Letter: How Maine can act on climate change

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

I attend King Middle School in Portland. In social studies class, we have been learning about climate change and energy sources. Wind energy is a healthy energy source for Maine to mitigate climate change. By having blades rotate as the wind blows, a turbine is spun so that power can be generated. The average wind turbine installed in the United States today gives the turbine up to 20 years of productive use. Hydropower is an energy source able to develop on a mass scale. Maine should focus on solar power. ~ Hamsa Sadak, Portland

Maine reported record-high number of tickborne disease cases last year

MAINE PUBLIC • January 3, 2025

Maine reported a record number of tickborne disease cases in 2024, breaking another record high set the year before. There were 3,218 reported cases of Lyme disease last year in the state, nearly 300 more than in 2023, according to data from the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of other tick-borne diseases, including Babesiosis and Anaplasmosis, also increased and broke state records. Data from the Maine CDC show that the rate of tickborne diseases was especially high among Mainers in the midcoast.

Irving acquires Aroostook sawmill

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

Irving Forest Products has acquired an Aroostook sawmill from another Canadian company. Irving will take over the Masardis sawmill in a sale that closes Monday, the company announced Thursday. The sale price wasn’t disclosed. The Masardis mill, owned by Groupe Lebel of Quebec, employs 80 workers and has an annual capacity of 115 million board feet. With this acquisition, Irving now owns 10 sawmills across Maine and New York that have a combined annual capacity of 1.3 billion board feet. Irving is Maine’s largest landowner, with 1.3 million acres of timberland. Groupe Lebel acquired the Masardis sawmill, Aroostook’s largest, in 2018 from Quebec-based Maibec, which had bought the former J. Paul Levesque sawmill in 2015.

Solar power is cutting daytime electricity demand on New England’s grid

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 3, 2025

Power generated by rooftop solar panels in Maine is small relative to other New England states but nearly doubled in the last year. Rooftop solar is known as “behind the meter” because it does not take power from the regional grid. That is why, on days when rooftop solar use is high, it creates a dip in daytime energy demand on the grid instead of the typical lunchtime spike. The trend is unlikely to affect retail electricity prices on a customer’s power bill, ISO said. But that could change if time-of-use rates become more popular.

Opinion: Jimmy Carter left historic environmental legacy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

President Jimmy Carter was a great humanitarian, statesman and environmentalist who was ahead of his time. As a Navy submarine officer, he saw the clear and present danger of being reliant on fossil fuels, and as a farmer understood how important it was not to disrupt the climate with excess carbon. Although he wasn’t able to see his entire vision for a sustainable planet take place, he did make milestones federally that we take for granted today. He started America down the right path. Without his actions the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates close to $370 billion toward clean energy initiatives and tax breaks never could have happened. Nor would have Maine become the climate leader it is today. ~ Ramona Cornell du Houx, Solon

Central Maine Power aims to finish controversial western Maine power corridor in 2025

MAINE PUBLIC • January 3, 2025

After years of political and legal setbacks, a new power corridor through western Maine is finally nearing completion. The New England Clean Energy Connect was proposed back in 2017 as a way to deliver electricity from Canada to the U.S. Despite years of pushback the company behind the project — Connecticut-based Avangrid — says the 145-mile transmission line and power station upgrades will be operational by the end of this year. In a filing with Maine regulators, the company said a 54-mile corridor from the Canadian border to The Forks is fully cleared. More than 900 pole bases have been installed and over 750 poles erected, according to Avangrid.

Column: These are the owls that come to Maine and their hangouts

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

Four owl species nest in Maine — great horned owl, barred owl, northern saw-whet owl and eastern screech-owl. Two species possibly nest here — short-eared owl and long-eared owl — but these two are rarely encountered in summer. Four species occasionally visit from the north in winter months — snowy owl, great gray owl, northern hawk-owl and (rarely) boreal owl.

Maine man lands 8-pound brown trout

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

Caleb Merrill of Greenwood caught an 8-pound 27-inch brown trout on opening day Wednesday while ice fishing at Bryant Pond in Oxford County. He caught it in about 5 feet of water on small shiners. “It was the biggest fish I’ve ever seen come through the ice,” Merrill said on Thursday.

Letter: Use solar, wind and nuclear power to make Maine carbon neutral

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 2, 2025

In class at King Middle School we have been reading, learning, researching and debating about energy sources and climate change. I strongly believe Maine should use solar, wind and nuclear energy to become carbon neutral by 2040. Maine will strive to become carbon neutral by 2040 with wind, solar, and nuclear energy. ~ Nar’kaysia Foster, Portland

Maine broke tick-borne disease record in 2024

MAINE PUBLIC • January 2, 2025

Maine saw a record-breaking number of tick-borne disease cases in 2024 for a second year in a row. Between January and December, 3,218 cases of Lyme disease were reported, according to final figures the state released Thursday. Last year, 2,943 cases of that disease broke the previous record. Higher numbers of Lyme and other diseases carried by ticks are seen alongside increasing habitat ranges for ticks in recent years that’s making it more difficult to work or play outside as warmer, wetter winters in Maine are allowing the ticks to stay more active and reproduce longer.

