Madawaska paper mill to receive nearly $10 million Maine tax credit

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 19, 2024

Twin Rivers Paper Co. has been approved for a $9.5 million state tax credit over 10 years for upgrading machinery and equipment at its Madawaska mill, according to a first-ever state report on the tax credit released Wednesday. The report said the tax incentive’s impact is limited because only Twin Rivers was eligible to claim it. And it recommended that the Legislature take steps to promote transparency in how companies use state incentives. The credit was enacted in 2021 to provide incentives to revitalize paper manufacturing in counties with high unemployment. From 2000 to 2020, average employment in pulp and paper mills dropped by 72% in Maine. Maine’s experience with tax credits for paper mills hasn’t gone well.

Commentary: The first lyme disease vaccine failed. It’s time to try again

CENTRAL MAINE • September 19, 2024

Nearly half a million Americans received a new diagnosis of Lyme disease this summer. Those numbers could shrink if scientists succeed in developing a vaccine for the tick-borne illness. Low consumer demand scuppered a previous vaccine in the 1990s, but the situation is different now. Cases of Lyme have exploded and about 10%-20% of confirmed Lyme cases do not resolve with antibiotics. That should heighten interest in a new vaccine. But even a new vaccine won’t be the final answer to the Lyme problem. Some labs are examining other prevention strategies. And new lines of prevention shouldn’t slow efforts to crack the mystery of persistent Lyme. People don’t develop natural immunity to Lyme disease. We can get infected again and again. We don’t fully understand why cases have risen so much. Our warming climate does play a role, but it’s not the whole story. ~ F.D. Flam

Opinion: Brunswick AFFF spill perspective in an election year

TIMES RECORD • September 19, 2024

I wish to offer my perspective regarding the recent political fallout and grandstanding from the AFFF accidental discharge at Maine Regional Redevelopment Authority Hangar 4. It’s discouraging to hear Sen. Mattie Daughtry asking for the resignation of Kristine Logan, MRRA director, as a result of the spill. Daughtry mentions a lack of transparency. I would ask Sen. Daughtry how many MRRA board meetings she has attended in the last four years. The board meetings are held quarterly and are open to her and her staff to attend. If she had attended, she would have realized that AFFF management has been a very frequent and important topic over the years. She and her staff could have been part of a solution, possibly bringing the resources of the State of Maine to assist. Instead, she was absent. ~ Stephen Savoie, Bowdoinham

Letter: A leadership opportunity for L.L. Bean

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 19, 2024

L.L. Bean, with its reputation as a corporation that cares for the environment, has an opportunity to speak truth to power by encouraging Citibank, which services the L.L. Bean credit card, to stop financing new fossil fuel infrastructure. L.L. Bean could enhance its voice with Citibank by enlisting other large retailers, such as Costco, in a coalition of concerned corporate citizens. This coalition could then use their combined economic influence to speak truth to Citibank. L.L. Bean could bolster its reputation of being good stewards of the environment. L.L. Bean could be a leader in speaking the truth about “the greatest crisis humanity has ever confronted.” ~ William Rixon, Freeport

A $36M heat pump rebate program is coming to Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 18, 2024

The U.S. Department of Energy has allocated Maine $72 million to fund energy upgrades on residential buildings, including $36 million to fund a heat pump rebate program. The hope is that the heat pump program will support electrification measures, including installing heat pumps in Maine homes, that are intended to reduce air pollution and cut energy bills for homeowners who are already staring down mounting costs. “Maine is one of the most heating oil dependent states in the country, 56 percent of our homes are heated with oil, and it’s hugely expensive,” Gov. Janet Mills said. “[Heat pumps] are not just efficient in helping us save the planet, they’re saving people money.”

Hiker airlifted off mountain at Acadia National Park

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 18, 2024

Rescuers on Wednesday morning airlifted a hiker from a trail in Acadia National Park. Park rangers responded at about 8 a.m. to a report of a 58-year-old man having a serious medical event on the Beehive Trail. The man was delivered by helicopter to Sand Beach then brought by ambulance to Mount Desert Island Hospital in Bar Harbor.

