Local farmers anxious amid growing concerns over federal funding freeze

SUN JOURNAL • February 27, 2025

The trees are felled in an area set aside for a small solar array scheduled to be installed in June. The grant contract is signed, the loan for the balance is approved and the down payment has been paid. Seren and Steve Sinisi own and operate Old Crow Ranch and a farm store in Durham, a pasture-based livestock farm. President Donald Trump has issued a memo directing federal agencies to freeze federal financial assistance programs. The Sinisis are more than concerned. They are anxious, even angry. In a letter to U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Maine Agriculture Commissioner Amanda Beal said, “The continued delay of these funds could have significant economic consequences for Maine’s agricultural sector, which operates on tight margins and depends on timely financial support to sustain operations.”

Warming slows in Gulf of Maine but temperatures remain high

ASSOCIATED PRESS • February 27, 2025

The waters off New England had another warm year but didn’t heat up as fast as earlier this decade, bucking a trend of higher warming worldwide, said scientists who study the Atlantic Ocean near Maine. The Gulf of Maine, which touches three New England states and Canada, emerged as a test case for climate change about a decade ago because it is warming much faster than most of the world’s oceans. The gulf is home to some of the country’s most valuable seafood species and is critical to the American lobster industry.

Freeport timber harvest that rankled locals serves as forestry lesson

TIMES RECORD • February x, 2025

In 1999, Peter Troast led citizens in a fight against a proposed 38-lot subdivision in Bliss Woods. The developer agreed to sell the land for conservation at $635,000. New England Forestry Foundation bought the land. Freeport Conservation Trust holds an easement. On Jan. 29, Troast posted on Facebook about how “jarring” it was to see logging underway with no heads-up. David Ayers, NEFF communications specialist, cited staff shortages as the reason for the delay in sharing project details. Bliss Woods is an example of the organization’s commitment to climate-smart forestry. Ayers urged locals not to view the harvest as clear-cutting but as “thoughtful thinning. These harvests are carefully planned, and our foresters understand the ecology of each forest.” 

20 geese found on Ogunquit Beach likely died of bird flu, town officials say

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 27, 2025

Preliminary assessments suggest that the death of twenty geese found on Ogunquit Beachmay be attributed to Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, commonly known as avian or bird flu, town officials said Wednesday. Earlier this month, Maine moved its risk factor for animals from “moderate” to “high” as a result of positive tests. To help limit the spread, reduce contact between domestic and wild birds, wash hands before and after handling birds, wear clean clothing and sanitize boots and equipment before and after entering coops, provide clean drinking water to domesticated animals, secure food to prevent rodents and monitor flocks for illness.

Opinion: Don’t throw solar energy out with net energy billing bathwater

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 27, 2025

By 2017, the price of solar panels had fallen so we dusted off our dream of generating clean electricity. With the federal tax credit and the net energy billing promise of getting credit on our electric bill for every surplus kilowatt-hour we produced, it became a smart investment. Since then we’ve seen the cost of electricity skyrocket. Getting rid of net energy billing would do nothing to address the soaring supply costs that bind us to a volatile fossil fuel market. A big factor in recent bill increases is the storm damage recovery costs that CMP and Versant are passing on to ratepayers. Another big driver of Maine’s unaffordable electricity bills is the relentless extraction of heavy profits by CMP and Versant. Everyone benefits if homeowners and locally owned small-scale cooperatives invest in renewable energy. Getting rid of net energy billing entirely would be a big mistake and cost us more in the long term. ~ Ed Geis, Camden

Opinion: Free the Androscoggin and restore sea-run fish

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 27, 2025

Centuries ago, the Androscoggin River boasted an extraordinary abundance of fish. Atlantic salmon, river herring, shad, sturgeon and several other species migrated each year from the ocean to what was then Brunswick Falls, continuing upriver as far as Lewiston to spawn. By the early 1800s, dams built to power industries like grist, lumber, textiles and paper disrupted the river’s natural flow and blocked fish passage. While the construction of the new dam in 1983 included a fish ladder for migratory fish, it is limiting or blocking the passage of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of fish each year. It’s not too late to restore healthy populations of migratory fish. The dam’s federal license is up for renewal in 2029, and we’re proposing a number of solutions to improve fish passage, from major fishway upgrades to redesigning or removing the dam. ~ Chip Spies, Free the Andro, a coalition advocating for changes to the Brunswick-Topsham Dam

Get toxic firefighting foam out of Maine, lawmakers told

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 26, 2025

Dozens of Brunswick residents who testified at a legislative hearing Wednesday in favor of three bills intended to prevent another accidental release of aqueous film-forming foam, or AFFF. Introduced by Rep. Dan Ankeles, D-Brunswick, the bills call for a statewide foam inventory (LD 400); a state-run voluntary foam collection, storage and disposal program (LD 222); and removal of the 5,700 gallons of foam concentrate that remains at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station (LD 407). Residents of Brunswick Landing, the site of Maine's worst toxic firefighting foam spill, joined environmental groups to urge lawmakers to quantify the amount of foam in Maine and fund a voluntary program to collect, store and dispose of it.

USDA rolls out $1 billion plan to combat bird flu after egg prices rise

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 26, 2025

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Wednesday it plans to spend up to $1 billion in Commodity Credit Corporation funds to try to reduce the spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza in poultry. The virus, also known as bird flu or H5N1, has disrupted the work of poultry farmers for years and began infecting dairy herds last year. But a recent spike in egg prices has led to renewed public attention to the disease.

