Letter: The real driver of Maine’s rising electricity rates

SUN JOURNAL • May 10, 2025

The recent article on Maine’s rising electricity rates (“Maine’s electricity prices grew at third fastest rate in U.S., analysis shows,” April 27) gives an incomplete picture of the real causes and solutions. Rates have risen in Maine, but they are still among the cheapest in New England. The article blames high costs on renewable energy but downplays the real driver: our dependence on natural gas. Renewables have no fuel cost. Solar, wind, geothermal and hydropower energy will always be cheaper than polluting gas, oil and coal. The wise investment is to build infrastructure that will deliver lower-cost clean energy efficiently. ~ Daniel Amory, Portland

Maine fishermen chart new course after Trump’s push to deregulate

ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 9, 2025

Trade imbalances with Canada, tight regulations on fisheries and offshore wind farms towering like skyscrapers on open water pose three of those threats, said Virginia Olsen, part of the fifth generation in her family to make a living in the lobster trade. That’s why she was encouraged last month when President Donald Trump signed an executive order that promises to restore American fisheries to their former glory. The order promises to shred fishing regulations, and Olsen said that will allow fishermen to do what they do best — fish.

AmeriCorps cuts threaten climate resilience, conservation across Maine

MAINE MONITOR • May 9, 2025

The notice came late Friday, April 25: Federal funding for all eight AmeriCorps programs that Volunteer Maine administers in the state — $2.5 million annually — was being immediately terminated. The cuts are part of a broader Trump administration effort to dismantle AmeriCorps, a 30-year-old independent federal agency whose mission is to “improve lives, strengthen communities, and foster civic engagement through service and volunteering.” Nationwide, more than 1,000 state and national AmeriCorps programs and $400 million in grants have been axed. In Maine, the move threatens services in dozens of communities spanning all 16 counties, including programs focused on climate resiliency and conservation, and more than 120 AmeriCorps positions. “These terminations are undermining the promise we made to those who answered the call to serve. You’re going to have generational loss.”

Column: 10 popular birding walks are coming up in the Bangor area

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 9, 2025

To become an experienced birder, you only need one thing. Experience. There are two ways to get it. You can just get out there, do it, make every mistake in the book and learn slowly. Or you can borrow experience from someone else and speed things up a little. Penobscot Valley Audubon has launched this year’s series of Neighborhood Bird Walks. I’ll lead the walk on Monday, May 19. If you’ve ever worried that people will laugh at your mistakes, don’t fret. You can go on my walk and laugh at my mistakes instead. ~ Bob Duchesne

Rumors of a wealthy landowner swirl after Maine hiking land closes

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 9, 2025

Rumors of a super-wealthy landowner are circulating after a newcomer closed a prime piece of hiking land along Moosehead Lake and began building a large waterfront home. Joe Babbitt, the Select Board chair in Beaver Cove, said, “There’s all kinds of gossip out there, saying it’s everyone from the sultan of Egypt to ‘insert your billionaire of choice here.’” The owner bought four parcels totaling more than 1,400 acres for $8.1 million in 2022 through two holding companies in a transaction that included Burnt Jacket Mountain and its trail system, which was closed to the public last October, along with 12,000 feet of lake frontage. The sudden decision to close the land to the public has saddened residents and caused concern for local businesspeople. Carla Ritchie, president of the Moosehead Regional Land Trust, wants to know the landowner’s identity so her organization can work with them to preserve public access to the mountain and its trails.

Opinion: How water bottles became the unofficial mascot of American overkill

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 9, 2025

I want to talk about the perils of hauling around what amounts to a personal metal water tower in your bag and the psychic trauma it inflicts upon those around you when you drop it. It’s finals week. It was harrowing. It was the chorus of thunderous metallic gongs hitting the floor throughout the entire exam. CLONGGG! I’m talking about the ubiquitous 32-ounce metal hydration flask, the unofficial mascot of American overkill. Once a humble container to hold a modest amount of water, it has become something larger and louder. At what point did we, as a society, decide that carrying around enough water to sustain a family farm was necessary to survive an hour-long meeting? Let’s bring back the humble 12-ounce water bottle. Let’s resurrect the modest water fountain. Let’s accept that we can make it through our day without tactical hydration gear. ~ Rob Glover, associate professor of political science, University of Maine

