While an agency dawdles, a Machias dike remains crippled with winter storms approaching

MAINE MONITOR • August 31, 2024

Over the past six years, catastrophic storms with surging tides dumped floodwaters in Machias far surpassing the base flood elevation, classifying the events as 100-year floods. Last winter alone, three floods overwhelmed the dike and much of the surrounding downtown, including forcing the town hall to move, a change that has become permanent. Meanwhile, the eroding, century-old dike — a significant cause of that flooding — remains crippled and inadequately mended. After 15 years of studies, hearings and back-and-forth plans, the public still awaits a Maine Department of Transportation decision about how it will fix the problem — a dike that keeps crumbling and flood waters that keep coming.  

Scientist believes more great white sharks are swimming Down East

QUODDY TIDES • August 31, 2024

Steve Crawford, a fish ecologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, a scientist who has been gaining local knowledge about great white sharks along the East Coast of the U.S. and Canada believes there could be up to nearly 1,000 of them in the Passamaquoddy Bay region during a season and that they may be courting and mating in the bay. While other scientists say that the number of great white sharks in the region cannot yet be estimated, nor can it be determined if their numbers are increasing or if they are mating, they agree that the number of sharks being detected in the bay is growing.

What it’s like to hike Maine’s scariest trail

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 31, 2024

The jagged backbone of a stone giant, Knife Edge stretched before us. On both sides of this narrow ridge, the earth fell away, a near vertical drop of more than 1,000 feet. It occurred to me just how ridiculous it was to hike across it. But what’s life without a dash of absurdity? So I took one careful step, and then another. The mile-long ridge of sharp granite bridges two peaks atop Maine’s tallest mountain, Katahdin. Some call it the scariest hike in Maine, others claim it’s the most dangerous. It’s all a matter of perspective. Katahdin is located in Baxter State Park, which recorded its first death in 1933. Since that time, the park has seen more than 60 deaths. I don’t wish to scare anyone away from this trail, but I want to acknowledge the risks.

They’re digging through Maine’s growing piles of trash to help you make less of it

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 31, 2024

Wyatt Wells wore thick rubber gloves as he helped paw through several tons of household garbage at ecomaine’s Blueberry Road waste-to-energy facility on Wednesday morning. The trash-picking was part of a statewide audit of Maine’s waste stream organized by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. It’s designed to find out what the state’s growing population throws away most, and then help devise ways to divert that material from costly, environmentally unfriendly landfills and trash incinerators. The goal is to help reduce the amounts of waste that communities are burying in the ground. That has come at a growing cost to the environment, as well as to taxpayers who must cover the rising costs of disposing of all that waste.

Why gillnets like the one found in a Maine river are so bad

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 31, 2024

Gillnets have been illegal on Maine’s fresh water for decades. There’s a good reason. They kill not only the species the person is trying to catch but any fish not small enough to swim through the net’s holes. The net holes are big enough for the fish to get its head through, but it cannot get back out because its gills get hung up on the net. That’s why when a gillnet with dead fish in it was found discarded on the bank of the Magalloway River — one of Maine’s premier trout rivers — people were outraged.

Maine’s only dairy north of Portland will stop producing milk

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 30, 2024

Houlton Farms Dairy will stop producing milk in September, the owners said Friday. Citing increased costs of production and supplies, as well as declining milk sales, the dairy will cut out its white milk line near the end of September. The dairy has been an Aroostook County fixture for 86 years. Current owners, the Lincoln family, have had it for half that time. They’ve grown beyond milk to produce seasonally famous ice cream and butter that’s so much in demand it’s rationed. But production hikes and a drop in sales, due partly to the blossoming plant-based milk trend, have made it impossible for the family business to keep going, general manager Eric Lincoln said. Houlton Farms will stop milk production, but it will continue to make ice cream, butter and lemonade.

Improvements aim to enhance year-round appeal for Quarry Road Recreation Area in Waterville

MORNING SENTINEL • August 30, 2024

Work is scheduled to begin next year to pave part of the dirt road leading to the welcome center at Quarry Road Recreation Area, improve parking, and make changes to the meadow area so it may be used year-round. In addition, the city and Friends of Quarry Road have agreed to hire a seasonal development coach for the 2024-25 ski season to help grow the Nordic program for youth and middle school ski programs. A private donor gave a grant to fund the position, which would pay up to $34,155.

