The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 15, 2024
After back-to-back storms lashed the Northeast in January, rental properties Haim Levy owns in coastal Hampton, New Hampshire, were hammered by nearly 2 feet of water, resulting in hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage and causing him to evacuate tenants. Many scientists who study the intersection of climate change, flooding, winter storms and sea level rise agree the kind of damage Levy experienced was more of a sign of things to come than an anomaly.
MAINE PUBLIC • February 15, 2024
Many residents say they want the city of South Portland to recreate the historic and beloved Willard Beach fishing shacks that were wiped away in last month's storm. But city officials caution that a rebuild could get complicated. The former fishing shacks stood in a federal flood and shoreland zone, South Portland officials said earlier this week during a storm damage and coastal resiliency workshop. And the city said it could be suspended from the National Flood Insurance Program if the shacks are rebuilt in their former location and elevation. Suspension from the NFIP could also prevent the 105 South Portland homeowners who have federal flood insurance from renewing their policies and restrict new policies from being issued.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 15, 2024
The carcass of a North Atlantic right whale found floating off the coast of Georgia marks the second known death in the past month for the critically endangered whale species. NOAA said the dead whale off Tybee Island had been identified as a female born last year. The discovery came after another young female right whale was reported dead Jan. 28 off Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. A necropsy found rope embedded in its tail. NOAA said it was consistent with a type of rope used in commercial fishing gear and was marked as having originated in Maine. Conservation groups have been calling for tighter laws on vessel speed and commercial fishing in an effort to save them from extinction.
MAINE PUBLIC • February 15, 2024
The USDA awarded a clean energy award to Rumery's Boatyard for its installation of a solar panel system. The 19-kilowatt solar array at the Biddeford facility will provide 93% of the boatyard's total power consumption. The Biddeford boatyard received a $28,000 grant to build the solar array from the USDA's Rural Energy for America Program (REAP). The boatyard also houses two electricity-focused startups: Maine Electric Boat develops electric commercial vessels, and Marine Solar Technologies offers solar-powered water monitoring buoys.
MAINE MORNING STAR • February 15, 2024
Hoping to set up strong regulations around an emerging solid waste treatment process after health and safety concerns were raised in other states, both chambers of the Maine Legislature backed a bill to define and regulate so-called “advanced recycling” facilities. On Thursday, the House passed the measure on a party-line vote, 76-56. During debate in the Senate last week, where it passed 21-13, sponsor Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) explained that actual plastic-to-plastic recycling, where plastic waste is used to create new material that can be used in place of raw material, is still allowed.
FORECASTER • February 15, 2024
FPL Energy Cape in Knightville, which has two 12,000-gallon tanks, wants to increase its capacity by 40,000 gallons to provide power during grid blackouts, but a South Portland ordinance does not allow the addition. The vote was 4-3 against granting FPL Energy Cape a waiver from a city tank ordinance, and the council will be asked Tuesday to approve a formal statement on the reasons for its denial so the company can appeal the decision if they choose.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 15, 2024
Mainers need a robust response to the climate crisis, which will continue to create weather events our state isn’t ready for. Our younger generations deserve this response. The young people of our state will bear the brunt of the effects of climate change, whether that may be through air and water quality, intensifying storms or severe infrastructural damage. To inadequately respond to these events because the state is not providing proper resources for agencies to do their job is an injustice. It is evident the issue of chronic understaffing and under-resourcing must be resolved given the stakes at hand. The solution is simple: increased compensation and more staff. As the Legislature considers what to do with yet another budget surplus, an effort to fully fund and staff our agencies must be on the table. ~ Jessica Wibby, University of Maine law student
USA TODAY • February 15, 2024
At least seven endangered whales have been found dead or seriously injured, or gone missing since mid-December, including five North Atlantic right whales on the Atlantic Coast. An examination of the entangling rope found on a right whale on Martha's Vineyard triggered an announcement from the National Marine Fisheries Service on Wednesday, which said it had identified the rope as gear belonging to a crab pot or lobster pot in Maine state waters. The finding on the Maine gear was the second time in four months that evidence surfaced of the critically endangered whales off Maine's coast. Right whales are on the verge of extinction.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 15, 2024
On a 33-acre peninsula on the Sheepscot River in Wiscasset sits a polluted old power plant that was active for decades, but that has sat empty since the late 1990s. Now, a team of Maine developers hope to succeed where others have failed over the last few decades: in finally cleaning up the contaminated Mason Station site and making it available for other purposes that could include a marina, manufacturing and renewable energy technology. Wiscasset has cleaned up most of what it can, according to Town Manager Dennis Simmons. Since 2018, it has received more than $1 million in brownfields funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help clean the ash ponds and other pollutants on the peninsula. But efforts to clean up the former power plant have been slower going.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 15, 2024
Sebago Lake Ice Fishing Derby, which was the largest tournament in Maine until last year when Long Lake in Aroostook took over, will use all Cumberland County lakes and ponds except for Sebago this year. Sebago has no ice. It’s one of a handful of derbies affected by ice conditions. The third annual kids ice fishing derby on Little Ossipee Lake in East Waterboro is canceled this weekend. Inconsistent temperatures and a recent warming trend are playing havoc with the ice fishing season. The smelting season in Merrymeeting Bay has ended early due to lack of or thin ice. But there are several free derbies this weekend, and participants don’t need to worry about getting a fishing license to take part. Mainers can fish for free this weekend in the state’s annual bid to get people interested in the sport. They must follow all other fishing laws though.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 15, 2024
Many scientists who study the intersection of climate change, flooding, winter storms and sea level rise say last month’s storms that destroyed wharfs in Maine, eroded sand dunes in New Hampshire and flooded parts of New Jersey still coping with hurricane damage from years ago are becoming more the norm than the exception, and the time to prepare for them is now. In the Northeast, the problem of climate change is especially acute because of forecasted sea level rise here. January’s onslaught was devastating for working waterfront communities in Maine where dozens of docks, buildings and wharfs were damaged or destroyed.
