Maine DOT defends choice of Sears Island for wind port

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 15, 2024

The administration of Gov. Janet Mills has reaffirmed its support of Sears Island as the preferred site for Maine’s wind port, saying it will cost nearly $100 million less to build there than at the next-best location. The state Department of Transportation recently released a draft report that explains why it considers Sears Island the best of 23 possible locations for the wind port. An opponent of the Sears Island site and a member of an advisory offshore wind group said he and at least one other group member were not alerted to the report and called it a “failure of process.”

Letter: Voting Green is voting Trump

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 15, 2024

I have a friend who recently told me that Kamala Harris is not green enough for him, and that he would, therefore, be voting for the Green Party candidate. I told him that any Green vote, not for Harris, was essentially a vote for Trump. He harrumphed, but said he’d think about it. I hope he does. ~ Bill Matthews, Kennebunkport

Greater Portland Council of Governments leads coastal erosion initiative

FORECASTER • October 14, 2024

The Greater Portland Council of Governments is implementing an initiative to help Casco Bay communities threatened by coastal erosion. Over the next two years, the council will work with project partners on educating municipalities on coastal bluff erosion, designing erosion mitigation plans and coastal bluff mapping. The project received a $350,000 grant through the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Coastal Resilience Fund. “Things that could potentially accelerate erosion: sea-level rise, increased storm intensity, variable changing temperature in the winter,” said Gretchen Anderson, the council’s sustainability program coordinator. “It’s all the heavy hitters, if you will, of climate change that will impact this problem.”

A new brew casts a line to boost Midcoast fisheries

TIMES RECORD • October 14, 2024

The Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association has partnered with Moderation Brewing Company to create a new beer — the Hook, Line & Lager — to support local fisheries. Philip Welsh and Mattie Daughtry, co-founders of Moderation Brewing, said they stand by the philosophy of “working with independent businesses and farmers.” Kat Libby, MCFA’s director of development, deemed the collab a win for beer lovers and industrial athletes alike, expressing her excitement to “raise a pint in support of Maine’s fishermen.” 

The history of Maine’s moose hunt

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 14, 2024

It’s the week of the moose permit lottery, and Maine hunters are waiting with bated breath for the results to come out on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. The first week of the moose season started on Sept. 23 in several zones in the fall of 2024. Maine began sponsoring a moose hunt in 1980 and it has turned into a tradition for those in search of quality meat and maybe an impressive set of trophy antlers. Here is the Maine moose hunt timeline.

Hiker seriously injured in fall from Cliff Trail

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 14, 2024

An adult hiker was seriously injured Thursday, Oct. 10, after she fell roughly 25 feet from Harpswell’s Cliff Trail onto a rocky intertidal area, local officials said. The woman had been hiking the trail, behind the Harpswell Town Office, when she fell from the cliff above Long Reach. The woman, whom officials didn’t name, was loaded onto the airboat and transported to Princes Point Landing, in Brunswick, where a waiting ambulance rushed her to Maine Medical Center, in Portland.

Lewiston’s $30 million project aims to enhance Androscoggin River water quality

CBS 13 • October 14, 2024

A 30-million-dollar project to improve water quality in the Androscoggin River is coming to Lewiston. This Wednesday, the Lewiston Auburn Clean Water Authority will break ground on a 30-million-dollar infrastructure project that they say will improve public health and the cleanliness of the Androscoggin River. Mike Riley with the Department of Environmental Protection says the purpose is to help prevent pollution in the Androscoggin River during heavy rainstorms. “Sewer systems that are combined, meaning they handle both wastewater and storm water, can be overwhelmed by these big storms. Storage helps to capture that water before it gets to the river and they’re able to treat it and release it to the river in much better condition,” said Riley.

These devices are hazardous waste, but there’s nowhere to safely throw them out in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 14, 2024

“Disposable e-cigarettes” may be a misnomer given that there is no easy way to get rid of them in Maine, where they create fire hazards at dumps and expose beaches and other public areas to hazardous chemicals. Many people don’t even realize that the disposable e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are considered hazardous waste by federal and state officials, said Matt Wellington, associate director of the Maine Public Health Association. Both the nicotine and the lithium-ion batteries that heat the product’s liquid into a vapor for inhaling are classified as hazardous waste, so they’re not meant to be thrown away in household trash or recycling. But with no options for disposal, that is causing problems at trash plants and in the environment throughout Maine.

Thousands in Maine are still without power after Saturday’s strong winds

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 13, 2024

Maine’s major electric utilities made significant progress repairing downed power lines after strong winds swept through the state on Saturday. But by Sunday morning thousands remained without power. As of 8 a.m. Sunday, Versant Power reported 1,552 customer without power, down from 19,861 early Saturday afternoon. Central Maine Power reported 16,853 outages at 8 a.m. Sunday, down from 67,290 early Saturday afternoon.

Climate change delays, disrupts Maine’s fall foliage season

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 13, 2024

Warming temperatures are pushing back peak conditions by more than a week since the 1950s. But several factors shape the timing and brilliance of autumnal color. While warmer temperatures may delay peak foliage, other aspects of climate change – wild precipitation patterns pinballing between drought and deluge, high winds from extreme weather, and more tree blight and pests – could dull, discolor or drop the autumn leaves before they reach peak color.

