Andover board hires firm to design recreation park

RUMFORD FALLS TIMES • May 22, 2024

The Andover Select Board approved a $10,000 contract Tuesday with a landscape architect to create a recreation park on South Main Street. The design work by Sashie Misner Landscape Architecture of Portland will include improving the tennis court and work on the upper and lower fields of Grimaldi Field, selectmen said at their meeting at the Town Hall. An eight-member committee has formed to apply for a $170,000 to $200,000 grant from the federal Land and Water Conservation Fund to construct the park.

Auburn’s Crescent Beach may not reopen after death of owner

SUN JOURNAL • May 22, 2024

The popular Crescent Beach on Taylor Pond will not open this summer after the longtime owner passed away over the winter, according to his family. The beach off Chicoine Avenue has been owned since 1961 by Linwood and Deanna Andrews. Linwood Andrews passed away in December and there had been no plan in place to keep the beach open. For decades, the beach has been one of very few spots in the Twin Cities area where families could spend an afternoon swimming. Kids who lived in the neighborhood were given discounts on season passes to use the beach.

Maine launches job board to connect people with openings in ‘clean energy’ sector

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2024

State officials are trying to make it easier for people to find jobs in Maine’s clean energy sector. The Governor’s Energy Office on Wednesday launched the Maine Clean Energy Jobs Network, a recruiting tool to connect skilled jobseekers with clean energy employers and training programs. The jobs network also will help immigrant workers access resources in their native languages. The state announced the jobs initiative two weeks after releasing a study touting Maine’s “clean energy economy,” saying it accounted for 15,000 jobs at the end of 2022.

Advocates at Augusta hearing urge federal officials to order removal of dams on the Kennebec River

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • May 22, 2024

Advocates said Wednesday that the local environment and economy would flourish if the upper Kennebec River watershed were given a chance to recover Testifying before federal officials at the Augusta Civic Center, the advocates said removing four dams between Waterville and Skowhegan — like removal of the Edwards Dam in Augusta on July 1, 1999 — would give the endangered Atlantic salmon their best chance to avoid extinction, and open access to outstanding spawning grounds in the Sandy River. Dozens of people testified in favor of removing the four dams, or at least upping the requirements that each of them have improved fish ladders or other ways of passage for fish, with screening to prevent fish from being killed by dam turbines. George Hofgren of Fairfield stood out as a voice opposed to removing the dams. He advocated for them to be relicensed

Bar Harbor backs off beleaguered solar project

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2024

Two days away from signing an interconnection agreement, the Town Council decided Tuesday night to not go forward with the Higgins Pit solar array project, and it instead directed the town manager to look toward finding other projects that would achieve the same goals. The project was meant to offset approximately 25 percent of the town’s carbon output by building a solar array at Higgins Pit, a town-owned property. The project was approved by voters in 2022, but since then, costs have risen beyond initial projections, prompting concerns for some. Because of the site of the town-owned property, for the project to go forward, wetland remediation would have to be done, a road would have to be built, and the project itself has been downsized.

Jennifer Dann New Project Director for State Wide Partnership, Local Wood Works

LOCAL WOOD WORKS • May 22, 2024

After nearly seven years at the helm of Local Wood WORKS, Lee Burnett announced that he will be stepping down as Project Director. Local Wood WORKS is a statewide partnership focused on promoting sustainable use of Maine wood, to help Maine landowners keep their forests as forests, and to sustain Maine communities and economies. During Burnett’s tenure, Local Wood Works developed a Maine Wood Guide, forest and forest product manufacturing tours. Jennifer Dann will be the new Project Director working closely with LWW's eight partner organizations: Kennebec Land Trust, The Nature Conservancy, CEI, Maine Forest Service, Grow Smart Maine, Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and the Northern Forest Center. Dann’s professional background is in urban and community forestry and in environmental management with the U.S. Air Force. She grew up in Maine and is excited for the opportunity to work with the Local Wood WORKS partners on initiatives important to her home state.  

