Kennebec Water District lifts Winslow boil-water notice

MORNING SENTINEL • November 28, 2023

The Kennebec Water District on Tuesday lifted a boil-water noticethat was issued after a ruptured water main left nearly 100 residents without water. The main ruptured late Sunday near the intersection of Bay and Halifax streets, causing people to have no water coming from their taps and others to have water that appeared yellow. Water district officials issued the boil-water notice Monday morning. Authorities later deemed the water safe to drink after water samples sent to a lab tested negative for coliform bacteria.

Commentary: I still believe public utilities are the future

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 28, 2023

Public utilities are providing a public good and they should be publicly-owned. That is the only way that my future, your future – our future – will be prioritized over shareholder profits. Election results can’t change the reality. The fact remains that the investor-owned utility system, with corporate shareholders and captured regulators, was designed to enrich the few. By definition, it cannot prioritize people or our planet. Full stop. Nevertheless, the facts are also that our movement for public power has a lot of work to do. We lost. However, as someone who had more conversations with voters than most, I’m worried people have the wrong idea. ~ The real takeaway is that we were outspent by 37 to 1. ~ Lucy Hochschartner, deputy campaign manager, Pine Tree Power

Commentary: Human brains aren’t wired to fight climate change

BLOOMBERG • November 28, 2023

Humans are very likely the only species that can imagine very distant futures. Unfortunately, our brains aren’t wired to behave in a way that optimizes those futures. Most of us don’t even save enough for retirement. Society as a whole is also prone to toxic short-termism. Take climate change. Burning fossil fuels, clear-cutting forests and mass-producing cows serve our immediate needs for lights, farmland and cheeseburgers, but at the cost of ruining the climate for many future generations. Even if we stop burning fossil fuels in the decades to come, most of the human-caused heating would likely stick around for another 100,000 years. At the moment, we are choosing very unwisely. The good news is that none of this is a mystery. And all the tools we need are at hand. “This is not a science problem; it’s a political problem.” ~ Mark Gongloff

Letter: We can help life on Earth by eating less meat

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • November 28, 2023

Cutting back on our consumption of meat is one of the easiest and most important things each of us can do to help lessen climate change. Growing crops to feed livestock is the leading cause of global deforestation. Please consider this possibility to support the future of humans (and all life) on this Earth. ~ Marty Soule, Readfield

Letter: Campaign spending against Pine Tree Power was obscene

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 28, 2023

The utilities opposed to Pine Tree Power reportedly spent $37 million to win this battle, while Pine Tree Power spent about $1 million. We all know that CMP will be asking for more rate increases in the future. We can only hope that the PUC deducts the cost of this wasteful advertising before approving any increases. Are our electric bills paying more for advertising and pocket lining than electricity? ~ Regi Robnett, Portland

Biden to skip U.N. climate talks beginning this week in Dubai

ASSOCIATED PRESS • November 27, 2023

President Biden plans to skip the annual climate talks in Dubai this week, an event that is expected to draw heads of state and diplomats from roughly 200 nations and the Vatican. He has attended twice before. The White House said it was sending a climate team, including Special Envoy John Kerry, climate adviser Ali Zaidi and clean energy adviser John Podesta.

Maine gets $5M to support testing of alternative lobster fishing gear

MAINE PUBLIC • November 27, 2023

Maine has received more than $5 million from the National fish and Wildlife Foundation to expand the testing of alternative lobster fishing gear. State officials see the work as a way to get more Maine feedback into the hands of federal regulators, who are looking for ways to further reduce the risk of entanglement and injury to critically endangered North Atlantic right whales.

Maine’s PFAS law should be amended to target dangerous products without harming our economy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 27, 2023

How we address concerns related to PFAS will have a huge impact in our state — on our economy, the health of our people and our climate and energy goals. The Maine Legislature passed a law two years ago to do this. The proposal probably could have taken a more targeted approach. The reporting requirement and the ban on products containing intentionally added PFAS could make it impossible for companies to operate in Maine. A ban on all PFAS could could jeopardize access to life-saving medical procedures, medical and veterinary testing, and prescription medicines. It could hinder progress on our climate action plan. It could threaten future job creation by Maine businesses, and result in some of them moving elsewhere. We can succeed in exposing and eliminating unnecessary PFAS, and we should take a thoughtful, science-based approach when doing so. ~ Sen. Joe Baldacci and Chris Kilgour, C&L Aviation

Innovation in food packaging boosts Maine’s struggling forest industries

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 27, 2023

When Tanbark Molded Fiber Products began producing wood pulp-based packaging for Luke’s Lobster shacks in October, the Saco startup took Maine’s centuries-old pulp and paper industry into innovative and uncharted territory. But Tanbark co-founder and CEO Melissa LaCasse had an inkling early on that she was heading in the right direction, becoming one of the newest players in a struggling legacy industry that continues to reinvent itself as technology and markets evolve. Her instincts were affirmed as she raised $3.2 million in seed funding.

50-foot whale washes up on a Down East beach

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 26, 2023

A young whale measuring nearly 50 feet long washed up on a Steuben beach in a rare event that attracted onlookers through the weekend. The female fin whale beached herself by 9 a.m. on Thursday, showing no obvious signs of trauma or entanglement before dying around 11:30 a.m. Allied Whale planned to conduct a necropsy.

