New bills give Maine towns and agencies more power to enforce environmental regulations

MAINE MONITOR • April 6, 2024

The town of Raymond has spent three years trying to hold a developer and his contractors accountable for violating shoreland zoning provisions. Local officials and lawmakers say this shows the shortcomings of the state’s shoreland zoning ordinance: Municipalities are expected to enforce the rules but don’t have the tools to do so. State environmental agencies also have limited enforcement power. Two new bills aim to change this. One would give municipalities more immediate power in enforcing the state’s shoreland zoning ordinance, and the other would empower state agencies to issue stop-work orders when violations are identified.

Oversight of Maine’s electric vehicle standards likely to shift from citizen board to lawmakers

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 3, 2024

Lawmakers have advanced a bill declaring that the Legislature, not a board of citizens appointed by the governor, is in charge of crafting Maine’s electric vehicle standards. The Maine Senate approved the measure on Wednesday, and it now heads to Gov. Janet Mills’ desk.

Lisbon councilors hear pitch for hunting on town land, wood harvesting on landfill site

SUN JOURNAL • April 3, 2024

Maine Game Warden Cpl. Cody Lounder spoke with the Town Council on Tuesday about allowing hunting on town properties where it is prohibited, such as Beaver Park and the Pinewoods landfill property. Lounder said he believes deer have been proliferating in certain areas as evidenced by R Belanger and Sons Farm struggling to keep the deer from destroying its crops. The farm takes 25-30 deer each year under a special permit issued by the state to protect its crops. “Now, if we could open up those areas to local hunters that might quell that down,” Lounder said.

How brown rats crawled off ships and conquered North American cities

ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 3, 2024

New research suggests that brown rats crawled off ships arriving in North America earlier than previously thought and out-competed rival black rats that had likely arrived with Columbus and thrived in colonial cities. After first appearing on the continent before 1740, brown rats took over the East Coast from black rats “in only a matter of decades,” said Michael Buckley, one of the authors of a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Brown rats are larger and more aggressive than black rats.

Maine Calling: The Role of Maine's Lakes

MAINE PUBLIC • April 3, 2024

Maine is home to more than 6,000 lakes and ponds. Learn about the role lakes play in the state's economy, from serving as the centerpiece for some communities, boosting tourism and outdoor recreation, and providing clean water, as well as the health of our state's lakes and ecosystems. Panelists: Susan Gallo, Maine Lakes; Melissa Genoter, Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, University of Maine. VIP Callers: Michael Donihue, Colby College; Jeremy Deeds, Maine Department of Environmental Protection.

Legislature sends shoreland zoning enforcement bill to Gov. Mills

SUN JOURNAL • April 3, 2024

L.D. 2101 gives enforcement authority on new permits, restoration of shoreland and allows municipalities and the Land Use Planning Commission the right to place a lien on property with unresolved violations. Gov. Janet Mills is expected to sign the bill into law. The administration testified in favor of the bill earlier this year.

Letter: Maine needs to lead in push toward net zero

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 2, 2024

LD 2077, An Act Regarding Customer Costs and the Environmental and Health Effects of Natural Gas would entail a serious inquiry into the future energy system of Maine that is already underway. Doing so would create institutional initiative for all the people trying to make a change. Me and my peers [sic] appreciate the momentum this bill offers to seek the possibility of a better future for Mainers and investing in the value of our state: to lead. ~ Megan Sauberlich, Falmouth

Predicted sun on Monday has Houlton bracing for surge of eclipse visitors

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 3, 2024

With less than a week until the total solar eclipse, Pennsylvania and Maine are predicted to have the best viewing conditions. Long range forecasts call for clouds, thunder and rain for Western states like Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Houlton, the last U.S. stop along the 115-mile wide path of totality, is slated for sun and clear skies on Monday. Eclipse crowds rivaling the size of a rock concert were already predicted for the small Aroostook County town. Now, with a sunny forecast, the number of visitors may grow beyond expectations. 

Passenger rail bill dies after Maine Legislature can’t agree

MAINE MORNING STAR • April 3, 2024

Passenger rail expansion in Maine will remain at a crossroads now that a bill that sought to study a potential train line from Portland to Bangor died after the Maine Legislature could not agree. LD 860, sponsored by Sen. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot), would have directed the Northern New England Rail Authority to apply for $500,000 in federal grants to study and identify a rail corridor from Portland to Bangor, going through Lewiston and Waterville. 

Task force being set up to find out why Maine dairy farms are dwindling

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 3, 2024

Maine has lost one-third of its commercial dairy farms since 2020, leaving 145 conventional and organic dairy farmers struggling to operate amid rising costs, shifting market forces and climate change. To help stem the losses in Maine, Gov. Janet Mills signed emergency legislation last week to set up a task force that will study the challenges facing the state’s commercial dairy farmers and recommend ways to support the long-term sustainability of the industry by the start of next year.

