Skowhegan development group gets $200,000 to help Maine Grains, others

MORNING SENTINEL • October 28, 2024

The Skowhegan Economic Development Corp. has been awarded a $200,000 grant to help support its partnership with Maine Grains, University of Maine system and Sodexo’s Maine Course to provide packaged, grain-based foods to schools. The University of Maine system and Sodexo are seeking healthful, ready-to-eat, local, grain-based foods for their menus. Equipment financed by the prize will allow Maine Grains to turn local milling, cheesemaking, seaweed, blueberry and soy byproducts into high fiber, high protein packed goods for sale to schools.

Harpswell’s Halfway Rock lighthouse preservationist receives Maritime History Service Award

TIMES RECORD • October 28, 2024

Sitting atop a jagged pile of rocks off the coast of Harpswell is the Halfway Rock Light Station, neglected and battered by Mother Nature for over 40 years. Starting in 2016, Ford Reiche worked to revitalize the historic structure. After receiving multiple accolades, including the American Lighthouse Foundation’s 2017 Keeper of Light Award, Reiche was selected for this year’s National Maritime Historical Society Distinguished Service Award. 

Five ways a Trump presidency would be disastrous for the climate

THE GUARDIAN • October 28, 2024

The climate crisis may appear peripheral in the US presidential election but a victory for Donald Trump will, more than any other issue, have profound consequences for people around a rapidly heating world, experts have warned. What would a Trump election triumph mean for the environment?
1. A dangerous and uncertain future
2. Climate denialism would return to the Oval Office
3. Clean energy policies unpicked
4. A purge of science
5. International relations shaken

First offshore wind auction for eight sites in the Gulf of Maine set for this week

MAINE PUBLIC • October 28, 2024

The U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management will host the first competitive lease auction Tuesday for eight areas in the Gulf of Maine that federal officials want to develop into commercial offshore wind farms. Two of the potential wind plots are located off the Maine coast. In total, the sites encompass about 850,000 acres. If leased and developed entirely, federal officials say these areas have the potential to generate up to 13 gigawatts of wind energy, enough to power 4.5 million homes.

10 rural Maine towns are getting help with their big projects

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 28, 2024

A new state program is connecting leaders in 10 rural Maine towns to the resources and funding required to get much needed municipal projects off the ground. Late last year nonprofit GrowSmart Maine launched the Building Community Strength program after securing a $304,636 grant from the USDA Rural Development Initiative and the American Farmland Trust. It comes at a time when many rural towns are facing problems with affordable housing, farmland protection, downtown revitalization and open space planning. Spanning rural Maine towns in counties from Oxford to Aroostook, the program aims to help town leaders with limited staff and money identify projects, develop strategic plans, and get funding.

How scientists are using drones to help Aroostook potatoes

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 27, 2024

A 110-year-old Aroostook County facility is upping its technology to keep Maine’s potato industry thriving into the future. The Aroostook Farm in Presque Isle is using $3 million from the University of Maine System to transform a former storage building into an advanced research lab. From farms to stores and restaurants, the potato industry contributes $1.3 billion to the state’s economy, according to a 2024 UMaine study. Work in Presque Isle was key to one of the biggest sellers in decades: the Caribou Russet. With better research tools, the farm aims to develop new climate- and disease-resistant varieties faster and give growers seed for the next potato success story.

Homeowners in Gorham Connector’s path brace for impact

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • October 27, 2024

More than 20 years after the Maine Turnpike Authority began the conversation about building the 5-mile, 4-lane toll highway, homeowners who would be displaced by the project still find their lives hang in the balance.

I rated my recent Maine adventures with high school superlatives

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 26, 2024

I’ve been on quite a few outdoor adventures recently. Instead of rating them with numbers or stars, I’ve decided to award them superlatives, like from a high school yearbook.
• Biggest drama queen or king: Doubletop Mountain
• Friendliest: Trout Mountain
• Most likely to become famous: Debsconeag Ice Caves
• Most upbeat attitude: Umbagog Lake
• Best dressed: Tunk Mountain

Letter: Angus King continues to be an environmental leader

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 26, 2024

On behalf of Sierra Club Maine, I am writing in support of our Sen. Angus King. Once-Gov. King, now-Sen. King has been a long-time environmental leader and we are proud to endorse him once again for reelection this year. By helping homeowners transition to renewable energy sources, the senator is paving the way for a more sustainable and resilient energy future. Further, Sen. King’s work as chair of the Subcommittee on National Parks is another example of his unwavering commitment to protecting our natural resources. ~ Jacob Stern, Sierra Club’s Maine Chapter, Pownal

Can logging in New Hampshire help fight climate change

BOSTON GLOBE • October 26, 2024

In New Hampshire, environmental activists are suing over a project to log within 3,000 acres of the White Mountain National Forest just northeast of Mt. Washington and south of Gorham. The Forest Service argues that logging and letting the forest regrow in these areas will eventually absorb as much carbon dioxide as leaving the standing trees to their own devices. Jamie Sayen, a historian, author, and long-time environmentalist in New Hampshire’s North Country, said the argument that logged trees would eventually regrow to hold the same carbon as before is “utterly absurd.” “The crisis is now,” Sayen said. “Releasing more carbon into the atmosphere now, because sometime in the next 100 years it’s going to be pulled back out, is not a good strategy.”

