Senators press Trump administration on how it will protect endangered species

ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 5, 2025

Three U.S. senators are asking the Trump administration to explain how it analyzed a proposed rule to eliminate habitat protections for endangered and threatened species, whether industry had a hand in drafting it, and how the administration plans to protect species if the rule is changed. At issue is a long-standing definition of “harm” in the Endangered Species Act, which has included altering or destroying the places those species live—the No. 1 cause of extinction. Last month, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service proposed a rule that says habitat modification shouldn't be considered harm because it isn't the same as intentionally targeting a species, called “take.” Environmentalists argue that the definition of “take” has always included actions that harm species, and the definition of “harm” has been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Former Gov. Paul LePage will challenge Rep. Jared Golden for Maine's 2nd District

MAINE PUBLIC • May 5, 2025

Former Gov. Paul LePage announced Monday that he's running for Maine's 2nd Congressional District seat. LePage served two terms as Maine's governor and left office in 2019, the same year Democratic Congressman Jared Golden kicked off his first term.Now LePage is seeking to challenge Golden for a seat that the Democrat has managed to hold despite skewing conservative since President Donald Trump was first elected in 2016. He has often been described as a Trump prototype.

Maine bills would make oil companies pay for climate damages

MAINE PUBLIC • May 5, 2025

The world’s largest fossil fuel companies could be required to pay for climate change damage to Maine under proposals being considered by state lawmakers. Two bills to create a climate superfund are up for debate just as the Trump administration files lawsuits against similar state laws. The measures would make oil and gas companies responsible for at least 1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gas pollution since the 1990s compensate Maine communities for storms and other harms made worse by a warming climate. Nicholas Janzen, director of policy and partnerships at Maine Conservation Voters, says, "The trump admin is really trying to bully states for their oil and gas buddies to not act on climate.”

Applying Wabanaki Wisdom to our Watersheds, May 27

MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • May 5, 2025

Mihku Paul and James McCarthy will share stories about their relationship to the watersheds where they live and share photographs of ancestral Wabanaki places. At Topsham Public Library, May 27, 7 pm, free. Sponsored by Cathance River Education Alliance and Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust.

Former Gov. LePage announces run for Congress in Maine’s 2nd District

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 5, 2025

Former Gov. Paul LePage announced Monday that he is running to represent Maine’s 2nd Congressional District in Congress. The Republican served as governor from 2011 to 2019 before leaving office because of term limits. He ran again for governor in 2022, when he lost to Democratic Gov. Janet Mills. LePage was elected governor in 2010. He ushered in a new era of divisive politics with his election, proudly disavowing political correctness and openly clashing with environmentalists and others.

Maine lobsterman charged with illegal possession of certain lobsters

WMTW-TV8 • May 5, 2025

Officials with New Hampshire's Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division have charged a Maine man with several charges related to illegal fishing practices. Conservation officers say on April 23, they boarded the vessel "For the Win" operated by Rodney Genthner, of Friendship, Maine, in the waters off Portsmouth. The vessel had been monitored because Genthner did not have appropriate licensing and did not follow required equipment regulations. Genthner faces several state and federal charges after finding V-notched female lobsters, which are illegal to possess because they are supposed to be left alone to breed. He also allegedly possessed short lobsters and wolf fish, a state and federally protected species, and his vessel allegedly didn't have a vessel monitoring system, another requirement.

Trump budget puts clean-energy spending in crosshairs

MAINE MORNING STAR • May 5, 2025

President Donald Trump’s budget request for the next fiscal year proposes deep cuts to renewable energy programs and other climate spending as the administration seeks to shift U.S. energy production to encourage more fossil fuels and push the focus away from reducing climate change. The budget proposes slashing $21 billion from the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law for renewable energy, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and other efforts to cut climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions. The request also targets climate research spending and initiatives meant to promote diversity.