Wells town leaders back a lawsuit that seeks expanded public access at Moody Beach

MAINE PUBLIC • May 22, 2024

The select board for Wells announced Tuesday night the town will file an amicus brief that supports plaintiffs in a lawsuit that seeks to expand public access at Moody Beach. Tensions have been rising between private beachfront homeowners and the public. The lawsuit challenges Maine law, which extends property rights to the low tide line. The only exceptions are for "fishing, fowling, and navigation." "The board plans to argue that the public trust rights on Moody Beach shall not be limited to fishing, fowling, and navigation, but should instead include some form of recreational activity." Proponents of public beach use have been urging town officials to protect access. Dozens of people packed Tuesday night's meeting, including some who say private homeowners yell at them when they walk on the beach. Some homeowners, meanwhile, say there are several other public beaches in the area that people can use.

Buxton company is first in Maine to offer ‘renewable propane’ for home heating

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2024

Renewable propane was introduced in Maine Tuesday by a fuel dealer willing to take a financial hit as it tries to develop a market for the alternative fuel made from nonpetroleum feedstocks such as natural fats, vegetable oils and grease. Waltz & Sons Propane, based in Buxton, says it’s the first dealer in Maine to sell renewable propane for residential heating. The fuel can be used in all propane applications, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, powering furnaces, cooktops, water heaters and other propane appliances without requiring modifications to those devices.

New director of UMaine Lobster Institute brings industry experience

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2024

The University of Maine has tapped a former member of the lobster industry to lead an institute that studies and supports the state’s most well-known fishery. Chris Cash spent 14 years fishing for lobster, eight of them on her own boat. She hopes to use that background in her new role as the executive director of the UMaine Lobster Institute, to bring some fresh perspective to the center and to expand its outreach to her former colleagues in the industry. “Rather than coming from specifically a research background, I come from a commercial fishing and industry background,” Cash said. “So I feel like that brings a value when I’m going out in the field and talking to fishermen, that I can certainly relate.”

Maine’s historic storms stretched home insurers to their limit

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2024

Maine’s insurance market is typically stable and profitable, but it was stretched by severe storms last year. Payouts and other costs consumed nearly all of the revenue from premiums for homeowners insurance in Maine in 2023, meaning it was barely profitable. Insurance agents who connect these sharp increases to more frequent and severe storms taking place are worried this means insurers might grow reticent to cover Maine’s coastal communities, or pull out of areas prone to flooding or wind damage entirely. It’s a national trend. Storms caused by climate change have already led carriers to reduce their coverage in other states such as California and Florida, or pull out of them entirely.

How central Maine farmers help make the state’s PFAS recovery program a success

MORNING SENTINEL • May 21, 2024

Dozens of Maine farms experiencing PFAS contamination by “forever chemicals” have been able to stay in business with help from the new state fund, billed as the first of its kind across the nation. PFAS contamination in Maine largely has been linked to the spreading of sludge on farms as an alternative to fertilizer beginning in the 1970s, though the chemicals are used in everything from raincoats to plastic plates. More than 500 residential wells have since been deemed unsafe to drink due to the chemicals as they have seeped into Maine’s land, water and eventually wildlife. Roughly 60 farms across the state so far have dealt with PFAS contamination. But where once things seemed hopeless for these farmers, they’ve since gained hope that there’s plenty of farming in their future.

New commission aims to steel Maine against worsening storms

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 21, 2024

When state officials created a climate council in 2019, it was to investigate how global warming was affecting Maine and what could be done to lessen those impacts. Much of the council’s work has focused on Maine’s energy and transportation needs, promoting a reduction in the use of the fossil fuels that are accelerating climate change. But over the past two years, and in particular this past winter, the impact of climate-driven storms has become much clearer. Since December, storms have flooded significant portions of inland Maine and wreaked havoc along the coast, destroying docks, damaging homes and wiping out protective sand dunes. That urgency is why Gov. Janet Mills created a new entity on Tuesday specifically to look into how to make infrastructure less vulnerable to storms, which are getting stronger as a result of climate change.

Governor creates new commission to study storm resiliency

MAINE PUBLIC • May 21, 2024

Gov. Janet Mills signed an executive order today to create a new commission on preparing for and responding to severe storms. Just this month Mills requested a federal disaster declaration for the January storms that devastated much of the coast, the eighth such request Mills has sought in the last two years. Mills said the state cannot keep enduring storms and rebuilding, and that infrastructure needs to be made more resilient. "Look, now is the time for us to take bold and urgent steps to protect the Maine that we all know and love and cherish, protect it for our children and grandchildren," Mills said.