Toxic foam spill in Brunswick spread to garden used by immigrants

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 30, 2024

Some of the toxic firefighting foam that spilled at Brunswick Executive Airport last week made its way onto a nearby community garden used by immigrants and asylum seekers, according to the organization that manages it, the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust. Steve Walker, the land trust’s director, expressed concern about the potential contamination to the garden during a public forum about the spill on Thursday night, after he reported seeing foam land there in the days afterwards. The firefighting foam, which has also made its way to some nearby bodies of water, contains harmful PFAS chemicals. Authorities say they’re doing a range of monitoring of water and soil for contamination related to the spill.

Drinking-water warning lifted in Lisbon; pump malfunction caused sludge problem

SUN JOURNAL • August 30, 2024

After roughly 24 hours without safe drinking water, Lisbon residents hooked to the public water system can now drink the water. A pump malfunction resulted in sludge getting into the system at the Lisbon Water Department’s filtration plant, according to a statement issued by the Water Department on Friday night. Because the Water Department could not confirm that levels of contaminants such as arsenic were safe, the state required it to issue the do not drink order out of precaution. The Water Department handed out water to people all day Friday.

Meet the man behind Maine's puffin resurgence

NEWS CENTER MAINE • August 30, 2024

Maine has a puffin population thanks to one determined researcher who hatched a plan more than 50 years ago. His idea was to take newly hatched puffins—also known as pufflings—from Newfoundland and bring them back to Eastern Egg Rock, an island off the coast of Maine where they had once lived, but over the years had been killed off by predators and humans. It was a wild idea at the time, but Dr. Stephen Kress thought maybe if they grew up on the island they'd come back to it as adults and keep breeding. Despite a successful regrowth now, more than 50 years later, it was a slow start to his so-called Project Puffin.

A Maine shellfish harvester has a guess why his town is losing its mud

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 30, 2024

The town of Penobscot’s shellfish committee has teamed up with a Massachusetts nonprofit and a New Hampshire drone operator to solve the case of Northern Bay’s disappearing mud. Manomet Conservation Sciences, a Massachusetts-based nonprofit that studies coastal ecosystems, contracted a New Hampshire-based drone operator to map the 1,000 acres of mudflats on Penobscot’s Northern Bay on Aug. 22. The drone’s multiple morning flights across the bay at the low tide will hopefully yield detailed maps that can provide insights into what is happening to the mud, researchers say.

It’s tough to build things in America. The Energy Permitting Reform Act could change that.

MAINE MONITOR • August 30, 2024

The U.S. added a record amount of energy from solar, wind and batteries to the grid last year – around 40 gigawatts. Another 63 gigawatts are planned for this year. But an analysis suggests that won’t be enough to meet our emissions reduction targets, which will require adding roughly 70 to 126 gigawatts of renewable electricity capacity each year between 2025 and 2030. If we don’t make it easier to build large infrastructure projects, particularly the transmission lines that are currently one of the primary hurdles to adding renewables to the grid, the analysts wrote, we likely won’t meet those goals. “The biggest barriers to deployment between now and 2030 are non-cost in nature—like siting and permitting delays, backlogged grid interconnect queues, and supply chain challenges.”

Lisbon Water Department giving out bottled water amid arsenic contamination

SUN JOURNAL • August 30, 2024

An “accidental release” of arsenic Wednesday has prompted Lisbon officials to continue a do-not-drink order for all residents on town water, and the Lisbon Water Department was making bottled water available to residents. Interim Water Department General Manager Shellie Reynolds said she could release no additional information about the source of the arsenic or its spread in the system. The Water Department is directing people not to consume the water at all. Boiling it will not make it safer.

From rails to trails: What’s the future of Midcoast railroad tracks?

TIMES RECORD • August 29, 2024

Some argue that a coast-to-coast bicycle route would better suit old train corridors that meander through the Midcoast landscape. Others see the potential for revitalizing steam locomotives to preserve the history, protect the environment and help people connect. The Midcoast Conservancy teamed up with Wiscasset, Waterville and Farmington Railway Museum in 2020. When the Sheepscot Narrow Gauge Railroad track was rebuilt, extending from the Alna Station over fields and forests in Trout Book Preserve, there was a chance for the two groups to collaborate and offer a rails and trails alternative: Ride the Rails to Hike the Trails. 