Column: I’m a birder now (and other signs of aging)

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 5, 2025

It was about this time last year that I noticed blue jays and bluebirds, cardinals and robins. I asked a friend who’s a birder to help get me started, and we went for a walk around the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth. She introduced me to the Merlin Bird ID app, which can tell you what birds are around you by listening to their calls. This is one of the surprising things I’m learning about aging. I wasn’t prepared for my interests to suddenly change, opening up a whole new world of things I might like to do. ~ Leslie Bridgers

Public Hearing Today on Establishing a Climate Superfund to Make Polluters Pay

MAINE CONSERVATION VOTERS • May 5, 2025

Environmental advocates, municipal leaders, youth, and businesses will call on the Legislature to pass LD 1870, An Act to Establish a Climate Superfund Cost Recovery Program to Impose Penalties on Climate Polluters. The legislation would mandate compensatory payments from multinational oil and gas companies based on their greenhouse gas emissions surpassing one billion metric tons. A public hearing will be held by the Maine Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee on May 5, at 10 am.

Maine DEP urges delay for climate superfund bill

MAINE PUBLIC • May 5, 2025

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has urged lawmakers to delay a bill that would make major fossil fuel companies compensate the state for damages from harmful climate change. Bills proposed by Rep. Grayson Lookner, D-Portland and Sen. Stacy Brenner, D-Scarborough, would establish a climate superfund to pay for mitigation and adaption projects that prepare Maine communities for violent storms, sea level rise and extreme weather. DEP Commissioner Melanie Loyzim said lawmakers should wait until next year to seriously consider a climate superfund measure. The department wants to wait and see how similar laws in Vermont and New York are enacted and how they fare against legal challenges from the fossil fuel industry and the Trump administration.

Without action, Old Town residents worry town will be ‘sacrifice zone’ to Juniper Ridge

MAINE MORNING STAR • May 5, 2025

More than 50 people joined a rally Sunday afternoon in Old Town to not only voice their concerns about expanding Juniper Ridge, the state’s largest landfill, but also to ask the lawmakers who represent them in Augusta to back bills that could address the contamination and injustice they feel local communities have endured. As opponents see it, LD 297 would complicate the definition of what constitutes waste generated in Maine, opening the door for more out-of-state waste that would fill the landfill even faster. Proponents argue this is necessary to bring in more bulky waste to stabilize the sludge that is disposed of at the facility. 

Get outdoors and take a walk — in every corner of Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 5, 2025

Spring officially starts in March, but Mainers know not to put the winter coats in storage until before the end of April. We’ve finally traded snow boots for hiking boots, and we can stretch our legs without freezing our toes. Maine has no shortage of trails and plenty of useful tools to find them. You can check out websites such as AllTrails and Maine Trail Finder for maps, basic info about parking and even recent trail conditions. Rebecca Goldfine started her blog Maine By Foot in 2012 and has posted about hundreds of trails of all kinds. We compiled 16 options for a nice stroll in nature — one in every county.

Opinion: Care about climate change? Protest

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 5, 2025

America is seeing a resurgence of protests in response to President Trump’s recent attacks on public health, national parks, abortion rights and immigration, to name a few. Over 10,000 people rallied across Maine last month — a big turnout relative to our population. And while many of the signs were both poignant and funny, I was struck by how few addressed the urgent need for climate action. Sadly, it seems we’ve lost our appetite for climate activism. But as the climate crisis accelerates, and our president derails our progress on the issue, it’s more important than ever to take action. Seventy-three percent of us think the government should be doing more to address climate change. We have the numbers to make serious political change. What’s needed is mobilization. ~ Violet Apodaca, Bowdoin College senior

Letter: Hold cruise lines responsible for pollution emissions in Portland

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 5, 2025

For the next seven months, cruise ships will be coming to Portland. It is time to be proactive. The majority of ships will utilize exhaust gas cleaning systems, also known as scrubbers. These devices reduce the appearance of air emissions by “washing” pollutants into the harbor — a practice that is being banned throughout the world. It is time to reduce air pollution and eliminate toxic scrubber wash discharge and time to create communication protocols for when ships have norovirus outbreaks. It’s time to encourage reporting of complaints from excessive noise, air pollution, charter bus emissions and passenger congestion. It’s time to determine if sales tax revenue is being collected onboard, and time to calculate the actual direct and indirect costs of hosting cruise ships. ~ Matthew Day and JoAnn Locktov, Portland Cruise Control

Trump administration says it will combat forever chemicals. Maine scientists are skeptical.