Acadia National Park Confronts a Rising Tide

SIERRA CLUB • May 21, 2024

In January, a one-two punch of winter storms walloped coastal Maine and destroyed infrastructure across Acadia National Park that rangers are still repairing as they gear up for the millions of tourists who visit every summer. The temporary sea level rise brought on by the January storms offered a peek into what could be a new normal by mid-century, forcing officials at Acadia to confront the reality that restoring the current damage will require a much more rigorous process than merely rebuilding roads and trails, many of which were established over a century ago. It's a situation that illustrates the inherent tension between the two missions of the National Park Service writ large: conservation and tourism.

Gov. Mills to create commission to prepare Maine for more battering storms

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 20, 2024

Gov. Janet Mills is creating a commission to help Maine rebuild from a string of winter storms that caused an estimated $90 million in damage and to develop a long-term infrastructure resilience plan to prepare for more climate-driven disasters in the future. “The time is now for immediate steps to strengthen (our) ability to better withstand the impacts of a changing climate,” Mills said. Eleven disasters have been declared since Mills took office in January 2019. Eight of those have been declared in the last two years, an unprecedented number in Maine history. According to a 2021 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the increase in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane in our atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.

Living with contaminated water in a small Maine town

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 21, 2024

Lawrence Higgins and his wife, Penelope Higgins, both 70, received their test results showing extremely high levels of two well-studied PFAS compounds, PFOA, or perfluorooctanoic acid, and PFOS, or perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. Their neighborhood and several other areas of Fairfield have some of the highest PFAS levels in the country, according to engineers studying PFAS. Contamination from the so-called forever chemicals, which take a long time to degrade in the environment, is widespread in the state, with other notable levels concentrated in Skowhegan and Unity, putting pressure on Maine lawmakers and regulators to eliminate or contain its effects.

Students at Mexico school celebrate World Bee Day

RUMFORD FALLS TIMES • May 20, 2024

Meroby Elementary School students celebrated World Bee Day on Monday at the Mountain Valley Middle School apiary center, where they participated in bee-related activities. World Bee Day is meant to “raise awareness on the essential role bees and other pollinators play in keeping people and the planet healthy, and on the many challenges they face today.” The Mountain Valley Bees Academy apiary in Mexico was created from a $100,000 Maine Department of education grant in 2022.

Persistent ospreys rebuild on Bath utility pole after eviction by CMP

TIMES RECORD • May 20, 2024

A persistent pair of ospreys have created a new, if unimpressive, nest atop a utility pole along Route 1 in Bath, despite Central Maine Power’s efforts to get the birds to relocate. The raptors have assembled a small nest between yellow pylons installed by CMP to deter them from rebuilding on the pole after crews removed an existing nest just before the ospreys arrived this spring. CMP has said the nest was destroyed because it posed a risk of causing power outages. Joanne Adams, an osprey photographer, said, “The nest that’s there now that [the ospreys] have built hangs on both sides, and if CMP were looking to not have a power outage that nest is the most dangerous nest I have ever seen in my life.”

Federal regulators to hold hearings on Kennebec dams

MAINE PUBLIC • May 20, 2024

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will hold two public hearings this week on the relicensing of four dams along the Kennebec River: the Lockwood Dam and Hydro Kennebec Dam in Waterville, Shawmut Dam in Fairfield and the Weston Dam in Skowhegan. In March, a draft environmental impact statement from agency staff recommended the relicensing, with conditions for turbine shutdowns and new fish lifts, to protect migrating fish species. But Nick Bennett with the Natural Resources Council of Maine said the proposals do not do enough to protect fish.

Lawrence High School students release salmon fry into the Sandy River in Farmington

SUN JOURNAL • May 20, 2024

Peter Kallin, interim chief executive officer of 7 Lakes Alliance in the Belgrade Lakes area, gave students in Eric Brown's ecology and biology classes a lesson in the cycle stages of salmon on Monday. Some of the 200 salmon still had egg sacks attached, but most were in the fry stage when they are five to 10 weeks old and can swim and eat macroinvertebrates.