Opinion: Iberdrola proposal will affect grid, CMP customers

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 30, 2024

Iberdrola, the Spanish conglomerate that owns a majority interest in Avangrid, which owns Central Maine Power, proposes to increase its ownership share of Avangrid from 81% to 100%. Our electric grid will be totally owned by foreign investors. This has important implications for CMP customers. When there is a change in ownership and control of our electric utilities, there’s a requirement for a PUC review process to prove a net benefit to ratepayers. But Iberdrola says it already has “control” of Avangrid, so there’s no need for review. Accountability would be lost. To meet our state climate goals, we need to modernize, upgrade and invest in the grid. Regulators, lawmakers and the public need to have a close working relationship with our electricity providers. The Iberdrola proposal takes us a step away from what we need. ~ Sue Inches, Yarmouth

What happened after a dog ate rabies vaccine packets scattered in Houlton

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 30, 2024

Claude-E, a four-month old border collie, couldn’t resist the fishmeal coating pressed onto plastic packets he found scattered along a walkway in a downtown Houlton park on Aug. 21. The savory vaccine treats that Claude-E loved were actually meant for raccoons as part of a U.S. Dept. of Agriculture Wildlife Services National Rabies Management Program aimed at preventing the spread of the viral disease. The oral rabies vaccine baits distributed in Maine cannot cause rabies and are safe if eaten by domestic dogs and cats, according to national program rabies field coordinator Jordana Kirby. Eating a large number of baits, like Claude-E did, may cause pets — particularly dogs — to have an upset stomach temporarily, but there are no long-term health risks.

Column: Bonapartes are the odd ducks in the gull world

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 30, 2024

Three gull species are common in Maine. Herring gulls are the most abundant. Enough said about them. Great black-backed gulls resemble a larger version of the herring gull, with a solid dark back and upper wing. Although they come inland, most hang around saltwater. Ring-billed gulls are slightly more interesting. In spring, they nest on northern freshwater lakes. Later, they move to the coast, and often into town. The Bonaparte’s gull is among the smallest gulls in the world, and one of the most unusual. While most gulls nest on the ground, Bonaparte’s gulls choose the trees adjacent to Canada’s northern lakes. In late summer, many invade Maine to winter here. ~ Bob Duchesne

Letter: The costs of climate change

SUN JOURNAL • August 30, 2024

Forget about the personalities at the top of the D and R tickets and consider an overriding issue — climate change. One party takes it seriously while the other plays lip service or dismisses it altogether, advocating drilling for more fossil fuel. Project 2025, being promoted by the Republican Party, would downsize the EPA and eliminate NOAA. States would be prevented from adopting stricter emission standards. The National Flood Insurance Program would be turned over to private insurers. Good luck in finding an affordable policy. The Inflation Reduction Act, which offers $350 billion for clean technology, would be repealed. Project 2025 would prevent the federal government from regulating greenhouse gas. What world are we leaving for our children and the generations that follow? ~ Edward Walworth, Lewiston

State, feds finalize agreement for nation’s 1st floating offshore wind power research lease

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 19, 2024

State and federal officials finalized an agreement Monday for an offshore wind research lease in the Gulf of Maine. The 15-square-mile wind array will include up to a dozen turbines floating nearly 30 miles southeast of Portland, and it is designed to test how ocean ecosystems and users – like shipping and fishing vessels – interact with floating wind farms. The Mills administration announced in February that it hopes to construct a port on Sears Island to construct and service the turbines. Eliza Donohue, executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association, said the site will “guide industry best practices” while creating opportunities for local businesses to engage with the renewable energy industry.

Healthy Maine Talks Podcast: #2 on PFAS: Dr. Gail Carlson, Colby College

MAINE PUBLIC HEALTH ASSOCIATION • August 29, 2024

On Monday, August 19th, more than a thousand gallons of AFFF fire fighting foam containing high concentrations of PFAS-- a class of "forever chemicals" associated with significant health concerns--was accidentally discharged at the Brunswick Executive Airport due to a malfunctioning fire suppression system. For this episode, Matt Wellington of the Maine Public Health Association interviews Dr. Gail Carlson, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Colby College. Dr. Carlson's research focuses on chemical pollution in Maine, including PFAS.