The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
SUN JOURNAL • April 24, 2024
Firefighters from several towns battled woods, grass and brush fires in two locations Tuesday. A woods fire was reported about 3:30 p.m. at the intersection of Mosher Hill Road and Federal Row on the Farmington/Industry line. A Central Maine Power Co. power line was sparking at the top of a utility pole and ignited grass. About 20 minutes later a second fire was reported in West Farmington caused by a campfire Monday night that wasn’t completely extinguished.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 24, 2024
The developers of a four-story hydroponic farm said Wednesday they have secured nearly $60 million in financing to wrap up construction and begin operating early next year in the city’s downtown. Vertical Harvest Farms, an indoor farming company focused on microgreens, said $59.5 million in financing will advance its work to develop and operate the 51,000-square-foot vertical farm. The Westbrook business is expected employ 47 workers, with half the workforce including people with intellectual and physical disabilities, CEO Nona Yehia said.
SOUTH PORTLAND-CAPE ELIZABETH SENTRY • April 24, 2024
The Scarborough Land Trust and its partners will receive $1.4 million in federal coastal resiliency funding that is expected to have a lasting impact on the Scarborough Marsh. “This is really a monumental point for the history of the marsh,” Andrew Mackie, director of the Scarborough Land Trust, said. The grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is part of a $123 million package, over $10 million of which is going to efforts in Maine. Many of the partners involved in the grant, including the town, are already working on marsh studies and conservation projects. The funding allows for further collaboration.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 24, 2024
A combination of factors has likely led to an unusually large amount of pine cones in Maine this year. In fact, it’s a “special” time in the cycle that only happens every five years or so, according to Dr. William Livingston, director and associate professor of forest resources at the University of Maine. Livingston, who is also chair of the Multi-state Project on White Pine Health, noted that like other tree species, white pine will typically only produce a large number of cones every three to five years. That’s known as a “mast” year, and the Pine Tree State is now experiencing the fruits of that windfall production that happened this past fall, he said.
MORNING SENTINEL • April 24, 2024
New storefronts, restaurants and other businesses along Bay Street. Unified architectural design standards. Encouraged pedestrian walkability. Preparation for the impacts of climate change. This is the vision laid out in a new comprehensive plan for Winslow, in which town officials have described their goals over the next decade for making community improvements. Winslow Town Manager Ella Bowman said that the comprehensive plan will maintain Winslow’s rural character while advancing new development downtown.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 24, 2024
Versant Power is pushing back against a new approach to broaden the use of heat pumps, which already are a key part of Maine’s toolbox to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Efficiency Maine Trust, a quasi-state agency that promotes energy efficiency, has shifted its rebate program to incentivize electric pumps that heat an entire house rather than one or two rooms. Versant Power opposes a shift to whole-house electric heat pumps, saying affluent homeowners and developers will benefit.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 24, 2024
The plan is for floating offshore wind turbines to provide about 50% of the electric power Maine will need by 2040. More great news is that experts predict offshore wind will provide between 10,000 to 30,000 new, good jobs for Mainers. The most hopeful part of this wind story is the amount of energy the U.S. may be able to get from East Coast offshore wind. The Department of Energy says the goal is 30 gigawatts by 2030 and 110 GW by 2050. This will go a long way toward replacing fossil fuel use and will slow the progression of climate change and clean the air. Please tell our legislators to support the rapid development of offshore wind. ~ Nancy Hasenfus, Brunswick
BLOOMBERG • April 23, 2024
Canada’s emergency preparedness minister has warned repeatedly that an unusually dry and warm winter, combined with what might be an unusually dry and warm spring and summer, could lead to another terrible wildfire season. Global heating made last year’s intense fires in eastern Canada more than twice as likely. As long as people keep burning fossil fuels and spewing heat-trapping gasses into the atmosphere, the planet will warm even more and wildfires will become more frequent and intense. Wildfire smoke could cause as much as 27,800 U.S. deaths per year by 2050. Democrats in Congress last year introduced two bills to address the problem on a national level. Neither bill stands a chance in the Republican-controlled House. While we delay, lives and livelihoods risk being lost to wildfire smoke. Shun the outside air and wear some kind of mask, preferably an N95, when you must venture out. ~ Mark Gongloff
MAINE PUBLIC • April 23, 2024
Governor Janet Mills has vetoed a bill that would establish a minimum wage for farmworkers and allow them to receive cost-of-living increases. The proposal was brought forward this year by Mills herself after she vetoed a similar initiative last year. The current bill would allow farmworkers to earn the state’s minimum wage – currently $14.15 per hour. But the governor said a change to her bill by lawmakers compelled her to veto it. The amended version would allow farmworkers to sue their employers, a prospect that the governor said goes well beyond her proposal which would have left wage enforcement up to the state labor department.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 23, 2024
Gov. Janet Mills vetoed three bills on Tuesday, including measures that would have set a minimum wage for farmworkers in Maine and allow them to engage in certain labor-related activity. She also rejected a bill that would have required the state-owned Juniper Ridge Landfill to treat water discharge so that it does not exceed the drinking water standards established by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
SCARBOROUGH LEADER • April 23, 2024
Work is nearly complete at Scarborough Beach State Park to repair damages from January’s storms and a plan to prevent similar storm damage with the use of an artificial dune is taking shape. The storms drove seawater and beach sand up the long, narrow path to the parking lot. Greg Wilfert, director of the park, said, “We lost 6 to 10 feet of dune depth, but the dunes did their job,” and will have time to naturally recover this summer. Beaches in the southern part of the country have used artificial dunes with success. At Scarborough Beach, a rectangular box about 10 feet wide and 3 feet tall filled with silt or sand could be placed at the beach entrance to the path. There would still be room for people to walk around the dune box on both sides.
ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 23, 2024
The world’s largest 3D printer has created a house that can cut construction time and labor. An even larger printer unveiled Tuesday may one day create entire neighborhoods. The machine revealed Tuesday at the University of Maine is four times larger than the first one – commissioned less than five years ago. Researchers plan to tinker with the material consumed by the machine, including more bio-based feedstocks from wood residuals that are abundant in Maine.
SUN JOURNAL • April 22, 2024
The owner of a large parcel between Gracelawn Road and Lake Auburn has scrapped plans to develop the site into housing. At one time, property owner John Gendron eyed a 1,100-unit development on the 88-acre site, but the proposal set off a communitywide debate over water quality that included a lawsuit between Lewiston and the Auburn Water District. According to Eric Cousens, director of planning and permitting, Gendron has decided not to pursue a housing project at the site, and plans to continue with a gravel mining operation for the foreseeable future.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 22, 2024
The state of Maine will receive about $10.5 million in federal infrastructure funds to preserve saltwater marshes and repair aging culverts. The announcement came on Earth Day, and in the aftermath of three severe winter storms that Mainers are still recovering from. The Maine projects are among 30 coastal restoration awards announced Monday by the White House and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 22, 2024
aine will receive $62 million in federal funding to help extend solar power access to low-income and disadvantaged communities. Maine is looking to bring solar power to more homeowners and renters in all parts of the state. The funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency would reduce financial barriers to rooftop solar panels by providing incentives for residential solar and energy storage.
MAINE MORNING STAR • April 22, 2024
Maine is receiving $62 million from the federal government to bring solar energy to low-income households, reduce energy costs and create more jobs. Maine was one of 60 projects to receive this funding through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Solar for All competition, which expands residential or community solar programs and is funded through the Inflation Reduction Act. The state’s applicationincluded incentives for rooftop solar storage and technical assistance for cooperatively owned solar operations.
MAINE PUBLIC • April 22, 2024
The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a petition with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to put the saltmarsh sparrow on the Endangered Species list. The Center's Stephanie Kurose said the saltmarsh sparrow only breeds in salt marshes in the Northeast, and has been in rapid decline since the late 1990s. "We've lost 87% of the population during that time," she said. "The main threat to these birds is sea level rise, but also coastal development."
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • April 22, 2024
A group of federal officials is visiting Scarborough today to announce $123 million in funding for coastal habitat restoration and conservation to increase community resilience to climate change, including $10.6 million for local projects in Brunswick, Scarborough, and Wells. The local projects include:
$1.4 million to restore degraded areas, improve public access and allow for inland migration of Scarborough Marsh.
$4.5 million to replace aging, undersized culverts that restrict tidal flow and fish passage in Brunswick and Perry.
$2.9 million to restore tidal hydrology and allow for marsh migration in Wells.
E&E NEWS • April 22, 2024
President Joe Biden is struggling to regain his popularity with young voters who helped put him in the White House in 2020. A group of youth climate activists say they have an answer to the president’s dilemma: Biden’s Department of Justice needs to drop its opposition to a long-running lawsuit that seeks to curb the U.S. government’s reliance on fossil fuels. “It’s a mistake for the Department of Justice to take this position in an election year, especially when young voters continue to be more and more disenchanted with the current administration and the permitting of big fossil fuel projects,” said Mat dos Santos, general counsel of Our Children’s Trust, the law firm that represents young climate activists in Juliana v. United States. “This is an opportunity for the administration to do right by young people.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • April 22, 2024
Three environmental groups have sued Maine over allegedly failing to act on climate change. That comes as the state marks Earth Day and after a winter that saw intense storms batter the state from end to end. The lawsuit, which the Conservation Law Foundation, Maine Youth Action and Sierra Club filed against the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, alleges that the state is failing to act on a 2019 statutory goal to reduce carbon emissions by 45 percent of 1990 levels by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050.
