maine Public's Robbie Feinberg that while human activity has caused substantial environmental damage, she sees a path forward — if we change how we interact with nature. “We should be really focusing on changing how we think about our own role in nature, and move towards relationships based on reciprocity, kinship and stewardship relationships, rather than extractive ones.“

Factory fishing in Antarctica for krill targets the cornerstone of a fragile ecosystem

ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 13, 2023

While krill fishing is banned in U.S. waters due to concerns it could impact whales, seals and other animals that feed on the shrimp-like creatures, it’s been taking place for decades in Antarctica, where krill are most abundant. Scientists warn the fishery is at a critical juncture and in urgent need of stricter controls. But action is mired in geopolitical wrangling as Russia and China look to quickly expand the catch. Dominating the global supply chain is a Norwegian company responsible for about 70% of the global krill catch by volume. The bulk of the harvest ends up in tiny pellets used in fish pens around the world. Capt. Peter Hammarstedt of Sea Shepherd Global says, “Most people know sustainability when they see it, and it does not look like a fleet of ships traveling thousands of miles, to the bottom of the world, to take out the very building block of life in the Antarctic ecosystem for products we simply do not need.”

Opinion: For our coastal counties, Maine’s working waterfront is crucial to our economic prosperity

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • October 13, 2023

Washington County needs more than just lobster to have a thriving economy. Industries like rockweed harvesting can play a big role. Among its many commercial uses, rockweed can be a key ingredient in eco-friendly garden fertilizers and used to make crops more resistant to climate change and less reliant on petroleum-based fertilizers. It is also a nutritional additive in food for pets and livestock, which improves animal gut health. Rockweed can be sustainably harvested and provide a solid income. Opposition from some environmental groups is ironic given the proven environmental benefits of rockweed when used commercially. It’s also not based on the science. ~ Sen. Marianne Moore (R), Calais

Commentary: Question 3 aims to fix what’s wrong with CMP, Versant

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 13, 2023

The core issue of Question 3 is not what’s wrong with a company that doesn’t yet exist, but what’s wrong with Central Maine Power and Versant Power – so wrong that they need to be replaced for the good of Maine people. Two big things are wrong with them. Their rates are too high and their reliability is too low. And they’ve had plenty of time to fix both and haven’t. Question 3 starts a process, one with many fail-safes along the way to the final transfer. CMP and Versant want to kill any hope of lower rates and better service. Pine Tree Power offers a chance of at last bringing Maine up to national standards. ~ Gordon L. Weil was Maine’s first Public Advocate and headed the state energy office

Letter: Pine Tree Power is a radical and costly experiment

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 13, 2023

Question 3 (Pine Tree Power) in the upcoming election is a shaky proposition that raises more questions than it answers. Nobody knows exactly how much it will cost. Most agree it will take billions of dollars to buy out the electric utilities. If adopted, it will likely take between five and 10 years of litigation to sort out legal issues, according to Maine’s Office of Public Advocate. What happens in the meantime? I am voting “no” on Question 3. ~ Bill Roche, Portland