A look back at some of this year’s environmental stories

MAINE MONITOR • November 26, 2023

The Maine Monitor looks back at a few of the stories covered in recent months, including:
• An effort to create a new National Wildlife Refuge in the High Peaks Region of western Maine ran into serious trouble among local residents.
• More acquisitions are expected in the coming months for the Cobscook Shores Park System, which was created by the Butler Conservation Fund.
• Lawmakers settled on legislation that may open the door to extracting the lithium by allowing larger open pit metal mines.

Column: Muzzleloader season brings new set of challenges for deer hunters

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • November 26, 2023

Another muzzleloader season in Maine begins Monday with mixed feelings for deer hunters. If you care, it means you either didn’t tag your buck during firearms season (frustration) or you still have an antlerless tag to fill (hope). It’s going to be colder, and what deer remain have been chased and educated for a month (despair), but the season is still open (cautious optimism). Here are a few things to consider if your mood is on the negative side. ~ Bob Humphrey

Maine apple growers hurt by 50% loss, insurance inequities

SUN JOURNAL • November 26, 2023

Maine’s apple growers are suffering from their worst harvest in over a decade. Between severe crop losses and wet weather that kept customers home during the peak fall apple picking season, some local growers are struggling to make ends meet through the winter. Many are counting on federal crop insurance claims to help recoup some of this year’s losses. Maine orchards produce over a million bushels of apples a year, according to the Maine Pomological Society. Many of the state’s 84 apple producers are family-run farms that make a sizable portion of their income through agritourism, such as pick-your-own apples. “This is one of the worst (apple) years for the state of Maine,” said Jeremy Forrett, vice president of Crop Growers LLP, a licensed crop insurance agency

Letter: Are heat pumps really the answer?

SUN JOURNAL • November 26, 2023

So…getting heat pumps is the answer. Right? Do we have infrastructure to do this and all the proposed electric cars envisioned? Now we have government wanting to shut down our oil furnaces in favor of heat pumps. Where is this electricity going to come from? ~ Marc Gosselin, Greene

There’s federal money to shield communities from disasters. Why isn’t Maine getting more of it?

MAINE MONITOR • November 25, 2023

Small cities and towns face many challenges when it comes to applying for grants, including being unaware of the programs in the first place. The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities grant, which started in 2020, is by far the largest of FEMA’s non-disaster grants, with $2.1 billion in competitive funding available nationwide during the 2022 grant cycle. Maine, however, got less than 0.5% of the 2022 BRIC funding. Other states have been far more successful applying for funds. Some have submitted hundreds of project applications per grant cycle, often with the aid of outside consultants – help that’s financially out of reach for many smaller states. “There’s more funding than there’s ever been before, but it’s not enough for all the adaptation and resilience work that must occur for us to be ready for the next 60 or 80 years,” Victoria Salinas, FEMA associate administrator for resilience.

Borealis: Women Train to become Registered Maine Guides

MAINE PUBLIC • November 24, 2023

A week of hands-on training at camp, a 100 question test, an interview, and a variety of outdoors demonstrations. These are a few of the elements of training required to become a registered Maine guide. Reporter Patty Wight gets to know many of the women who are stepping out of their comfort zones to get certified. Some have loads of experience in the outdoors, while others are making huge pivots to prioritize an outdoorsy life for their own well-being. No matter their motivation, these women all work hard to overcome the training challenges through the values of grit and community.

I saw 4 moose during a snowy hike in the Moosehead region

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 24, 2023

Deep in the woods of the Moosehead Lake region, Eagle Rock, built in 2014, is a dramatic outcropping that seems to rise up out of nowhere, reaching above an evergreen forest to provide a 360-degree view of the region. The the 3.7-mile trail is open to the public and protected in perpetuity by an easement. On the way back to the trailhead, I watched a large moose run along the banks of a brook, followed by a smaller moose. Then, on the drive out of the property, I came across another cow-calf pair. ~ Aislinn Sarnacki

Woodland Pulp strike ends as union accepts amended contract

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 24, 2023

After more than a month on the picket line, union workers at the Woodland Pulp mill in Baileyville voted Friday to accept the latest offer from the company, ending a strike that started Oct. 14. In an announcement, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers highlighted gains in the new tentative contract, including general wage increases of 3-4 percent. Workers will also get a contract ratification bonus of $750 each.

Environmental association gives Maine teachers funding boost for outdoor education

SUN JOURNAL • November 24, 2023

For the past three years the Maine Environmental Education Association has awarded numerous mini-grants to teachers, with $483,651 raised from private, nongovernmental philanthropic organizations going toward the program that serves teachers in schools all over Maine. The grants, up to $1,500 each, help educators who want to take their students outside to do environmental education but need extra support.

Deer "breaks in" to local Rockland business, tries to get head start on Black Friday shopping

WGME-TV13 • November 24, 2023

Rockland Police say they were met with a surprise on Thanksgiving Day. When officers arrived around 1 p.m. at a local retailer they found a large front glass window smashed out and items knocked over inside the store. Police secured the entry and exit points, then began their search of the building for what they thought were burglars still inside the store. While clearing the building, they were met with a "fawn-tastic surprise": a white-tail deer that was "possibly trying to get a head start on Black Friday shopping!" The deer left the store on its own without any merchandise. It was not seriously injured.