Major solar projects in Maine are being delayed by lengthy reviews

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 5, 2024

Multimillion-dollar solar projects intended to help Maine reach its targets for reduced greenhouse gas emissions are stalled in lengthy studies, causing developers to worry they’ll miss a deadline to qualify for ratepayer subsidies. Several solar developers have asked the Maine Public Utilities Commission to exempt them from a state law that set a Dec. 31, 2024, deadline to meet eligibility requirements in the state’s net energy billing program. The program, established in state law in 2019 and revised two years later, awards credits to generators for renewable power that is produced and sent to the electric grid.

Fishing regulators say no to catching more elvers, a most valuable species

ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 5, 2024

Fishermen who harvest one of the most valuable marine species in the U.S. hoped for permission to catch more baby eels next year, but regulators said Monday the tight restrictions that have been in place for several years are likely to stay the same. The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is only considering one option for next year’s limit and that is a little less than 10,000 pounds, the same level fishermen have been allowed to catch for several years. The commission is under pressure from fishermen who want the quota raised and from environmentalists who would like to see it reduced.

State regulators asked for opinions on proposal to expand electric vehicle sales. They got 1,700 comments.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 5, 2024

Maine environmental officials have received more than 1,700 comments from the public – just since December – about a state proposal to limit the sale of new gas-powered cars and expand sales of electric vehicles. The BEP will consider the plan March 20 at the Augusta Civic Center. The “Advanced Clean Cars II” plan would require zero-emission vehicles to make up 43% of new car sales for 2028 models and 82% of new sales by model year 2032. Those include electric and fuel-cell vehicles, along with a partial credit for plug-in hybrids. Many Mainers already had trashed the idea in written comments to the BEP last year.

Maine may join rest of New England in banning food scraps from landfills

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 5, 2024

State lawmakers say it’s time for Maine pass a law to keep food scraps out of the trash – an act supporters claim would reduce food insecurity, save towns and cities money, and slow climate change. In 2022, almost 60,000 tons of food waste was sent to rot in Maine landfills, producing more than 2,000 tons of methane, a greenhouse gas that is more than 28 times as potent as carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere. A bill, which was endorsed by a legislative committee earlier this month, would phase in a limited ban on the landfilling or incinerating of food waste. It would require non-agricultural commercial producers in populated areas to donate edible leftovers and recycle their food scraps.

Storm-battered Maine communities look to state funding to prepare for warmer, wetter future

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 4, 2024

Communities across the state, from Kittery to Fort Kent and from the shoreline to the western mountains, are looking to the government to help them prepare for Maine’s warmer, wetter future, including more frequent and ferocious storms and a fast-warming, continually rising Gulf of Maine. Gov. Janet Mills wants to invest $50 million into a state climate change adaptation fund that is already helping communities across the state prepare for more storms fueled by climate change.

Maine DEP moves to fast-track recovery permits after destructive winter storms

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 4, 2024

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is trying to fast-track efforts to recover from a string of devastating winter storms while giving impacted property owners the flexibility to adapt to changing climate conditions. The state is trying to make it easier to build back better, with infrastructure that can withstand a wetter, warmer future with rising, stormier seas, but that can also be finished before piping plovers return in March, lobstermen start setting traps in April and the summer tourist season kicks off in July.

Letter: Has Maine’s plastic bag ban backfired?

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • February 4, 2024

It would be nice if Maine would revisit the plastic bag ban. Why can’t the Legislature review these mandates and make changes based on fact-finding? There seems to be little interest in making Mainers’ lives easier. Instead, the Legislature is plowing ahead with more controls with plans to restrict gas-powered vehicles (even though EV battery mining is environmentally destructive and EVs don’t work well in cold weather.) There are also plans to restrict gas appliances, gas furnaces and gas supply to the state. Freedom is slowly but steadily being replaced by tyrannical rule; the end result of such rule is usually abject poverty, as totalitarian societies have demonstrated across history. ~ Timothy Michalak, Cumberland

This Maine town wants to save its waterfront for generations of fishermen

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 3, 2024

The town of St. George, like many communities along Maine’s coast, has lost much of its working space for fishing and other water-dependent industries. Its once-thriving seafood processing factories have closed, and the number of working docks has fallen from six to two. But now, the midcoast town is close to finishing a nearly-decade long project that should help to preserve what remains of the town’s accessible waterfront. It has been expanding and improving the public landing in the village of Port Clyde that has been in use since the 1960s. When the project is done — likely in June — it will nearly double the existing wharf space and give the landing an expected lifespan of 75 years.

December floods expose weaknesses in county notification systems

MAINE MONITOR • February 3, 2024

Franklin County officials are strategizing how to streamline resources and more quickly warn residents of impending flood hazards. “Locally, we don’t have any real instant notification to the public at all. We don’t have a software, (nor) social media page,” Farmington Town Manager Erica LaCroix said. “We have a website but it’s not updated in real time. So we were pretty much only able to notify people as they called in.’” Absent an emergency alert system, Farmington police officers and firefighters went door to door, warning businesses they should close and evacuate. “Those are things we can definitely improve on, because we don’t have that type of (notification system),” Fire Department Chief Tim Hardy said.

Washington County mitigation plans being eyed after storms

MAINE MONITOR • February 3, 2024

It’s not just a matter of sea level rise, although that is happening in the Gulf of Maine “faster than 99% of all the rest of the world’s oceans,” said said Tora Johnson, geographic researcher and codirector of the Sustainable Prosperity Initiative at the Sunrise County Economic Council. It’s the increasing frequency and intensity of the storms fueled by human-caused climate change that are the problem. It’s the type of storm, too. Whereas Maine is accustomed to northeasters, which travel along the coast carrying high winds and precipitation, the recent storms came from the southeast and pushed coastal waters inland. 

