State denies initial request of Bucksport-area owner to give up dams

MAINE MONITOR • August 3, 2024

State environmental officials on July 30 denied petitions from corporate owners of three Bucksport-area dams to forfeit ownership. It was the second time within a week that the state Department of Environmental Protection identified deficiencies in the applications from dam owners Bucksport Mill, LLC and parent company AIM Demolition USA LLC, which filed in early July to forfeit their dams on Alamoosook Lake, Silver Lake and Toddy Pond. Residents and local officials were shocked when the dam owners announced their forfeiture intentions.

Storm damage, climate change take toll on Portland hiking trails

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 3, 2024

Portland Trails is in the middle of a $100,000 emergency fundraising campaign to repair widespread damage to its regional trail system caused by last winter’s storms and prepare it for a more unpredictable climate-driven future. The damage caused by back-to-back-to-back storms shocked trails manager Jamie Parker, a veteran of hundreds of storms during his nearly 20-year career with the nonprofit. Eighteen trails were damaged. A thousand feet of bridges had to be replaced. River banks were washed away. “We’re doing our best to restore the trails, but I’ll be honest, it’s a lot to keep up with,” Parker said. The nonprofit organization estimated that the cost of materials for basic storm damage repairs totaled $750,000, three times what it usually spends to repair and maintain its trails.

UMaine receives $10 million to research turning wood products into jet fuel … and fish food

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 3, 2024

The University of Maine’s forest bioproducts and aquaculture research institutes have been awarded $10 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to continue studying the effectiveness of turning low-value wood into jet fuel and fish food. It’s the latest effort to find sustainable uses for the state’s abundant forest products. In forestry, the most valuable wood is used for lumber, some is used for pulp and paper manufacturing, but smaller-diameter trees are “often removed in order to enhance growth.” Those trees are typically chipped up for biomass or left on the forest floor. “There are alternative jet fuels, but not necessarily all of them are renewable or sustainable,” said Clayton Wheeler, director of the UMaine forest bioproducts research institute. “(Aviation) is the one transportation sector that cannot be satisfied using renewable electricity.”

Clearing the air: Figuring out the costs of owning an electric vehicle

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 3, 2024

With transportation a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, environmentalists and policymakers are pushing to replace gas-powered vehicles with EVs. Key to accomplishing that is to spell out the long-term costs of owning EVs that are relatively new and unfamiliar to consumers compared with gas-powered cars that have been around for more than a century. The clean air benefits of electric vehicles are easy enough to understand, but figuring out the costs to buy and operate the relatively new technology is not as easy.

Opinion: The big-tent trend descends on my home beach

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 3, 2024

On a recent day, I grabbed my beach chair and off I went. The beach was filled with tents that took up much of the sand. In past years, I had noticed one or two of these pitched tents. On this day, the beach looked like a city of Bedouins. The first tent I came to was a large white canvas covering held to the sand by long white ropes. Underneath, was a group of people fully dressed. The next tent was even more elaborate. Underneath was a group of middle-aged people sitting around a table stacked with food and beverages. It looked like they had set up their own little café. Why would anyone go to the beach to stay out of the sun? Maybe my beach has changed over the years. Whatever, I still call it home. ~ Jim Fabiano, York

Wells officials monitoring deceased humpback whale

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 2, 2024

The Wells Harbor Master and Wells police are monitoring a deceased humpback whale that is floating about 2 miles off the Wells coast. The whale is currently drifting northwest and has a GPS tracker on it, Wells police said. It is the third deceased humpback whale found in Maine waters since June, including one in Harpswell and another that was spotted off the coast of Cape Elizabeth tangled in fishing gear. That whale was later found deceased in the Fore River in Portland and hauled into Portland Harbor. The deceased Harpswell whale was transported to Benson Farm in Gorham, a composting business.