Lewiston-Auburn Community Forest Board: Volunteers advocate for trees in the cities

SUN JOURNAL • October 13, 2024

Nine volunteers behind the Lewiston-Auburn Community Forest Board are tasked with taking care of trees, young and old, in the Twin Cities. The board keeps an eye on the publicly owned trees just about anywhere in Lewiston and Auburn — parks, public green spaces, schools and sidewalks. In Maine, rules about who gets the last word about trees in public spaces are unusual. “The landowner or the homeowner owns the tree in the right of way, but the city controls it,” board Chairperson David Griswold said.

Opinion: When it comes to climate change, the future is now

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 13, 2024

This is climate change. For those of you who keep waiting for the “future” event, wait no longer. It is here, it is now. It will only get worse. Americans are now being killed in significant numbers by this phantasmagorical slayer from the future. The climate deniers have led Americans down the homicidal path of continued fossil fuel use with the resultant increase of carbon dioxide sequestration in our atmosphere. Self-avowed deniers such as Donald Trump, JD Vance, Mike Johnson, Ron DeSantis and innumerable others of their ilk continue their rhetorical canard. Their self-interested and single-minded energy policy has in no small measure led to this tragedy and countless others around the globe. ~ Ken Burke, MD, New Portland

Browntail moth numbers show decline in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 13, 2024

Browntail moths, whose invasive caterpillars have tiny rash-causing hairs that strike fear into Maine summers, did not have a good year here. The state found the caterpillars seemed to have had a more “sporadic population” across the state this year than in the past, a Maine Forest Service newsletter said on Thursday. They were recorded in more than 46,000 acres of the state in 2023, and harm forests as well as humans. Their more scattered populations this year are likely because of pathogens that attack the caterpillars, the state said.

What to know about hiking Maine’s tallest volcanic mountain

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 12, 2024

Standing on the summit, surrounded by jagged hunks of rock, I looked out over a seemingly endless forest of crimson, gold and burnt orange foliage. Beside me, a weathered wooden sign read, “The Traveler — 3,541 feet, Maine’s tallest volcanic mountain.” Fall had arrived in Baxter State Park, and I was celebrating with a 10-plus-mile hike of the Traveler Range. Visiting multiple peaks, it is one of the most challenging day hikes in Maine. It’s also particularly interesting, geologically.

About 30,000 in the dark after strong winds knock out power

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 12, 2024

Winds of up to 45 miles per hour knocked out electricity to more than 71,200 Central Maine Power customers across the state Saturday morning, but utility crews had restored service to almost 45% by early Saturday evening.

Letter: Federal contract is great news for Maine’s grid resiliency

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 12, 2024

The U.S. Department of Energy has selected Avangrid for a  $425 million capacity contract for its Aroostook Renewable Project, a proposed clean energy transmission line to connect a substation in Haynesville to the Independent System Operator-New England (ISO-NE) power grid in Pittsfield with a 111-mile transmission line with a capacity of 1,200 megawatts. As a former member of the Maine House of Representatives’ Environment and Natural Resources Committee, I appreciate this investment and its support of the transition to clean energy. This award is great news for Maine’s grid reliability and resiliency, and the development of this transmission line will address ongoing energy constraints in northern Maine. ~ Scott Strom, Waterville

New bill would pay farmers to put rentals on their land

MAINE MONITOR • October 12, 2024

Some of Maine’s bucolic landscape might soon be ceded to help meet the state’s desperate demand for housing. A new bi-partisan bill introduced in September by U.S. Senators Angus King (I-ME) would pour an additional $200 million into an existing federal program to incentivize rural property owners to build rental housing on their land. A study commissioned by Gov. Mills and MaineHousing found that Maine will need upwards of an additional 84,000 new housing units by 2030. Maine’s already sparse farmland is under significant threat. According to American Farmland Trust, from 2001 to 2016, 17,000 acres of Maine’s agricultural land were developed or compromised, converted to residential or commercial use. The converted land could have generated $10 million in annual revenues had it stayed as farmland.

Letter: Bangor is a good place to live, but a bad place to walk

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 12, 2024

Bangor is a good place to live, having beautiful nature and the greatest people in the country. However, it is no longer a good place to live without a car. As a high schooler in Bangor without a car or driver’s license and who walks to school, I inevitably noticed the severe inconvenience due to the non-pedestrian friendly environment of our town. Bangor is not a town where pedestrians can feel safe to walk around. ~ Dylan Cho, Bangor

How much money has been spent subsidizing heat pumps in Maine?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 12, 2024

Oil is still the dominant source of home heating in Maine, but it’s being chased by electric heat pumps in a race prodded by Gov. Janet Mills and financed by federal taxpayers, state ratepayers and other funding sources. The governor has made electric heat pump installation a centerpiece of her administration’s energy and climate policy, bringing national attention to Maine. It’s come at a price: More than $135 million has been spent over the last decade to subsidize installation of electric heat pumps in Maine, and at least $125 million more is on the way.

1,600 tons of trash has been removed from Orrington plant

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 11, 2024

After nearly 10 days, Orrington firefighters have cleared the scene of a once-burning trash incinerator. Crews were gone as of Friday afternoon, after the fire was fully extinguished that morning. The plant, formerly known as Penobscot Energy Recovery Co., is now back in the hands of employees who are working to remove the trash. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has approved a corrective action plan for remediation efforts. The facility stopped processing trash in May 2023. It will restart operations in 2025.