Worcester Holdings paying fines for unpermitted camps, but may still have to raze them

MAINE MONITOR • October 25, 2024

After flouting state regulations in 2019 and building an unpermitted campus of 52 cabins in Columbia Falls, the company behind the scrapped Flagpole of Freedom project is paying its $250,000 fine and cleared the first hurdle for its overdue permit. That determination doesn’t free Worcester from the risk of having to raze the cabins and revegetate the land, however.

Maine organic farmers group formally recognizes union for its employees

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 25, 2024

The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and its Certification Services formally recognized an employee labor union Friday. Employees with the association and the certification service joined the Maine Service Employees Association, a statewide labor union that represents more than 13,000 employees and retirees of more than 20 businesses. Sarah Alexander, executive director of the association, praised the union as a means of emphasizing worker voices.

Opinion: Approving trails bond will help Maine’s youth reconnect with nature

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 25, 2024

Teenagers from seven high schools all across Maine spent last weekend camping, hiking, clearing trails and just hanging out – outside. The weekend was arranged by Teens to Trails, an organization that works statewide to connect Maine’s middle and high school students to the outdoors. We’ve been at this since 2006, yet the need grows every year. Teenagers are losing their connection to nature, at a rapid pace. In a world consumed by screens and schedules, they’re spending less time outdoors. The $30 million Maine Trails Bond can change that. It will provide much-needed funds to design, build and maintain trails of all kinds, across the state. ~ Alicia Heyburn, Teens for Trails

U.S. EPA issues new rules on lead dust

MAINE PUBLIC • October 24, 2024

No level of exposure to lead is considered safe. To reflect that, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued new rules on lead dust. The new rules said that any amount of lead in dust on floors or window sills is considered hazardous. The rules also lower the amount of lead allowed in dust on floors, window sills and troughs after lead abatement to the lowest detectable levels. A spokesperson for the Maine CDC said the agency welcomes the new rules, and expects they will help to curb lead exposure for Maine children.

Farmer whose land is contaminated with PFAS chemicals urges state to prioritize medical testing

MAINE PUBLIC • October 24, 2024

A Maine farmer whose land is contaminated with PFAS chemicals is urging a State advisory committee to prioritize medical testing for affected citizens. Adam Nordell and his wife owned Songbird Farm in Unity, found to be contaminated with "forever chemicals." At a public hearing before the PFAS Advisory Committee Thursday Nordell asked the state to move more quickly on offering free blood serum testing and creating a medical care program for those sickened by PFAS related illnesses."The medical care program should include treatment for PFAS linked illnesses as well as coverage of treatment to reduce the burden on the exposed community. I would ask that you not leave the physical health of our children, our farmer friends and our neighbors to receive attention and resources as a last in line priority," Nordell said.

Aquaculture Is Using Far More Wild Fish as Feed Than Previously Estimated

MOTHER JONES • October 24, 2024

The fish farming sector is often touted as a sustainable way to rapidly scale up the production of crucial fish protein sources without pulling them directly from wild habitats. But there’s a catch. Some of the main ingredients that farmers feed their fish are, ironically, wild-caught fish. And a new study suggests that the aquaculture industry uses far more wild fish than previously estimated, which a group of scientists and conservationists say is fueling environmental degradation. However, the global demand for fish is expected to skyrocket in the coming decades.

Most Maine farms with forever chemicals are still in business

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 24, 2024

Most Maine farms affected by fertilizer sludge containing forever chemicals remain in production, members of the state fund charged with aiding them said on Thursday. Farmers can use fields for different crops that do not take up the contaminants as readily or plant less resilient crops in fields not treated with forever chemicals, they said. Those chemicals were contained in sludge that was spread commonly as fertilizer in the 1990s and 2000s. PFAS, which does not readily break down in the environment, has been linked to health problems such as liver damage, thyroid disease, decreased fertility, high cholesterol, obesity, hormone suppression and cancer when ingested.

Letter: Trail bond shouldn’t support motorized uses

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 24, 2024

Mainers will be voting to decide whether the state will borrow 30 million dollars “… to invest in the design, development and maintenance for non motorized, motorized and multi-use trails statewide. The language of both the bill title and the bond question are misleading. The bond thus in reality provides for only 25 percent of the funds to be dedicated for non-motorized and active transportation and as much as 75 percent of the funds for motorized trails. At a time when we need to be moving away from further air and noise pollution, reducing our fossil fuel consumption and getting more exercise, we should not be investing such large amounts of borrowed money on recreational infrastructure that promotes the opposite. ~ Connie Potvin, Hampden