Commentary: Do 70,000 people really need to be at a climate confab?

BLOOMBERG • December 2, 2023

How many people do you think it takes to hammer out a global climate agreement? 500? 5,000? 50,000 Apparently, the correct answer is 70,000. That’s about how many people are expected to turn up in Dubai over the next few weeks for COP28, the latest United Nations climate confab, which started on Thursday. This is up from 49,704 at COP27 last year in Egypt, and 38,457 at COP26 in Scotland. Attendance has more than tripled since 2019. In COP’s early years, attendance averaged just 5,000. Whether this explosion is a sign that the world is taking climate change more seriously or just the bloat that naturally accumulates around gatherings of humans who control large pools of political and financial capital remains to be seen. ~ Mark Gongloff

Letter: US needs a grid upgrade to accommodate more renewable energy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 2, 2023

In July, Gov. Janet Mills signed into law “An Act Regarding the Procurement of Energy from Offshore Wind Resources” — officially putting Maine on the way to becoming a major player in clean energy production. (Not only for our own state, but for the entire northeast region!) However, for this opportunity to become a reality, there must be a national energy grid that has the capacity to effectively conduct “clean” electricity within Maine and beyond. A foundational step towards this end is outlined in the BIG WIRES Act, which would establish requirements for inter-regional transmission of electricity so that, during extreme weather events, energy could be easily shared. I encourage Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins, and Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden, to sign on as co-sponsors of this important measure. ~ Tom Berry, Kennebunk

Maine DEP says Milbridge violated monitoring rules involving discharges into river

MAINE MONITOR • December 2, 2023

The town of Milbridge violated rules regarding monitoring of treated wastewater discharged into the Narraguagus River earlier this year, according to state environmental regulators. The Department of Environmental Protection said Milbridge failed to complete required effluent monitoring, failed to report the missing monitoring and failed to report “exceedances’’ into the river. The notice followed letters of warning from the DEP, in January and May, for similar violations. Lewis Pinkham, the town manager, said Milbridge will not face a fine. He said the town hired a new contractor to run the sewage treatment plant over the summer, replacing the one who had not kept the monitoring up to date.

Maine’s shrimp fishery, a victim of climate change, to stay closed indefinitely

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 1, 2023

New England’s long-shuttered shrimp business, which fell victim to warming waters, will remain in a fishing moratorium indefinitely, fishery regulators ruled on Friday. The shrimping business was based mostly in Maine and produced small, pink shrimp that were a winter delicacy in New England and across the country. The industry has been in a moratorium since 2013 in large part because environmental conditions off New England are unfavorable for the cold water-loving shrimp.

Atlantic salmon are rebounding in the Sandy River. Cold waters provide refuge as the climate warms

MAINE PUBLIC • December 1, 2023

The Sandy River is an improbable salmon stream. It's not been known for its salmon runs in recent years, and it's blocked by four dams. But despite all that, biologists say the salmon population is growing in this tributary of the Kennebec. And the river's cold water could provide a refuge for the endangered species as the climate warms. The federal goal of a self-sustaining run of 6,000 wild adult salmon returning to Maine rivers would bring an end to protections under the Endangered Species Act.

Maine Climate Council reports progress in fight against climate change

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • December 1, 2023

Maine has met or exceeded most of the goals of its first climate action plan, but is falling short of hitting its electric vehicle and land conservation targets, according to a new report. Maine surpassed its 100,000 heat pump goal this year, installing at least 115,492 pumps since 2019. It is now working toward a new goal of 275,000 by 2027. It also has exceeded its goal of creating 100 community resiliency partnerships – 175 and counting. State agencies have weatherized 12,705 homes since 2019 and will have surpassed the goal of 17,500 homes by 2025, a year ahead of schedule. Maine is “on track” to meet its 2030 goal of providing renewable energy to consumers, but will have to invest in more renewable energy projects to meet Gov. Janet Mills’ accelerated goal of 100% clean energy by 2040. Maine is falling short of its goal of conserving 30% of its lands by 2030. About 22.2% of Maine lands are currently protected [loosely defined], but the number is increasing so slowly that hitting that goal is a long shot. Maine lags furthest behind in its electric vehicle targets. The goal is 219,000 electric vehicles operating in Maine by 2030 but Mainers now own only 12,369 electric vehicles.

