The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 16, 2024
The April 9 Maine House vote on L.D. 2266 was a demonstration of democracy in action. A bipartisan decision against changing environmental laws prior to a true alternative analysis, this vote now allows for the offshore wind port effort to move toward development on Mack Point in Searsport. Siting renewable energy must also go hand in hand with preserving natural resources as we address our changing environment. ~ Becky Bartovics, North Haven
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 16, 2024
The Gulf of Maine has the potential to generate half of the electricity our state will need by 2050, triple what we use today. An intentional process begun years ago has brought us to the hopeful point where permitting for the identified staging area on Sears Island must begin. But a bill needed to exempt the project from protecting a small sand dune failed in the Legislature. To say that protecting a small sand dune, created by a jetty, should stop a groundbreaking major project from moving forward is at best foolish. Sea level rise will soon destroy the sand dune anyway. ~ Sam Saltonstall, Brunswick
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 15, 2024
The House rejected the measure last week and will now reconsider the Senate version, which would exempt sand dunes from environmental protection in a bid to advance Maine's drive to generate offshore wind.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 15, 2024
Loggers behind one of Maine’s heritage industries claim the state and its biggest landowners are sharing confidential information about them through a forest certification program. The loggers say the state and forest products group use a certification program to exchange information about them — such as names, locations and potential violations — if they face investigations but have not yet been notified of the probes. Tension between logging contractors and the state forest service along with the influential Maine Forest Products Council has existed for years but flared more publicly in Augusta this month through a bill from Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, a fifth-generation logger.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 15, 2024
“Smart growth” is an approach to community planning that aims to cull the housing sprawl that defined the last half of the 1900s. For decades, rural communities took an “any growth anywhere” approach to housing development that has ended up costing them, Nancy Smith, the executive director of GrowSmart Maine, said. “It’s awfully tempting to say ‘we’ll just take anything’ as rural communities lose their population,” Smith said. “But we need to ensure communities develop and grow in ways that make sense for the long term. All around Maine, sprawl has strained municipal budgets and increased local and state taxes. It has cost communities socially and environmentally, too.
TIMES RECORD • April 15, 2024
Following three days of remarkable spring-like weather, the final three days of our six-day Baxter State Park expedition in the South Branch Pond region was dominated by challenging weather. On day four, six of us awoke in the South Branch bunkhouse to a rainy forecast. After enjoying exceptional mountain hikes during the previous two days, low-elevation treks were our choice. The 11-mile ski to the Matagamon winter trailhead was the culmination of another exceptional Baxter State Park expedition. Despite inclement weather during the second half of the outing, we managed to make lemonade out of a lemon. ~ Ron Chase
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 15, 2024
There’s a lot more to Earth Day than just picking up garbage. Sure, cleanup days in parks, beaches and green spaces are still a big part of the 54-year-old event. But over the years, Earth Day has evolved into a celebration of all the ways people can enjoy nature, and the many ways they can help to preserve it. So, in southern Maine this weekend, you’ll find Earth Day family celebrations with food, music and demonstrations of eco-friendly gadgets like electric bikes or electric lawnmowers. You’ll also find hikes and nature walks and, yes, lots of cleanups to join.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 15, 2024
We’re already experiencing the impacts of climate change. What’s needed is individual action toward a collective solution: an economy-wide price on pollution. The U.S. is the only major economy left on earth without a fee for polluting. Need to burn something and vent the exhaust? No problem, future generations will pick up the tab! That’s what needs to change. The best part is when we put a price on pollution like Canada did with its carbon fee and dividend law, it unleashes the power of the economy to find the most cost-effective ways to cut carbon while raising net incomes for most families. It’s a win-win all around. ~ John O’Bryan, Brunswick
MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • April 14, 2024
Fifteen years ago in 2009, then-Gov. John Baldacci’s Ocean Energy Task Force formally reported on the promise of wind to supply energy to Maine and to make it a “net energy exporter.” Due to relentless foot-dragging and other obstructionism, we have not even begun to realize that vision. The longer this kind of unproductive and complacent zig-zagging continues, the longer we squander the high-quality wind that blows in the Gulf of Maine. Maine simply can’t afford to continue like this, economically or environmentally. There is no perfect location for an offshore wind turbine port. Years have passed since the development of this industry was first mooted and still, despite knowing better, we are running down the clock. These hard realities should make people who continue to stand in the way of obligatory progress think twice.
TIMES RECORD • April 12, 2024
The Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust is set to close a deal Friday, April 12, to purchase 25 acres at 262 Pleasant Hill Road, reuniting a missing parcel to a historic Brunswick farm. The property, which will be purchased for $2 million, features a historic barn and 25 acres on a swath of historic land once known as Dionne Farm. An anonymous seller acquired the land this past winter and approached the land trust with the offer to sell. The seller granted the organization a two-year private loan, which the trust will need to pay off by April 2026. The property, which is being sold to the land trust below market rate, is located across the street from Crystal Spring Farm, where the land trust’s Saturday farmers market is located. BTLT has several ideas for the land, including new community education programs and land conservation efforts.
