Opinion: PUCs were created to benefit for-profit monopolies, oppose public power

TIMES RECORD • October 30, 2023

Too often, those siding with Central Maine Power against Question 3 say regulation is the answer. The problem is, we’ve tried this for 120 years. It hasn’t worked, because it’s not designed to. It was the investor-owned utility industry that created the modern PUC. They did it to protect monopoly profits, and to slow the spread of public power. Gov. Percival Baxter championed public power. We are also not choosing between the PUC and Pine Tree Power. If Question 3 is approved this Nov. 7, we will have both. ~ Seth Berry

Looks like Maine is in for a classic El Nino winter

NEWS CENTER MAINE • October 29, 2023

This year will be different than the last few winters in Maine when it comes to snow. This will be an El Nino winter, not a La Nina like we’ve seen the last few seasons. So get your shovels and boots ready. I’m calling for plenty of nor’easters this winter due to the polar jet and subtropical jet phasing together many times. The one area to keep an eye on is the southern coast, which could get robbed from big snows during nor’easters thanks to an onshore wind component from a “warmer” Gulf of Maine. The high elevations – the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the western/northern mountains of Maine – will still see plenty of snow.

Opponents of public utility takeover far outspend supporters as Election Day nears

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 29, 2023

The leading backer of the referendum proposing a public takeover of electric utilities, Our Power, has spent $1.1 million this year. The group has raised $1.2 million and has just under $45,000 cash on hand. The owners of Maine’s two largest power companies have spent more than $37 million so far to defeat the question, including more than $26 million this year alone.

Column: Hunters needn’t be overwhelmed by black bear jitters

SUN JOURNAL • October 28, 2023

Black bears aren't as dangerous as portrayed in Hollywood, so overcoming the fear of them while on a hunt is a case of mind over matter. Probably a good idea for novice bear hunters to avoid exposure to Hollywood’s portrayal of bear-human encounters, most especially Leonardo DiCaprio’s heart-stopping dust-up in the detritus with a drooling, snotty-nosed grizzly bear in the movie The Revenant. Ouch. ~ V. Paul Reynolds

Few know about this trail in Acadia National Park

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 28, 2023

Acorns rolled and crunched beneath my boots as I followed Breakneck Road deeper into the wilderness of Acadia National Park. It measures about 2.5 miles long, spanning from Route 3, near Acadia’s Hulls Cove Visitor Center, to Eagle Lake Road, near park headquarters. Threading through the woods, it passes a small waterfall, crosses Breakneck Brook and passes between two bodies of water that are together known as Breakneck Ponds.

TikTok’s Finest Lobsterman

NEW YORK TIMES • October 28, 2023

It was another busy day for the crew of the Rest-Ashoar, a lobster fishing boat that works the waters off the rocky coast of Winter Harbor, Maine. The captain, Jacob Knowles, had gotten up at 3 a.m. on a brisk October morning and took his vessel 10 miles into the ocean. Over the past two years, Mr. Knowles, 30, has amassed a large audience on social media by sharing snippets of his workday with his 2.5 million followers on TikTok and nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram. Mr. Knowles is one of several people in what are considered blue-collar jobs who use social media to offer a window into their lives. Their videos resemble a social media version of “Dirty Jobs,” the long-running show on the Discovery Channel. In some cases, as with Mr. Knowles, these hard-working influencers have signed sponsorship deals with brands, giving them an additional source of income.

Commentary: American dams are being demolished. And nature is pushing that along

LA TIMES • KENNEBEC JOURNAL • October 28, 2023

More than 1,600 American damshave been removed since 1912. As dams in the American West increasingly clogged with silt and went decades without maintenance, their abilities to generate power and release water fell — and the risk of catastrophe rose. In the East, too, their primary achievement has been constraining the populations of Atlantic salmon. Today, their downfall is all part of the rewilding of America, long overdue. Thankfully, the end of the damned dam is finally here. ~ Richard Parker

Commentary: In debate over Pine Tree Power, utilities should speak for themselves