Resignation of York head lifeguard sparks controversy on drinking at the beach

MAINE PUBLIC • August 2, 2024

Around 30,000 people visit York Beach each summer. The eleven crew members of the York Beach Ocean Rescue are responsible for three beaches: the most popular is Long Sands Beach. Jeffrey Patten has served as the head lifeguard for over 30 years. But last month, Patten submitted a letter of resignation to the town stating he will not return next year unless changes are made regarding public drinking enforcement. He said the reason he's speaking out is to protect his lifeguards. Last year his lieutenant guard was almost knocked off her rescue board by a person who was drunk. "You're waiting for drowning, you're waiting for someone passed out on the beach, or you're waiting for a fight. Those things put my lifeguards at risk. And that should be the focus of this issue."

Column: The wonders of the Androscoggin River in Canton

SUN JOURNAL • August 2, 2024

For over 35 years I have watched the Androscoggin River from a car, a bridge, a rock or an embankment but never from on it, until recently. It brings a whole different view when you are in a row boat. ~ Donna M. Perry

DEP says Sandy River dredging violated Maine laws

MAINE PUBLIC • August 2, 2024

State environmental regulators say the Town of Phillips violated state laws and damaged habitat for endangered Atlantic salmon when it dredged the South Branch of the Sandy River in December. While the Maine Department of Environmental Protection did grant the town permission to remove three debris piles to alleviate winter flooding, regulators say the town and its contractors went too far, dredging a channel nearly a mile long, erecting berms next to the river, and dewatering channels used by brook trout and Atlantic salmon. Phillips town manager Maureen Haley said the town is willing to work with state and federal agencies to restore the river, but asked for financial assistance for the work.

Conservation groups urge support for federal old growth forests

MAINE PUBLIC • August 2, 2024

Conservation advocates are urging support for a federal plan to protect old growth trees in national forests including across thousands of acres in Maine. The proposal from the U.S. National Forest Service would curb logging of old trees lays out a process to encourage mature forests to become old growth over time. Matt Cannon, conservation and energy director for the Sierra Club’s Maine chapter said protecting the few old trees that remain is critical to meeting the state’s climate change goals. The group wants its members to support the federal plan and make sure it extends the most protections possible by commenting on the rule before a September deadline. About 46,000 acres of the White Mountain National Forest is in Maine.

It’s going to rain rabies vaccines over the Maine woods

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 2, 2024

The forecast calls for showers of rabies vaccines over the Maine woods. About 50,400 oral rabies vaccines will be spread over Franklin and Somerset counties between Aug. 6-11, according to Jackie Farwell, a spokesperson for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Another 384,000 rabies vaccines will be dropped across Aroostook and Penobscot counties between Aug. 11-16, Farwell said Friday. Humans and pets can’t get rabies from the vaccines, but Farwell advised people to not touch or move them. As of July 25, there have been 30 confirmed cases across nine Maine counties in bats, foxes, raccoons, skunks and woodchucks.

Acadia is looking for hikers who climbed trail closed to protect baby peregrine falcons

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 2, 2024

Acadia National Park is looking for three hikers who recently violated a closure order meant to protect nesting peregrine falcons. Two men and a woman hiked the Precipice Trail on July 24 while it was closed to protect vulnerable peregrine falcons raising their young, according to Amanda Pollock, a spokesperson for Acadia National Park. Those suspects face charges. Human activity near a nesting area can lead peregrine falcons to temporarily or permanently abandon a nesting area, leaving their chicks vulnerable to hypothermia, starvation or predation.

U.S. Senate panel looks for ways to aid electric vehicle industry

MAINE MORNING STAR • August 2, 2024

Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Democratic members of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee discussed on Wednesday ways to boost U.S. electric vehicle manufacturing to be more competitive globally. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, the Democratic chairman of the committee, began a hearing Wednesday by calling electric vehicle production “an economic, national security and climate imperative.” Whitehouse highlighted the expanding global market for electric vehicles, noting that in 2023, 20% of vehicles sold around the world were electric. “We want to be a part of that action,” Whitehouse said. Donald Trump opposes President Joe Biden’s support of electric vehicles. But Graham, a Trump ally and a staunchly conservative lawmaker, embraced the idea.

