Letter: Shoring up our water infrastructure

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 10, 2024

An April EPA survey found that Maine’s clean water systems need nearly $4 billion over 20 years — about $3,000 per person, the 11th highest per capita spending by state. Those needs have more than tripled over the last decade. Unfortunately, a spending bill currently proposed in the House calls for a massive 25% cut to critical clean water programs. These misguided cuts target the Drinking Water and Clean Water State Revolving Funds (SRFs) programs — the backbone of our nation’s water infrastructure. I hope Rep. Chellie Pingree and others will co-sponsor the WATER Act (HR 1729), a commonsense bill that would provide dedicated annual funding for safe, clean water for all. ~ Chrystina Gastelum, Biddeford

You can hike in Maine and Morocco and be in the same mountain range

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 10, 2024

For some of those thru-hikers, however, Katahdin is not actually the end of the road. For those intrepid wanderers, there’s thousands more miles to traverse across Canada, Greenland, Europe and North Africa, in a dispersed array of trails known as the International Appalachian Trail. According to the International Appalachian Trail organization, the Appalachian Mountains are part of an ancient chain of mountains called the Appalachian-Caledonian, formed more than 250 million years ago during the Paleozoic Era, on the supercontinent of Pangea. Back then, the mountains straddled a part of Pangea that later broke apart and became what is now eastern North America, eastern Greenland, western Europe and northwestern Africa.

RFK Jr. visits Freeport to talk with supporters about farming and food

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2024

Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made a campaign stop in Maine Tuesday to talk to volunteers and supporters about food, farming and issues facing the food system in Maine and around the nation. Kennedy is running as an independent in a race expected to feature a rematch of incumbent Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump as the front-runners. Kennedy’s visit to the Old Town Meeting Place at the Hilton Garden Inn included a discussion with several Maine farmers who talked about some of their challenges, including contamination by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, on farms.

Invasive fruit flies that wreak havoc on small, soft fruits found in Androscoggin County

SUN JOURNAL • July 9, 2024

After a bust 2023 season for many farmers due to seemingly unending rains, Maine is dealing with a different problem this year: fruit flies, more specifically, the invasive spotted wing drosophila. Philip Fanning, University of Maine assistant professor of agricultural entomology, said. Specializing in integrated pest management, biological control and applied insect ecology, he has been tracking the flies in Maine which arrived around 2011. Joel Gilbert of Berry Fruit Farm in Livermore Falls said his farm had to cut strawberry season short mostly due to spoilage caused by the pests.

Unitil to pay $71 million for Bangor-area natural gas company

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2024

Unitil Corp., Maine’s largest natural gas provider, announced Tuesday that it’s paying $70.9 million for Bangor Natural Gas Co., expanding its customer base in the state by nearly one-fourth. The acquisition could save money for ratepayers by consolidating Maine’s relatively small natural gas industry, the state Public Advocate said. It would leave three natural gas companies operating in Maine.

NECEC converter station nears halfway to finish line in Lewiston

SUN JOURNAL • July 9, 2024

A major piece of the controversial New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line through central Maine is roughly halfway complete in Lewiston. The estimated $250 to $300 million converter station off outer Main Street, which will convert direct current from Hydro-Quebec to alternating current for consumer use, made Lewiston one of the transmission line’s most ardent supporters even as other municipalities and a majority of the public opposed it. Following a two-year hiatus due to a citizens’ initiative, the project restarted in August 2023 after a court ruling sided with NECEC.

Maine's endangered plovers weather climate change

MAINE PUBLIC • July 9, 2024

Beaches change all the time, as sand moves and shifts naturally, said Laura Minich Zitske, director of the coastal birds project at Maine Audubon. But the storm damage this year was something different. Decades of development have interrupted the wide, sandy beaches plovers need to nest. The construction of housing, jetties and seawalls has cost plovers about two thirds of the Maine beaches used as nesting habitat, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. The plover population in Maine was down to just a handful of breeding pairs back in the early 1980s. Last year nearly 160 nesting pairs were sighted.