Moscow residents approve ban on commercial solar farms

MORNING SENTINEL • December 1, 2023

Residents at a special town meeting Thursday voted to prohibit commercial solar farms, opting to go a step further than many other towns in central Maine when it comes to restricting the development of large solar projects. Moscow joins a growing list of Maine municipalities that have passed measureslimiting or temporarily prohibiting solar farms. But it is unclear if any other places have adopted permanent bans like Moscow’s. What’s also unclear is if the ordinance is even legal.

Wind developer to start erecting turbines in western Washington County

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 1, 2023

More than nine years after it was first publicly proposed, and nearly a year after it was approved by state environmental officials, construction is about to begin on a commercial wind farm in western Washington County. Downeast Wind, a project of Virginia-based Apex Clean Energy, has hired Woolwich-based Reed & Reed as the general contractor of the wind power project, which will include 30 turbine sites spread out among various locations in the town of Columbia and in townships 18 and 24 in the state’s Unorganized Territory.

Cities must replace harmful lead pipes within 10 years under new Biden plan

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 30, 2023

Most U.S. cities would have to replace lead water pipes within 10 years under strict new rules proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency as the Biden administration moves to reduce lead in drinking water and prevent public health crises. Millions of people consume drinking water from lead pipes and the agency said tighter standards would improve IQ scores in children and reduce high blood pressure and heart disease in adults.

Phippsburg’s Basin Oyster Project awarded $190,000 grant

TIMES RECORD • November 30, 2023

A small oyster-farming operation in Phippsburg is getting a big boost in the form of a $190,000 grant. The Maine Community Foundation awarded the Basin Oyster Project a $190,000 grant, money that will fund the growing sustainable shellfish restoration and research for another two years. The project got its start back in 2019, when a pilot started by Nature Conservancy employees Jeremy Bell and Amanda Moeser in Phippsburg’s Basin Preserve was handed over to Kelly and Herrigel along with a Limited Purpose Aquaculture license and $1,000 in funding. Four years, plenty of collaborators and two $20,000 grants later, the BOP has two 40-by-10-foot floating oyster bags that Phippsburg resident Kelly helps tend to by kayak.

Laura Graham named Land for Maine's Future Program Director

MAINE GOVERNMENT NEWS • November 30, 2023

Laura Graham has been appointed Land for Maine's Future Program (LMF) Director. Graham brings wide-ranging experience and knowledge of conservation easement and land acquisition transactions, including strategic project selection, supportive policy, and successful funding and implementation. Currently a Senior Planner at the LMF, Graham brings expertise in competitive grant programs to safeguard working farmland, working waterfronts, and public access to recreational or naturally significant lands. With a background as a trial lawyer, Graham dedicated years to advocating in contested civil proceedings. She is the board chair for the Ecology Learning Center, a location-based charter high school in Unity, where she remains steadfast in her belief that educating the next generation is a paramount responsibility.

Under new EPA proposal, Maine would have to replace thousands of lead pipes in a decade

MAINE PUBLIC • November 30, 2023

A new proposal from the federal Environmental Protection Agency calls for the replacement of some 9 million lead water pipes over the next decade. In Maine, recent EPA data suggest there are more than 18,000 lead pipes that carry water to homes, schools and other buildings, which represent 0.2% of the nation's lead service lines. Pete Nichols, director of the Maine chapter of the Sierra Club, said the announcement is long overdue, even though Maine is ahead of the curve in many ways. Maine banned lead pipes much earlier than other states. And under Maine law, four parts per billion is an acceptable level of lead exposure. The federal government is now proposing that lead action levels be lowered from 15 to 10 parts per billion.