Staff urges land-use planning board to reject Pickett Mountain mine rezoning

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 3, 2024

The staff of the planning and zoning board that oversees Maine’s most rural areas is recommending the rejection of a proposal to rezone 374 acres of land about 20 miles east of Mount Katahdin to create a metallic mineral mine at Pickett Mountain. The recommendation comes before a Feb. 14 meeting where the Land Use Planning Commission is slated to vote on the rezoning bid from Wolfden LLC of Ontario. Wolfden needs that permit before it can ask the state Department of Environmental Protection for a mining permit. “The project does not represent environmentally responsible mining,” the Feb. 2 staff memo reads.

Augusta family sought help removing lead paint from its home. Now, lead levels are worse than ever

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • February 3, 2024

Every year, hundreds of children in Maine are poisoned by lead, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection. More than half of Maine homes may have lead paint. But shoddy work done by a licensed lead abatement contractor, and approved by a regional agency, has raised concerns about the oversight of a Maine program meant to protect children from lead poisoning.

Letter: Passenger rail to Bangor should be a no-brainer

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 3, 2024

What are the Department of Transportation and the state of Maine thinking? How imperative it is to have public transportation, especially Amtrak service from Bangor! Boston is our nearest big city and I can attest to the countless hours driving there for cancer care for loved ones. To have safe, reliable train service to points south is a no-brainer!

Letter: Maine Trails Bond would provide critical funding

SUN JOURNAL • February 3, 2024

I write to encourage the Legislature to pass the Maine Trails Bond (L.D. 1156). Trail use has increased significantly over the past few years, resulting in wear and damage. This, combined with recent extreme weather events, makes the $30 million investment the bond would provide even more important for addressing maintenance and repair needs. Very little money goes toward Maine trails. The bond would provide us with this much-needed funding to maintain existing trails and build new trails across the state. It’s worth the investment to help our outdoor recreation economy that generates hundreds of millions of dollars every year. ~ Kevin Slater, Newry

Flagpole of Freedom project dropped

MAINE MONITOR • February 2, 2024

Nearly two years after announcing the plans, Worcester Resources is abandoning its proposal to build a billion-dollar park centered around the world’s tallest flagpole in the woods of Washington County, according to the company’s attorney, Tim Pease. Pease said he did not know the reason for the company’s change of heart. But the news came as residents in the tiny hamlet of Columbia Falls are set to vote in March on a new Code of Ordinances that would prohibit large-scale developments like the proposed 2,500-acre park. 

Maine Calling: All About Beavers

MAINE PUBLIC • February 2, 2024

Beavers are known for many distinctive traits: big buck teeth, flat tails, dam-building—and felling trees and damaging property . Learn about the interesting history and behaviors of these large rodents, how they help the environment, and what the state does to manage their population. Panelists: Amanda Demusz, Maine Department of Inland Fisheries & Wildlife; Leila Philip, author of “Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America” and professor, College of the Holy Cross.

Letter: Casco Bay Trail Alliance offers safer cycling solution

SUN JOURNAL • February 2, 2024

The Casco Bay Trail Alliance is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to plan and support a 72-mile off-road trail loop between Portland, Lewiston-Auburn and Brunswick. This multipurpose trail would support recreation for hikers and bikers alike. The Maine Department of Transportation has recommended postponing a decision on this proposal until 2025. In the meantime, I welcome those who are seeking a safer area for recreation to write to their state representatives, as they will be tasked to vote on legislation pertaining to this development. Information about this effort can be found in great detail at cascobaytrail.org. ~ Jenny Johnson, Auburn

National Park Foundation Supports Contact Station in Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument With $1 Million Gift

FRIENDS OF KATAHDIN WOODS & WATERS • February 1, 2024

The National Park Foundation will make a $1 million contribution  to the Monumental Welcome Campaign, supporting completion of Tekαkαpimək Contact Station at Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. The donation is made possible by the National Park Foundation’s fiscal year 2024 federal appropriations, and brings the Foundation’s total campaign giving to over $2 million. Nearly $30 million has been raised towards the campaign goal of $35 million, which will provide $31 million for Tekαkαpimək Contact Station, $2.7 million for Park Priority Projects to protect natural resources and enhance visitor experience, and $1 million for future Wabanaki Directed Projects.

Maine Calling: Toboggan Racing

MAINE PUBLIC • January 31, 2024

Toboggans can be just for wintertime fun—or for competitive racing. As the 33rd U.S. National Toboggan Championships are about to kick off at the Camden Snow Bowl, we talk with toboggan experts about what goes into riding and racing, what role Maine has played in this sport, and what goes into crafting a toboggan. Panelists: Maile Buker, leader of A Flying Flock toboggan team from Portland; Holly Anderson, chairwoman, organizing committee, U.S. National Toboggan Championships. VIP Callers: Jonathan Maxcy, toboggan championship race winner; Bella Feracci, The Apprenticeshop, where they teach workshops on toboggan making.

Maine elver fishery avoids drastic quota cut

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 30, 2024

Interstate regulators recently considered reducing the catch quota for juvenile eels in Maine by more than 20 percent — which would have meant much less income for fishermen — but they ultimately decided to leave the limits unchanged. The catch quota for Maine’s juvenile eels, also known as elvers, will remain 9,688 pounds for 2025 and beyond.