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2025

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently released its much-anticipated steps to fight contamination by forever chemicals, but the scant information it provided raised more questions than answers among scientists and environment experts. Notably absent from the actions was information about whether the agency intends to go forward with the stricter maximum safe limits of forever chemicals that it announced last April. Those limits — the first national, enforceable drinking water standard on forever chemicals — are on hold by the Trump administration. Maine, which already has taken steps to curtail PFAS products in the state and to supply filtration systems for polluted private wells, scientists said.

They want to create Maine’s biggest scallop farm in Penobscot Bay

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2025

Andrew Peters was on a waitlist for a lobster license. Then he learned it was possible to farm scallops in Maine. For the last seven years, Peters and his wife Samantha have been trying to do so successfully, adapting techniques from Japan to Maine waters. Using long, vertical lines of nets tethered along four acres of Penobscot Bay off Deer Isle, they’ve found seemingly unlimited demand for the scallops they grow. Now, to find whether scallop farming really can provide sustainable small businesses for Mainers, they have applied for a 41.2-acre, 20-year standard aquaculture lease to replace their experimental lease. If the state approves the application, it would rank among the largest leases for all shellfish growing operations in Maine.

Maine man pulls in nearly 7-pound native salmon at Sebago Lake

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 5, 2025

A man who caught a 38-inch 18.69-pound lake trout nearly three years ago just hooked a native Sebago salmon that bested his own record for that fish. Early season open water fishing can be tricky, Gary Theriault of Naples said Friday. “It took me four or five tries before I could scoop him up,” Theriault said. He couldn’t believe how big the fish was. The fish weighed 6.9 pounds and was 27½ inches long, beating his personal best of 25 inches for salmon.

High rate of return on Jimmy Carter’s investment in national parks

ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION • May 4, 2025

Jimmy Carter is widely praised as an ex-president for his Nobel-prize-winning work eradicating diseases and enhancing democracy around the world and for building thousands of homes. But Carter’s most lasting legacy is a conservation quilt in the form of the many parks and wild spaces he preserved. Carter doubled the size of our National Park System, created 39 new national parks, designated 56 million acres of wilderness for protection and perpetually protected over 150 million acres through the Alaska Lands Act. Teddy Roosevelt was the only U.S. president to protect more land than Carter. Historically, every $1 invested in our National Park System directly returns at least $10 to the federal budget. The economic output of America’s national parks is over $55 billion annually. No one even remotely serious about ferreting out government waste would lay a finger on the National Park Service. It’s one of the few federal programs that actually makes money.

Residents resist plans to expand Maine’s largest landfill

NEWS CENTER MAINE • May 4, 2025

On the banks of the Penobscot River in Old Town, drums and chants echoed to pay respect and honor the important role the river plays in life and culture of the Penobscot Nation. The crowd, some 50 strong, were also gathered to protest plans to expand the nearby Juniper Ridge Landfill. Last year, the State of Maine approved plans to add nearly 12 million square yards of capacity to what is already Maine’s largest landfill. Due to appeals by members of the Penobscot Nation and Conservation Law Foundation, those plans are on pause. However, many still worry that Juniper Ridge will continue to grow. Of the half-dozen who spoke on Sunday was Kathy Paul, a Penobscot Nation elder and activist. Paul says she has seen the pollution taint the land and water that is sacred to her people. “I just can't sit still and let them ruin, ruin our land,” Paul said, noting her fears of what could come if the expansion occurs.

USFWS Gulf of Maine Coastal Program - Past, Present & Future, May 14

FRIENDS OF MERRYMEETING BAY • May 4, 2025

US Fish & Wildlife Service Coastal Program Project Leader Chris Meaney will talk about the evolution of the Program, current priorities, and future challenges and opportunities. May 14, 7 pm, Zoom, see www.fomb.org.