Letter: Is Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad on the right track with climate change?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 1, 2024

How is it that the Maine Narrow Gauge Railroad, located on the east end of Commercial Street, is allowed to operate either their 2-stroke engine or the coal-fired one within a yard of a public walkway? I have been told that the 2-stroke engine is grandfathered in and the coal-fired one is under the authority of the Railroad Administration and neither the City of Portland’s sustainability office nor the state environmental agency has the power to do anything about it. I have watched the rail operation fire up the coal engine, with black smoke coming out of the stack, to take riders on the less-than-a-mile long “amusement” ride while allowing the engine to run at idle in excess of eight hours. ~ Dan Milligan, Portland

What to know about the 3 rabies cases in Bath this summer

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 2, 2024

Though Bath has seen three cases of rabies in wildlife this summer, officials say there is no reason for residents to be alarmed. Bath is a population center surrounded by wooded areas that many animals call home, so the likelihood of people bumping into the wildlife is higher. The midcoast city saw an outbreak of rabies among wildlife in 2019, with 16 animals testing positive for the virus that year. The city partnered with the USDA to trap, euthanize and test animals to curb the spread of the disease. The entire state of Maine saw 66 cases of rabies in animals in 2023. Bath last registered a rabies case in 2020, and it was in a gray fox. Aside from that and the outbreak the year before, the city has only seen three other cases of rabies going back to 2015.

We paddled 17 miles to see puffins on a Maine island

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 1, 2024

Eastern Egg Rock, a tiny, seemingly nondescript, barren atoll located in outer Muscongus Bay, is one of a handful of locations along the Maine coast where Atlantic puffins come to nest. But it hasn’t always been that way. The colorful seabirds stopped returning to the rock around 1890. A variety of circumstances had driven them from their natural roosting habitat. In 1973, a team led by Stephen Kress began a painstaking effort to bring puffins back. For more than a decade, Project Puffin relocated chicks from Newfoundland and raised them on Eastern Egg Rock. The goal was to instill an instinctive desire to return to breed. Despite their diligent efforts, 12 years passed before puffin pairs returned. Today, around 150 puffin parents raise their chicks on the rock each year.

Column: Baby birds are everywhere and they’re tough to identify

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 1, 2024

Bird identification is challenging, and never more than it is right now. August is the height of misidentification season. In many species, young birds don’t resemble their parents. Their streaky, less colorful markings are intentional. Young birds are more vulnerable to predation and need all the camouflage they can get. Camouflage wouldn’t help larger birds. Predators could spot a juvenile crow no matter what color it was. Hence, youngsters look like their parents. ~ Bob Duchesne

Sen. King proposes tax breaks to strengthen working waterfronts

MAINE PUBLIC • August 1, 2024

Working waterfront businesses could get a 30% tax credit to protect properties from storm damage under a bill proposed by Maine Sen. Angus King. The incentive would have a one million dollar investment cap on improvements that support commercial fishing, boat yards and other marine businesses. Businesses would be expected to make investments that help prevent major damage from natural disasters. King introduced the measure with Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana. Funding to lessen storm impacts is cheaper than paying for recovery, King said.

Death Valley just recorded the hottest month ever observed on the planet

WASHINGTON POST • August 1, 2024

The hottest place on Earth just observed its hottest month. Death Valley, Calif., registered an average July temperature of 108.5 degrees, the highest monthly value ever recorded among thousands of weather stations around the globe. The scorching month in Death Valley came as the planet’s average temperature reached its highest level on two straight days. The Earth has set high-temperature records over the past 13 months. Scientists say the warmth is linked to decades of global heating from human emissions of greenhouse gases.

Opinion: Investments in renewable energy are strengthening Maine farms

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 1, 2024

What’s been happening inside and around Maine farms has been a quiet, yet profound transformation. Supported by strategic investments from the U.S.D.A. made possible by the historic Inflation Reduction Act, agricultural producers and small businesses are embracing renewable energy systems and efficiency improvements. This shift will not only allow them to be economically viable today, but sustainable for the years to come. Maine Conservation Voters has championed the need for these exact investments. Embedding climate-smart agricultural practices increases the resiliency of our farmers, communities, food supply and economy. ~ Kathleen Meil, Maine Conservation Voters