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • October 27, 2023

We’ve talked to thousands of Mainers who can’t trust our investor-owned utilities to keep the lights on. That’s why we keep showing up and working toward a solution with a “yes” vote on Question 3. In all our conversations so far, we haven’t seen CMP and Versant speak for themselves. They certainly haven’t brought forward any solutions. Why do they spend hundreds of millions on political theater instead of fixing their worst in the nation service? What is their plan to save Mainers money? Last year, we paid CMP and Versant more than a billion dollars. What did that get us? We had the most frequent outages of any state in the nation, the worst customer satisfaction in the nation, and one in 10 Maine households were sent a disconnection notice. The math doesn’t add up. ~ Al Cleveland and Lucy Hochschartner are campaign managers with the “Yes on 3” campaign for Pine Tree Power.

'Worst-case scenarios' | Climate change greater threat to at-risk whales than offshore wind: study

RECHARGE • October 26, 2023

A report commissioned by renewable energy advocate American Clean Power Association found that while offshore wind turbines on the US outer continental shelf will likely have some impacts on surrounding oceans, these are likely insignificant compared to regional and seasonal variability and the effects of global climate change. The white paper, Oceanographic Effects of Offshore Wind Structures and Their Potential Impacts on the North Atlantic Right Whale and Their Prey, was written by researchers from Rutgers University, environmental consultancy AKRF, and research institute Bigelow.

MaineDOT considers location for new $500-million wind port project in Searsport

NEWS CENTER MAINE • October 26, 2023

The Maine Department of Transportation (MaineDOT) held an open house in Searsport to present three potential location sites for its new $500 million wind port facility project on Wednesday. MaineDOT said planning teams are considering placing the facility in one of three central locations: on Sears Island, on Mack Point Peninsula, or in a hybrid location. MaineDOT Director of Communications Paul Merrill said, "The big downsides of Mack Point are the cost of leasing land that we don’t own. And the cost financially and environmentally of doing dredging to accommodate the facility," Merrill said. "Sears Island—the state owns the land, and it would be no dredging. But, of course, there are voices in the discussion that don’t want us to develop the land that we own there."

How off-the-charts global warmth may have strengthened Hurricane Otis

WASHINGTON POST • October 26, 2023

Off-the-charts warmth in the world’s oceans, so widespread and so far beyond anything ever observed, has stunned climate scientists and meteorologists for months. It set the stage for deadly floods and put Earth on track for a record-warm year. Research published last year found that “extreme rapid intensification” of tropical cyclones is occurring more frequently. And in a study published last week, researchers said they found intensification has become more likely and is occurring more rapidly in the Atlantic basin.

Subdivision planned in Kittery with 13 houses, public access to Kittery Land Trust trails

SEACOAST ONLINE • October 26, 2023

A residential and conservation subdivision has been proposed on Andys Lane, which would include public access to nearby Kittery Land Trust walking trails. The Kittery Planning Board will continue its review of the 13-lot “Twin Oaks Subdivision” plan on Thursday at 6 p.m. after first hearing the pitch in September. All of the units would be single-family homes, though none will be marketed as affordable housing, according to the proposal. “The applicant has expressed interest in donating some of the open space on the property to the Kittery Land Trust; this is a private matter and not purview of the Planning Board until confirmed but is being mentioned as the plan set shows a proposed parking lot between lots 9 and 13 to provide public access to (Kittery Land Trust) nature trails,” a project description states.

Letter: Juniper Ridge landfill is an accident waiting to happen

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 26, 2023

In 2022, the state passed L.D. 1639, which closed a longstanding loophole in state trash law that allowed out of state trash to be combined with Maine trash at waste processing facilities and then disposed of in Maine landfills. This loophole allowed Massachusetts to dump toxic materials in the Juniper Ridge landfill in Old Town. Much of this responsibility falls on ReSource Lewiston, which dumped hundreds of thousands of tons of trash over the past decade. While this loophole is closed and out of state trash is no longer being landfilled, there was still a significant amount of time that most of the trash being dumped was from out of state. In the event of any negative environmental effects from this trash, ReSource Lewiston and any other company from Maine or other states should be responsible for the cleanup. It has become evident that this landfill is a ticking time bomb packed with dynamite from out of state. ~ Jackson Giumarro, Freeport