Maine joins 9 other states to promote regional planning to boost clean energy

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2024

Maine has joined nine other Northeastern states promising to coordinate their work to improve the reliability of electricity transmission and smooth the transition to clean energy. The Governor’s Energy Office signed the agreement with Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont. It establishes common technical standards for offshore wind transmission to reduce the cost of meeting federal and state goals and be compatible with future projects connecting wind energy to the grid. State officials will cooperate on the planning and development of regional transmission infrastructure and may work with utilities, manufacturers, environmental groups and others.

These paddleboarders are making a 175-mile journey from Moosehead Lake to Atlantic Ocean

MORNING SENTINEL • June 9, 2024

“It’s just a beautiful day to be on the water,” Chris Morgan said Tuesday from the Oosoola Park boat launch. Morgan’s 175-mile journey down the Kennebec River was about halfway complete as he led a group of about 20 paddlers into the water. It was just under 90 degrees and partly cloudy, with smooth water and hardly any wind along the river. Morgan was leading the jaunt down the river as he continues his “source to sea” journey from Moosehead Lake to the Atlantic Ocean. His stop at Oosoola Park marked roughly the halfway point in the journey, with just over 80 miles of river already traversed. Morgan is advocating for the creation of a ‘paddle trail’ along the Kennebec, with dedicated take-out and put-in spots, campsites and potentially gear rentals along the way.

Conservation groups cheer decision preserving state authority in Kennebec River dam relicensing

MAINE PUBLIC • July 9, 2024

Conservation groups are cheering an appeals court decision they say will help to preserve some state oversight in the relicensing process for the Shawmut Dam on the Kennebec River. The state initially drafted a denial of the water quality certification for the dam, operated by Brookfield Renewable, in 2021, as part of a federal dam relicensing process, pointing to concerns about the passage of endangered Atlantic salmon. Brookfield submitted an updated proposal, including significant modifications a few weeks before the state faced a deadline to act on it. The Maine DEP denied the application, saying that the state didn't have time to evaluate significant changes and needed additional information. Brookfield argued that, in its denial, Maine waived its right to participate in the relicensing process. FERC rejected that argument, and Brookfield then filed a petition for an appeals court to review the commission's order. The court ruled against Brookfield in a decision on July 5.

Teen hiker from Quebec released from hospital after collapse on Appalachian Trail near Caratunk

MORNING SENTINEL • July 9, 2024

Rescue workers aiding a teenage hiker, who fell unconscious after suffering from heat exhaustion Friday on the Appalachian Trail near Caratunk, helped cool her body temperature by using water from a nearby stream and applying ice packs, a state official said Tuesday. A Maine Forest Service pilot flew Elyssa Bernardin, 14, of Saint-Lambert, Quebec, at about 7 p.m. to a spot accessible by ambulance. The ambulance then transported her to Redington-Fairview General Hospital in Skowhegan.

Maine enters agreement with Northeast states to improve grid, ease transition to clean energy

MAINE MORNING STAR • July 9, 2024

Maine joined nine other Northeast states on Tuesday in signing a memorandum of understanding to coordinate efforts to establish a more efficient electric grid to accelerate the clean energy transition. The states agreed to coordinate regional planning of power transmission after requesting last year that the U.S. Department of Energy convene a first-in-the-nation multi-state initiative to explore ways to increase the flow of electricity between three different planning regions in the Northeast and assess offshore wind infrastructure.

Editorial: Enjoy another Maine summer

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2024

Even with the bugs and the crowds, there isn’t much to complain about as we enjoy another Maine summer. We welcome everyone from out-of-state. There are plenty of Maine summer adventures for everyone to enjoy. The Bigelow Preserve in Franklin County has more than 36,000 acres of public land, seven summits and a host of hiking trails. At the other end of the state, West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec provides an opportunity to watch the sunrise at the easternmost point in the continental U.S. Mackworth Island in Falmouth features a roughly mile-and-a-half loop trail that has great views of Casco Bay. Some call Gulf Hagas, near Brownville, “the Grand Canyon of the East.” That may be a slight overstatement, but the winding hike along the river gorge is, well, gorgeous.