String of fires at Acadia National Park were arson, new court docs reveal

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2025

The National Park Service alleges five arson fires were started by one man on St. Sauveur Mountain in Mount Desert Island in 2023 and 2024. The Trenton man, 31 years old when a search warrant request was filed, called the park service to report fires in April 2023. He used his cellphone and provided his name. He has not been criminally charged. A park ranger interviewed the man a week after the fires, and there were “multiple inconsistencies” in his story. Another fire was set Oct. 1, 2023. The hikers put the fire out then passed a man who “seemed nervous.” Two more arson fires were started in May 2024. A car registered to the Trenton man was at Acadia Mountain Parking at the time of the fire. The man gave the ranger his real name and a fake phone number.

Janet Mills announces pick for Department of Marine Resources commissioner

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2025

Gov. Janet Mills on Wednesday announced her nomination of fisheries scientist Carl Wilson to be commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Wilson has been with the agency for 26 years and has long served as the lead lobster biologist. He will replace Commissioner Patrick Keliher, who recently announced he will retire on March 14.

Brunswick lawmaker introduces bills to address PFAS-laden firefighting foam

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 26, 2025

After a toxic spill last August, Brunswick Town Council member Sande Updegraph said many residents are still riddled with fears. They are afraid to drink their well water, to bathe, to eat vegetables grown in gardens surrounding their homes. But they also fear people will forget about the devastation or that it may happen again in their community or another. Most of all, Updegraph said, they are afraid no one is listening to them or has their backs. There was a legislative hearing Wednesday on three bills from Rep. Dan Ankeles (D-Brunswick) designed to rid Maine of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), which was historically used for firefighting and has been linked to harmful effects to humans and the environment. Updegraph was joined by other Brunswick town council members, as well as members of the firefighting, medical and environmental communities, testifying in support of the bills.

Backyard flocks in Maine at risk of Avian Flu

BETHEL CITIZEN • February 26, 2025

The risk status for avian flu in Maine was elevated to “high” on Feb. 11. While the avian influenza was confirmed in several birds in York and Cumberland Counties, the new risk status was issued statewide by the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Infected birds in four other New England states were detected as well. DACF officials are urging commercial and backyard flock owners to maintain strong biosecurity measures to protect their birds from the highly pathogenic disease.

As bird flu spreads, feds might undercut states by firing scientists, removing data

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 26, 2025

As bird flu cases inundate more poultry and dairy farms, state officials worry that the Trump administration’s firings of federal scientists and other actions will undermine efforts to track the virus and protect Americans. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture rushed to rehire workers who were involved in responding to the outbreak and were fired amid federal workforce cuts.

Opinion: Solar subsidies need to be scaled back

SUN JOURNAL • February 26, 2025

Residential solar is beneficial in meeting our energy goals. However, the development of large solar fields should not come at the expense of ratepayers who don’t have the means to pay the upfront costs of installing solar arrays. That’s why I introduced “An Act to Prohibit Net Energy Billing by Certain Customers.” My bill would allow individuals and small businesses to continue adding power to the grid and be compensated for that power. Large solar developers, however, would not be eligible to participate, as it is these large developments that are causing rates to go up and nearly double for some commercial ratepayers. ~ Sen. Bruce Bickford, Auburn

Maine’s spring expected to be warmer than usual

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2025

This spring in Maine promises another early mud season as the changing climate brings more days above normal temperatures throughout Maine, new data released Wednesday showed. Spring is getting warmer across the country due to heat-trapping pollution from burning coal, oil and methane gas, according to Climate Central, a nonprofit science and journalism organization. About half of Maine households use fossil fuels for heat.

Historic cleanup of mercury in the Penobscot River is moving ahead

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 26, 2025

Nearly 60 years after industrial mercury pollution began contaminating the Penobscot River, a project to remediate it has taken a step forward. One of the legal entities established to run the multimillion dollar cleanup, Greenfield Penobscot Estuary Mercury Remediation Trust, filed state and federal permit applications last week for a pilot project to cap East Cove in Orrington with several inches of sand. If approved, the results of that multiyear pilot would help determine how the trust remediates at least nine tons of mercury that have remained in the river and its estuary since the late 1960s. The overall remediation is expected to take years.

Lewiston hydropower converter station nears completion

SUN JOURNAL • February 25, 2025

Construction of the large New England Clean Energy Connect hydropower converter station off outer Main Street in Lewiston is in its final phase. The Lewiston City Council recently approved a tax increment financing district for the project, which is estimated to produce $1.4 million in revenue annually.

Mounted bear missing from stolen trailer found in Searsport

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 25, 2025

A Searsport man was arrested over the weekend on charges of stealing a camper trailer and two sheds. But police were not able to find a mounted black bear that had reportedly been in the camper before it was allegedly stolen in 2024. 

Portland Jetport’s parking expansion plan lands in court

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 25, 2025

A controversial plan to expand surface parking at Portland International Jetport has landed in court less than one month after the city’s planning board approved the $8 million project. The Stroudwater Neighborhood Association filed an appeal Monday in Cumberland County Superior Court asking a judge to reverse the Jan. 28 approval of a plan to add 265 long-term surface parking spaces near the existing parking garage. The association believes the board failed to fully consider or require the city-owned airport to provide relevant information about the project’s wetlands impacts and compliance with sustainability goals outlined in the jetport’s 2018 master plan.