Letter: Can all of the parties opposed to Pine Tree Power be wrong?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 26, 2023

Republicans, Democrats, independents. Gov. Mills and former Gov. LePage. Unions and business groups. The Sportsman Alliance of Maine, along with three Maine newspapers, all opposed to Pine Tree Power. Can they all be wrong? Vote “No” on 3. ~ Dick Rogers, Retired CMP worker and business manager, IBEW and MAE consultant, Scarborough

Carbon removal isn’t just for corporations. Individuals are paying for it, too.

BLOOMBERG • October 25, 2023

To keep the climate within livable limits, United Nations-backed scientists say that the world will have to cut emissions dramatically while also pulling billions of tons of CO2 from the atmosphere annually by mid-century. That’s a far cry from the industry’s current capability to gather up thousands of tons of CO2 a year. Individuals have had the option to purchase carbon offsets for years, but buying removal services is different. Traditional carbon credits focus on funding renewable energy projects or financing forest protection. While several companies offer customers the chance to purchase these types of offsets, the projects they help fund often fail to deliver on their promise to reduce CO2 emissions. In comparison, carbon removal startups are promising to take CO2 from the atmosphere and permanently store it.

Collins, King Announce Funding to Support Planning Initiatives in Rural Communities

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • October 25, 2023

U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced that GrowSmart Maine has been awarded $304,636 through the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Community Development Initiative grant program. This funding will support GrowSmart’s program training recipients in 10 Maine towns on land use planning processes that will address critical issues including farmland protection and farm viability, affordable housing, and climate change prevention and mitigation.

Yes, the American bird population is in decline

NEWS CENTER MAINE • October 25, 2023

Yes, the U.S. bird population is declining, and largely because of humans. The bird population in the U.S. has been in decline since the 1970s, according to reports by major conservation organizations from the last 14 years. Researchers attribute the decline to human-related factors such as habitat destruction, pesticides, climate change and even hunting by domesticated cats. The most recent report from the U.S. North American Bird Conservation Initiative (NABCI) Committee, a coalition of government agencies, private organizations and bird initiatives, in 2022, concluded there are 3 billion fewer birds in the U.S. and Canada than there were 50 years ago.

Climate Desk The Maine Board of Environmental Protection is considering clean car rules

MAINE PUBLIC • October 25, 2023

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection is considering so-called clean car rules. Environmental groups have petitioned the board to set more stringent emissions standards for new vehicles by incorporating a version of California's Advanced Clean Cars regulations. At their meeting in Augusta Tuesday, the board debated questions about climate benefits, charging infrastructure, cost, and impacts to car dealers. Jack Shapiro of the Natural Resources Council of Maine says the rules will help Maine meet its climate goals. And he says if Maine and other states adopt similar standards, manufacturers will build more EVs, and the price will come down. The rules would require more new cars sold in Maine to be zero emission vehicles, aiming for 80% by model year 2032. A separate petition sets standards for trucks.

MCV Environmental Scorecard is available

MAINE CONSERVATION VOTERS • October 25, 2023

The Maine Conservation Voters Environmental Scorecard is out. This year, 91 lawmakers earned the title of "Conservation Champion" having scored a full 100% on every vote MCV scored. Unfortunately, 66 lawmakers scored ZERO — voting against bills that protect our environment, democracy, and communities. See how your lawmakers scored in 2023.

New Open Burning Law In Maine Requires Permits For Larger Campfires

MAINE GOVERNMENT NEWS • October 25, 2023

To enhance fire safety and prevent wildfires, the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry (DACF) is implementing a new law that mandates burn permits for larger campfires. The law, LD 24, goes into effect on Wednesday, October 25, 2023, and will impact fires that exceed 3 feet in height and 3 feet in diameter that are not for debris disposal. Permits for burning brush and wood debris remain unaffected and are still required under the existing regulations. The new law also makes it unlawful for burning outdoors during red flag warning days.