Gov. Mills, U.S. Energy Secretary announce new $36 million home efficiency rebate program

MAINE PUBLIC • September 18, 2024

Maine is launching a new home energy rebate program designed to help certain low-income homeowners purchase and install heat pumps. Gov. Janet Mills said the program aims to cut energy bills and help the state meet its climate goals. Mills announced the new program at ReVision Energy in South Portland on Wednesday, alongside the U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm. Mobile home owners who make below 80% of the area median income are eligible for up to $14,500 toward the cost of heat pump installation. Governor Mills said it's part of an overarching goal of reducing the state's dependence on heating oil, which she said was costing homeowners billions of dollars when she first took office.

Downtown Augusta’s sturgeon sculptures up for auction

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • September 18, 2024

In 2022, an Augusta Downtown Alliance project bought 26 fiberglass sturgeon sculptures and had 25 area artists paint and decorate them. The sculptures were then installed throughout the downtown area in a grant-funded public art initiative celebrating one of the area’s more colorful connections to the Kennebec River. Massive sturgeon annually come up the Kennebec River from the sea, leap out of the river and belly flop back into the water with a loud splash, many in the section of river seen from the city’s downtown riverfront. Twenty-five of the sculptures are now up for bid in an online auction. The alliance’s goal is to raise $20,000.

Hancock County town extends temporary ban on solar projects

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 18, 2024

The moratorium on medium- and large-scale solar energy system development in Trenton has been extended another 180 days. The decision came in a quick 10-minute meeting of Trenton’s select board on Tuesday night. The current solar moratorium expires Oct. 5. It was extended for another 180 days or until the town adopts an amendment dealing with solar developments. Three solar farms are in process already under the town’s existing ordinance. Their combined land use is approximately 60 acres.

Question 3 asks voters to support $10 million bond for historic buildings

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 18, 2024

On Nov. 5, voters will be asked whether they want the state to borrow $10 million to help restore historic community buildings that are owned by the government or nonprofit entities. It would make public grants available for the preservation of historic buildings owned by a government or a nonprofit entities, which are not eligible for existing historic rehabilitation tax credit programs.

Toxic foam risks persist at other ‘deficient’ Brunswick airport hangars

TIMES RECORD • September 18, 2024

The last sprinkler inspections of the Brunswick Executive Airport hangars that use toxic foam to fight fire – Hangars 4, 5, and 6 – reveal all three systems had multiple deficiencies that went uncorrected for more than a year, not just the one involved in last month’s record-setting foam spill. The hangars still using aqueous film-forming foam, which is especially good at stopping fuel fires but contains especially high concentrations of toxic forever chemicals, are dogged by a faulty control unit, aging parts, horn and strobe problems, and non-working flame detectors, inspection records show.

Letter: Awareness, action needed to slow climate change disasters

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 18, 2024

Since the beginning of 2024, there have been 20 climate disasters in the U.S., and each has cost more than a $1 billion. These people are suffering, and taxes will increase to provide relief and to help them rebuild. We know that climate change is caused by increasing CO2 levels and that 75% of that CO2 comes from our burning of fossil fuels. Despite the fossil fuel industry’s attempts to deflect the conversation from the main cause of climate change, scientists know it is possible to drastically slow climate change. We need to tell our legislators we want strong legislation now that supports a rapid transition to renewables. ~ Nancy Hasenfus, Brunswick

Scientists figured out how many chemicals enter our bodies from food packaging

WASHINGTON POST • September 17, 2024

Researchers have discovered that of the roughly 14,000 known chemicals in food packaging, 3,601 – or about 25% – have been found in the human body, whether in samples of blood, hair or breast milk. Those chemicals include metals, volatile organic compounds, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, phthalates and many others known to disrupt the endocrine system and cause cancer or other diseases.