Brunswick starts five-year countdown to reduce emissions

TIMES RECORD • December 2, 2024

As Brunswick enters a new year, it’s starting a five-year countdown to the first milestone in the Climate Action Plan adopted last month. Brunswick’s plan, which town councilors passed in December, aims to reduce emissions 65% by 2030. The nearly 300-page document identifies seven community sectors — municipal, housing, transportation, energy, natural resources, community health and waste — as areas for improvement.

Cruise ships plan to bring 55K visitors to Eastport this year

QUODDY TIDES • January , 22025

More and larger cruise ships, with passenger numbers that are more than three times the city’s population, are scheduled to arrive in Eastport this year. While the visits are spread out more than during this past year, with a few in July and August, some residents and business owners are now wondering whether the small island city is hosting too many ships with too many passengers.

Maine's high court to decide if city park rangers must be law enforcement officers

MAINE PUBLIC • January 2, 2025

Maine's highest court is taking up a case that could decide whether municipal park rangers must be trained as law enforcement officers. The case stems from an incident when a Portland park ranger issued a summons to Marc Lesperance for walking through Baxter Woods with a dog that was off-leash. Lesperance is now appealing a District Court judgment against him. He is arguing that the park ranger had no authority to issue the summons or enforce a statute because the ranger was not a trained law enforcement officer. A provision in state law says that "constables shall be appointed in the same manner and with the same effect as special police officers." The Law Court has invited parties to file amicus briefs addressing whether a municipal constable must complete the basic training program offered by the Maine Criminal Justice Academy. The court is also asking for arguments on whether municipalities can appoint a person to enforce a local ordinance if that person is not a "constable" under Maine law.

Smiling Hill Farm closes cross country trails in Westbrook over lack of snow

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025

Smiling Hill Farm in Westbrook will no longer offer cross country skiing because of a lack of snow during winter months. The popular farm announced the change in a Facebook post on New Years Day and said it is selling its ski equipment. It will offer snowshoeing and rentals when snow conditions permit.

Maine officials warn of thin ice after Franklin County rescue

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025

The Maine Warden Service is warning people to check for thin ice after a man was rescued at a pond in Industry on New Years Day. A game warden and an ice fisherman averted tragedy when they teamed up to pull David Beaudoin, a 68-year-old Industry man, out of Clearwater Pond on Wednesday.

Maine wildlife officials are seeking reports of endangered New England Cottontail rabbit sightings

MAINE PUBLIC • January 2, 2025

The New England cottontail was once a common rabbit in southern and coastal Maine, ranging from Kittery to Belfast. But the population has declined dramatically over the years due to habitat loss, as old fields reverted into forests and shrubland was developed into residential areas. Maine stopped issuing licenses to hunt New England cottontails in 2004, and added it to the endangered species list in 2007. The rabbits' numbers have dropped to dangerously low levels in other New England states too. Now, the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife is asking the public to report sightings of the cottontail through an online portal on its website.

False-label lawsuit against Poland Spring water’s parent company allowed to continue

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025

A long-running lawsuit involving claims that Poland Spring water has been falsely labeled and deceptively marketed will continue after a Connecticut judge this week denied the parent company’s latest request to throw out the case. In a detailed and often technical 61-page ruling issued Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Jeffrey Alker Meyer rejected some claims in the class action suit originally brought by 11 plaintiffs in August 2017. But Meyer said the issue of whether Poland Spring qualifies as “spring water” under laws in several states, including Maine, remains unsettled.

Letter: Brunswick foam disposal a cautionary tale

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 2, 2025

Thank you for the report of the disposal of toxic foam from Brunswick in incinerators in poor neighborhoods far from here. I totally understand the woman, living near one, who said, “Clean up your own mess. Don’t send it here.” Especially since we now know that the manufacturers of PFAS have known for decades of its dangers. It reminds me of the “precautionary principle” that should guide the production of these chemicals: They should be proven to be safe before being introduced into our lives, not investigated after their destructive effects have been demonstrated. In view of the efforts to reintroduce nuclear power, will we hold out for proof that safe disposal of nuclear waste is possible before going down that road? ~ Barbara West, Bath

Letter: Kudos to Auburn’s support of bike/ped trail

SUN JOURNAL • January 1, 2025

I congratulate the Auburn City Council and Mayor Jeff Harmon for voting to support the construction of a bike/pedestrian trail on the unused Berlin Subdivision rail line between Portland and Danville Junction. If built, this trail could then link with the proposed Auburn Gateway to allow off-road, safe travel from Portland into Lewiston/Auburn. This trail would make an important positive statement about what our community values and would serve as an attractive asset for tourists, families and businesses to consider Auburn. ~ Joseph Pelliccia, Auburn

2024 set to become hottest year on record

USA TODAY • December 31, 2024

As the clock ticks down the final moments of the year, 2024 is expected to wind up as the world's hottest year on modern record, surpassing the previous record for the second year in a row. Even though global average temperatures dropped below 2023 records at times during the second half of the year, air and ocean temperatures were still warmer than average overall, based on charts by the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer. While scientists aren't as certain that a new U.S. annual record will be set, the first 11 months of the year were the warmest on record in the contiguous U.S.