Pressure builds to eliminate fossil fuel use as oil executive, under fire, takes over climate talks

ASSOCIATED PRESS • November 30, 2023

Pressure to phase out fossil fuels mounted Thursday on the oil company chief who took over fragile international climate negotiations that opened in Dubai amid concerns about what some say are contradictory dual roles. United Nations and climate talks leaders might have relieved some of the pressure with an early victory they called unprecedented. Negotiators unanimously approved much-fought over plans to launch and fund a new program to compensate poorer nations hit by floods, storms, drought and other climate extremes. Several nations, led by host United Arab Emirates, immediately pledged more than $420 million for the new fund, which took 30 years to approve.

Documents reveal NextEra's hidden attempts to derail CMP's transmission line corridor

MAINE PUBLIC • November 30, 2023

NextEra Energy’s attempts to derail a transmission corridor through western Maine involved a significant secret donation to the Maine Democratic Party in 2018 as well as the 2019 financing of a group that helped organize a referendum to scuttle the project, according to new documents released by the state’s campaign finance watchdog. The documents provide a more complete picture of the energy giant’s efforts to halt the New England Clean Energy Connect, a $1 billion project that would dump 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower into the regional grid. NextEra, which owns the Seabrook nuclear power plant in N.H., stands to lose tens of millions of dollars every year if the NECEC comes online. It spent $20 million supporting a 2021 referendum aimed at killing the project.

Court backs state in denial of Union River dams certificate

MAINE PUBLIC • November 30, 2023

The relicensing for two Union River dams is delayed once again, after a superior court justice backed the Board of Environmental Protection's decision to not issue a water quality certificate. The two dams, owned by a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewable, are covered by one federal license, which expired in 2018. The dams need the water quality certificate as part of the relicensing program. "This is excellent news, and it reinforces what both the DEP and BEP and many of the people within the public have said for quite some time, that the water quality has degraded as a result of the dams," Shaw said. He says the dams are over 100 years old, and Brookfield should be required to modernize them in the relicensing process.

‘North Woods Law’ warden no longer works for department

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 30, 2023

Jeremy Judd of Mechanic Falls no longer works as a warden for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife effective Wednesday, a department spokesperson said Thursday. Judd was placed on paid administrative leave on Nov. 3 after a member of the public filed a  complaint against him to the Maine Warden Service. This is the second time the department had put Judd, who was in the television show “North Woods Law” in 2016, on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of an investigation into his conduct.

Opinion: LS Power faces lengthy process for proposed transmission line

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 30, 2023

There are many regulatory checkpoints at which the proposed LS Power line could be derailed — including contract negotiations between the major players — not to mention by action from the Maine Legislature and the Maine Judicial Branch. I hope this project succeeds and is narrowly tailored to do as little harm as practical to the environment and affected Mainers, keeping in mind that  “perfect” is not an option and “ideal” is not commensurate with the challenges our electric grid faces. But LS has a long road ahead with many potential barriers. ~ Tyler Hadyniak, chair, Freedom Planning Board

Rare lobster found in Maine is two genders and two colors

WASHINGTON POST • November 30, 2023

A rare dual-color and dual-gender lobster has become a curiosity and a sensation since being captured this month off the coast of Maine. Internet fans have named the two-toned crustacean “Bowie,” after the late rocker David Bowie who famously blurred gender lines and had two different eye colors. Jacob Knowles, a Maine lobsterman, said he was fascinated after his friend caught Bowie in mid-November, and he began featuring the unusual lobster in videos on his Instagram and TikTok accounts, which together have more than 3 million followers.

Maine will no longer require older heating systems to be disconnected to get heat pump rebates

MAINE PUBLIC • November 30, 2023

Efficiency Maine is loosening new requirements for heat pump rebates. Executive Director Michael Stoddard says it is backing away from an insistence that older heating systems be "disconnected" or hooked to a generator in order to receive state rebates. Efficiency Maine is now only recommending older heating systems be turned off, or thermostats turned down. Efficiency Maine is sticking with its revamped rebate program that will offer state rebates only for whole-house installations. He points out a federal rebate remains available for people installing a heat pump unit designed to heat just a part of a home, like a single room.