Trial begins in dispute between longtime neighbors over Popham Beach access

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 17, 2024

When Dick Hill’s and Richard Tappen’s children were growing up, they’d run up and down Popham Beach together while visiting their families’ cottages. On Tuesday, the two men sat on opposite sides of a sunny courtroom at the start of a bench trial in Lincoln County Superior Court over who should have access to that same neighborhood beach. The families own cottages in the Popham Beach Estates Subdivision and are suing each other over who is allowed to access the beach in front of their properties, which are separated by two vacant lots.

Maine regulators waive requirement on approving Spanish firm’s takeover of CMP parent

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 17, 2024

State regulators waived Tuesday a requirement that they approve Spanish energy firm Iberdrola’s takeover of Central Maine Power’s parent company. Iberdrola held 81.6 percent of CMP parent Avangrid’s stock before purchasing in June the remaining 18.4 percent in a $2.6 billion deal. Maine’s largest utility and its parent firm Avangrid, which is headquartered in Connecticut, had submitted a request in May for the Public Utilities Commission to waive a state law requiring regulators to approve any reorganization of a utility. By agreeing Tuesday morning to waive the requirement, the commission avoided adding extra hurdles to Iberdrola’s takeover. Opponents who included Public Advocate William Harwood and consumer groups argued it transforms the publicly traded Avangrid into a private company and exempts it from filing certain financial records.

Letter: A test of the PUC’s loyalties

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 17, 2024

Why does the Public Utilities Commission think that repeating the same mistake that created the worst performing electrical distribution organization in the country, Central Maine Power, is a good idea? Why do they think it is a good idea to keep finances hidden by an organization that has time and time again come back to the PUC for a rate increase because of yet another costly management mistake? Why should this company be believed after all the misleading half-truths (to be charitable) in a multimillion-dollar propaganda campaign to defeat a vote that would lose them this cash cow? ~ Laurent Hourcle, Saco

Where ‘forever chemicals’ are highest in Bangor

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 17, 2024

Initial testing showed Bangor had higher levels of PFAS in its sewer system than many other communities. But it didn’t show where the chemicals were coming from. Additional testing showed the highest levels of PFAS in the city’s wastewater were coming from the Pine Tree Landfill and the site of the former Dow Air Force Base, which now holds the Bangor International Airport, Bangor Air National Guard and Bangor Army National Guard. Despite the results, the city’s drinking water is safe because it’s sourced from Floods Pond in Otis, far from the two sites.

Brunswick Town Council pushes for action over toxic foam spill

WGME • September 16, 2024

Brunswick town leaders continue to push for action and answers over Maine’s worst spill of toxic firefighting foam in 30 years. At a council meeting Monday, councilors acknowledged they don’t have much power in the situation, but that isn’t stopping them from making big requests to the state, and voicing frustrations about the response to the spill. Among them, the council asks state leaders to disable other foam suppression systems at the Brunswick Landing by September 30.

Department of Interior announces 1st wind energy lease auction for Gulf of Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024

The Department of the Interior announced Monday that it will auction off wind leases for eight areas on the outer continental shelf of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The first auction of sites in the Gulf of Maine will take place on Oct 29. Officials said that the sites could produce as much as 13 gigawatts of energy – enough to power 4.5 million homes. The region offered for sale is roughly 120,000 acres smaller than an area initially proposed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in April. The bureau aimed to avoid offshore fishing zones, vulnerable habitats and transportation routes, officials said.

Mt. Katahdin is a Logistical Nightmare. Is it Time to Move the AT’s Northern Terminus?

BACKPACKER • September 16, 2024

For years, tensions have run high between AT thru-hikers and rangers in Baxter State Park. One hiker wonders, could moving the terminus solve the problem? Even if authorities decide that a change as drastic as moving the terminus is eventually necessary, that point would be years away at least. The number of hikers on the AT has held steady or even dropped since Covid, suggesting that nothing needs to change yet. But growing interest in one of America’s most beautiful and difficult trails could flip the narrative.