MEDRIVA • February 15, 2024
The recent onslaught of storms in the Northeast has left a trail of devastation, highlighting the escalating impact of climate change and the pressing issue of rising sea levels. Scientists warn that these events are becoming more frequent and severe, posing a significant risk to communities. Coastal states like Maine and New Hampshire are already experiencing the effects of sea level rise and are preparing for future challenges. Their experiences underscore the need for resilient infrastructure and strategic planning in the face of increasing flooding and erosion. The urgency to address the impacts of climate change is evident, and coastal communities are faced with difficult choices for the future.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2024
The whale that died and then washed up on the shore of Martha’s Vineyard on Jan. 28 was a three year-old female identified in the New England Aquarium North Atlantic right whale catalog as #5170. It is the first right whale known to have died after suffering injuries that officials say were inflicted by Maine commercial fishing gear. The death is noteworthy because of arguments and lawsuits filed back and forth between Maine lobstermen and environmentalists over the impact that the fishery has on the species, which has an estimated population of around 360 individual animals. Of that estimate, fewer than 70 are reproductively active females.
SUN JOURNAL • February 14, 2024
Thomas DuBois was appointed Franklin County’s representative to the the Maine Land Use Planning Commission on Wednesday, more than a month after his nomination was rejected. LUPC serves as the planning and zoning authority for the unorganized and deorganized areas of the state, including townships and plantations. DuBois, an engineer for 35 years, has been pastor of the Western Mountains Baptist Church in New Portland for 17 years.
MAINE PUBLIC • February 14, 2024
Federal fisheries officials said Wednesday that the rope found on a dead right whale that washed ashore on Martha's Vineyard last month is from Maine. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration found purple markings on the gear recovered from the young female, known as right whale #5120. NOAA officials said the rope and its markings are consistent with those that Maine lobstermen and pot and trap fishermen use. Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Kehiler, said, “It is also the first right whale mortality with known Maine gear that DMR is aware of since the establishment of the Take Reduction Plan."
MAINE PUBLIC • February 14, 2024
The rezoning request for a controversial metallic mineral mining proposal in northern Penobscot County was denied today by the Land Use Planning Commission. Ontario-based Wolfden Resources first asked state officials to rezone nearly 400 acres for a mine just over a year ago- a proposal that would be the first test of Maine's strict mining regulations. But after hearing concerns from residents and environmental groups, the Land Use Planning Commission voted five to two to deny the rezoning, prompting cheers from project opponents in the room.
MAINE MONITOR • February 14, 2024
After several years of back-and-forth, regulators on Wednesday rejected Wolfden Resources Corporation’s plans to mine for zinc and copper in northern Penobscot County, a densely forested area east of the Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument. In a 5-2 vote, the Maine Land Use Planning Commission denied an application to rezone 374 acres near Pickett Mountain that would have opened the door to metallic mining in the area by allowing Wolfden to apply for a mining permit from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Maine, with some of the strictest mining and water quality standards in the country, prohibits digging for metals in open pits larger than three acres. There have not been active metal mines in the state for decades, and no company has applied for a permit since a particularly strict law passed in 2017. Wolfden was the first company to attempt metallic mining in Maine since the regulations were passed.
MORNING SENTINEL • February 14, 2024
Town officials are looking to rebuild and revamp Fort Halifax Park after the destructive flooding December washed away gazebos, toppled trees and nearly breached the historic fort. The Kennebec River swelled more than 20 feet during the flood’s peak. The park, accessible off Bay Street, forms a peninsula at the confluence of the Kennebec and Sebasticook rivers. The fort was built from 1754 to 1755 at the start of the French and Indian War. All that is left of the structure is a wooden blockhouse that has the distinction of being the oldest of its kind in the United States.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 14, 2024
A federal regulatory agency has confirmed that the right whale found dead on Martha’s Vineyard in January had been tangled in Maine lobstering gear. It is the first time Maine gear has been found on the carcass of a North Atlantic right whale, an endangered species. The discovery has reignited the contentious debate about the lobster fishery’s impact on the endangered North Atlantic right whale, and whether stricter regulations are warranted. And lobstermen, who say such regulations could wipe out the industry.
MAINE MORNING STAR • February 14, 2024
A state commission on Wednesday rejected a proposed metallic mineral mine near Mount Katahdin that environmental advocates and tribal leaders argued would have serious public health repercussions. By a 5-2 vote, the Land Use Planning Commission rejected a request from Canadian company Wolfden Resources to rezone 374 acres near Pickett Mountain, not far from Baxter State Park in northern Maine, to develop and operate a mine. The effort comes after Wolfden decided to withdraw a previous rezoning application in 2021 that the LUPC said contained many errors.