SUN JOURNAL • April 10, 2024
By ending the sale of flavored tobacco products, we can take a stand against the tobacco industry's tactics to ensnare the next generation into nicotine addiction. Flavored tobacco is not a benign indulgence; it is a calculated marketing strategy to increase profits, while saddling young people with lifelong consequences to their health and well-being. That is why Maine’s Environmental Priorities Coalition came out strongly endorsing this legislation earlier this year. ~ Kathleen Meil, Maine Conservation Voters
ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 9, 2024
More than 200 chemical plants nationwide will be required to reduce toxic emissions that are likely to cause cancer under a new rule issued Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The rule advances President Biden’s commitment to environmental justice. The new regulation will reduce ethylene oxide and chloroprene emissions by nearly 80%, officials say.
TIMES RECORD • April 9, 2024
Sierra Club Maine in partnership with the Nez Perce tribe of Idaho, Wabanaki Alliance and the Penobscot Indian Nation will host a screening of the documentary “Covenant of the Salmon People” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 17, at Brunswick High School’s Crooker Theater in Brunswick. There will be a second screening in Bangor on April 18.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 9, 2024
The state House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected legislation that would have authorized the state to build an offshore wind terminal on Sears Island, an initial step in Maine’s foray into the wind energy industry. In a blow to Gov. Janet Mills, who selected the island as a wind port, the 80-65 vote sides with critics who cited potential damage to Sears Island’s sand dunes. Rep. Valli Geiger, D-Rockland, who described herself as an environmentalist, said, “For me it’s the larger overarching issue of climate change that has led me to ‘yes.'” Rep. Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, said “it’s hard to reconcile destroying part of the environment to save the environment” and questioned whether wind power will accomplish what advocates claim. The bill now heads to the Senate.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 9, 2024
The Maine House of Representatives voted 72-70 Tuesday to pass a bill establishing a minimum wage for farmworkers and providing them with cost-of-living increases that other workers are eligible for. Opponents of the bill expressed concerns Tuesday that it would prevent farmworkers from being able to be paid for “piecework” based on how much is harvested, as opposed to an hourly rate.
SUN JOURNAL • April 9, 2024
The Raymond Select Board on Monday revealed details of a $650,000 settlement in one of the biggest shoreland zoning violations cases in the town’s recent history. The settlement with Auburn businessman Donald Buteau and his real estate holding company, Management Controls, and contractors Q-Team Tree Service of Naples and Durant Excavating and Big Lake Marine, both of Windham, and Robert Durant of Casco, was more than two years in the making. It comes as Gov. Janet Mills is expected to sign L.D. 2101 into law, giving municipalities new and significant enforcement authority for similar violations.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 9, 2024
The Maine House of Representatives on Tuesday opposed a proposal from Gov. Janet Mills to roll back sand dune protections as the state seeks to build an offshore wind terminal on Sears Island. The Democratic governor’s bill came out last month after the administration announced in February it would use Sears Island as a staging ground. The vote in the House was a major setback for Mills’ signature cause of establishing Maine as a national player in offshore wind, which is opposed by fishermen.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 9, 2024
Bethel has seen unprecedented demand for housing since the pandemic. The Northern Forest Center is redeveloping a historic Bethel home into eight apartments and one studio. The units are intended for those making between 80 and 120 percent of the area’s median income. It is the historic Gehring house on Broad Street. Built in 1896, the three-story building on the National Register of Historic Places was once the home and clinic of Dr. John George Gehring. Gehring was a famous psychotherapist who was one of the first clinicians to use hypnosis in treating mental illnesses. From the 1890s to 1925, Gehring’s practice brought hundreds of prominent academics, scientists, politicians and socialites to Bethel.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 9, 2024
A number of Maine organizations are breaking down barriers to sports – and the myriad physical and emotional benefits that go along with them. New Gloucester-based Veterans Adaptive Sports Training (VAST) helps veterans access a wide array of all-season sports, free of charge. The Adaptive Outdoor Education Center offers an abundance of programs, from rock climbing to sailing, for those who are living with disabilities, plus camps and programs for caregivers at its sites in Brunswick, Carrabassett Valley and Dedham. Maine Adaptive Sports and Recreation, based in Bethel, is the largest year-round adaptive recreation program in Maine. Enock Glidden, Maine Adaptive’s community relations specialist, is also an accessibility ambassador for Maine Trail Finder. ~ Sheila Brennan Nee, Maine Sports Commission
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 9, 2024
The outdoor spaces that we often think of as being integral to our state are often only accessible to those who can drive to them. In the coming years, I hope we keep looking for ways to improve access to the special places that we call home. ~ Philip Mathieu, Portland