Letter: Solving climate change with facts

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 3, 2024

The PROVE IT Act (S. 1863), which Sen. Angus King co-sponsors, would measure the carbon intensity of certain goods, help the U.S. negotiate effectively with our trading partners, and build on bipartisan momentum to act on global carbon pollution. I strongly encourage anybody who supports this type of legislation to contact their representatives in Congress and voice their support. We can’t solve this problem without the facts. ~ Hunter Kissam, Lewiston

Forestry experts work to prevent pine-killing beetle from infesting Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 3, 2024

A beetle half the size of a grain of rice, pushed north by a warming climate, is prompting foresters to take action to protect the Waterboro Pine Barrens, which span Newfield, Shapleigh and Waterboro. The pitch pines there are favorite eating and breeding grounds for the southern pine beetles, first found in York County in 2021. The beetles can marshal into swarms that attack and tunnel through pitch pines, choking off nourishment and killing them within weeks. They already have killed thousands of acres of pine forest in the southern United States and on Long Island, New York. They have been spotted on Cape Cod in their move north but remain scarce in Maine, with no infestations reported yet.

New developers propose tidal power project on Cobscook Bay

MAINE PUBLIC • April 2, 2024

Another developer wants to construct a tidal power dam at the mouth of the Cobscook Bay to generate renewable energy. Pembroke Tidal Power Project LLC, a subsidiary of Nestar Energy, filed preliminary federal permit applications last month for a tidal power plant on the Pennamaquan River near Pembroke. It's not the first time that tidal power has been pursued in the region. The Ocean Renewable Power Company tried unsuccessfully with underwater turbines more than a decade ago. The company has since resumed testing in Eastport and Lubec.

Biden administration official touts Maine's expanding EV charging network

MAINE PUBLIC • April 2, 2024

Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt was in Maine Tuesday to unveil five new federally funded high-speed EV chargers installed in the Hannaford Supermarket parking lot in Rockland. Bhatt used the press event to tout the progress made by the Biden Administration through the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program. Bhatt praised Maine for being a leader in the transition to electric vehicles, and for being one of five states to install NEVI-funded chargers.

Compromise calls for studying natural gas use in Maine, rather than restricting it

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 2, 2024

The Maine House approved compromise legislation Tuesday that would scale back a proposal to restrict natural gas expansion in the state and study its use instead, but it faced bipartisan criticism. The original legislation proposed a ban on gas companies charging ratepayers for construction and expansion of gas service mains and gas service lines beginning Feb. 1, 2025. Instead, business and residential customers that benefit from new gas mains and service lines would have been required to pay the costs. Environmentalists had said the measure is necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The measure drew opposition from gas utilities and their business group allies, prompting the utilities, environmentalists, consumer advocates and others to negotiate a measure calling for studies.

Letter: Mack Point for offshore wind

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 1, 2024

Given our energy predicament, some environmentalists and others advocate “saying yes” to constructing the port on Sears Island, despite inevitable degradation of a special island. I think this sobering choice would be defensible if it actually was the only viable option. It isn’t. I support offshore wind energy, but instead say “yes” to neighboring Mack Point as the best port terminal location. That means in this case “Yes, In My Backyard.” Let’s bring the jobs and the port to Mack Point!  ~ Michael Bowe, Belfast

Maine could get $30M to improve its vast trail system

ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 1, 2024

Maine’s beloved outdoor trail network could receive millions of dollars of improvements under a proposal conservationists have asked lawmakers to put before voters. The state has long been a destination for hikers, cyclists, snowshoers and other outdoor adventurers, and the state has more than 14,000 miles of snowmobile trails alone. A proposal before the Maine Legislature would ask voters to approve $30 million in public money for the design, development and maintenance of both motorized and nonmotorized trails.

Opinion: Maine’s PFAS law should not be weakened

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 1, 2024

In a recent column published in the Bangor Daily News, F-gas producer Honeywell argued for a false choice between making climate progress or protecting our drinking water safety from PFAS pollution. Safer alternatives that are both PFAS free and climate friendly are available. ~ Mike Belliveau, Defend Our Health

Column: A worrying climate anomaly

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 1, 2024

When there was strong warming on our planet (like at the end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 years ago), there were sudden big leaps in the global temperature. It wasn’t a smooth process at all. The worrisome part of the current warming is not just that it has given us the hottest year on record. We’ve been breaking old records for some time now, as you would expect when you keep putting 40 billion tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere every year. It’s the scale of the rise in temperature this year: two-tenths of a degree Celsius. Climate scientists are calling it an “anomaly,” which is not so much an explanation as an admission that they can’t explain it. Changes in average global temperature from one year to another tend to be quite small. This one is gigantic. ~ Gwynne Dyer

Greenville cautions eclipse visitors to stay off the lake

MAINE PUBLIC • April 1, 2024

Town officials in Greenville are urging visitors to stay off Moosehead Lake if they're traveling to the region to view the upcoming total eclipse. Greenville Town Manager Mike Roy says the conditions on the lake vary. "It's a wide-open space and it looks like a field right now, because it's covered with snow. And you know, we're projected at 30,000 people, and if we have 3,000 out there on the ice in one area and then it collapses, that's a huge concern for us," he says.