Passamaquoddy rep who has fought for clean water to be honored

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2024

An official who helped bring clean drinking water to a Passamaquoddy Tribe reservation will be among the honorees at an event hosted later this week by the Wabanaki Alliance. Rena Newell, the former chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe’s reservation at Sipayik — aka Pleasant Point — and the former Passamaquoddy Tribal Representative to the Legislature sponsored the legislation that two years ago gave the Passaquamoddy at Sipayik more power to regulate its local drinking water and resolve quality issues. Two other honorees will be Beth Ahearn, who worked with the Alliance while lobbying on environmental issues for Maine Conservation Voters, and Carol Wishcamper, a founding supporter of the Alliance who sat on the Maine Wabanaki-State Child Welfare Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Opinion: Teaching your kids to swim this summer? Steer clear of floaties.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 9, 2024

Consistent floatie use increases the risks of accidental drowning. An overreliance on the inflatables appears to be a factor in the childhood drowning crisis; drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4. ~ Lisa M. Zarda, United States Swim School Association

Thousands of Maine kids will adopt cows this year

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2024

Two of the Holstein calves born on an Old Town farm this fall will receive thousands of letters from schoolchildren across Maine. Throughout the academic year, kids will learn math and literacy with dairy-themed projects, get photos of and even video chat with the calves they “adopt.” This national “Adopt A Cow” program, organized by an array of dairy promotion councils across the Northeast and Midwest, was brought to Maine by the Dairy Promotion Board two years ago. Organizers hope it will reconnect children with agriculture and create future farmers as public and private groups across the state work to promote Maine’s strained dairy industry.

No, offshore wind development is not killing whales

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2024

Whales have been washing up dead on beaches since prehistoric times. Signs of human-caused injuries are a more recent phenomenon, with strikes by ships and entanglements with fishing gear among the causes. In recent years, another theory has surfaced that has tried to shift the blame for those deaths to something new: the development of offshore wind power. But those claims simply aren’t true, according to government officials and whale scientists. Offshore wind turbines, and the electricity they generate, are not killing whales.

An experimental moose hunt to reduce winter ticks shows promise

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 9, 2024

This fall it will have been four years since Maine wildlife managers introduced the so-called Adaptive Unit moose hunt in Wildlife Management District 4. This was an experimental hunt, using moose hunting permits to deliberately reduce moose densities, and, in so doing, trying to reduce winter tick populations that were decimating moose calves. Leading up to the experimental hunt the number of calves born each year had dropped significantly since the 1990s. In the worst year, 87 percent of collared calves died of tick infestations in the spring of 2022. Today, the moose calf mortality in the test area, WMD 4, was at 8 percent for the spring of 2024.

Wind turbine parts are now being trucked through Hancock County

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 8, 2024

The first shipment of sections of large wind turbines that will be erected in the Washington County town of Columbia was trucked Monday morning through Hancock County. The oversize deliveries are being transported overland from the Mack Point cargo terminal in Searsport. The terminal has served as a cargo facility for other wind projects too, with turbine blades recently being transported daily from Searsport to a wind farm in Moscow.

Analysis: The state of Maine is classifying artificial lures incorrectly

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 8, 2024

One type of artificial lure — soft plastic ones referred to as rubber worms — is provoking a heated debate among fishermen. The rubber worms build up in the stomachs of salmon and trout, but bass expel the soft plastic after a few days. Even the soft plastics labeled as biodegradable do not biodegrade in a fish’s lifetime. Although the state adjusts size and bag limits and other fishing regulations, it hasn’t looked at its definition of artificial lures in decades. It’s clearly time for the definition to change.