Opinion: Conservation is an American value. A federal proposal threatens to change that

AKRON BEACON JOURNAL • May 8, 2025

In 1973, the American people — speaking through their elected representatives — passed the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This landmark legislation received near-unanimous support from both Democrats and Republicans. The law unambiguously affirms that conservation is an American value. Following its passage, the responsibility for implementation was assigned to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. For decades, the ESA has been implemented based on the best available science, carefully balancing species protection with economic impacts and individual property rights. For more than 50 years, it has served as the gold standard for how Americans do conservation and is credited with saving hundreds of species from extinction. Unfortunately, a recent federal proposal threatens to undermine the ESA and make meaningful species protection nearly impossible. You can submit comments on the proposed rule change at: https://federalregister.gov/d/2025-06746 

Feds cut $9M for Down East coastal restoration project

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 8, 2025

Maine has lost $9 million it was awarded to reduce flooding and restore fish habitat Down East, making the project another victim of the Trump administration’s continued efforts to cut federal spending. NOAA notified the Maine Department of Marine Resources that the project was no longer “relevant” to the administration’s priorities. The grant was meant to elevate a road in Addison so it wouldn’t flood and to add a culvert that would help fish and lobster swim into a salt marsh along the Pleasant River. The effort is part of a larger project to restore tidal flow in that area after it was blocked in the 1940s. Down East communities are among the “most vulnerable” in the state to rising sea levels.

Former National Park Service Directors Urge Burgum To Reverse Course On Parks

NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER • May 8, 2025

In a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum five former directors of the National Park Service say new directives tell "park managers to ignore their park resource protection responsibilities in favor of providing for visitor services. We believe that these directions are contradictory with the law and the intent of Congress.” The letter was signed by Jonathan Jarvis, NPS director under President Obama; Fran Mainella (George W. Bush); Robert Stanton (Bill Clinton); James Ridenour (George H. W. Bush); and Ronald Walker (Richard Nixon); as well as 13 former deputy directors. Donald Trump since taking office has worked with businessman Elon Musk to rescind offers for seasonal positions to some 1,000 NPS employees. In addition, an estimated 2,500 employees have resigned or retired. Meanwhile, Trump's proposed 2026 budget calls for more than $1 billion in cuts to the Park Service and a number of parks to be handed over to states to manage. 

Bill to kill Gorham Connector crashes in committee

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 8, 2025

A bill that would ensure the controversial Gorham Connector proposal is dead was soundly rejected by the Legislature’s transportation committee this week. LD 1020 would repeal 2017 legislation that directed the Maine Turnpike Authority to plan and build a toll highway extension from South Portland, through Scarborough and Westbrook, to Gorham. The bill follows the authority’s announcement in March that it enlisted the Maine Department of Transportation to consider alternative solutions to commuter traffic congestion west of Portland. Neither agency has said the connector proposal has been dropped entirely.

Wabanaki group restoring 245-acre farm in Swanville as food hub

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 8, 2025

A Wabanaki-led food sovereignty organization recently acquired a 245-acre farm in Swanville, marking the return of Wabanaki stewardship to ancestral lands in the Penobscot Bay region. Niweskok: From the Stars to Seeds, a collaboration of Wabanaki food and medicine providers, has focused for years on reinvigorating traditional crops and land management strategies, distributing traditional foods and hosting workshops. But they did not have a permanent land base until buying the farm. “Now, with this land, we have permanency of place — and the ability to continue this work for generations to come,” said Alivia Moore, a Penobscot Nation citizen and Niweskok co-director.

Taking the Pulse of Our Parks & Public Lands

Jym St. Pierre, May 6, 2025

I first became aware of the expansive array of national lands in the United States more than half a century ago when I read One Third of the Nation’s Land (1970, Public Land Law Review Commission) for a college course. Since then, I have been fascinated by the extraordinary collection of parks, forests, refuges, and other areas designated for people and wildlife across the wide expanse of North America. Over the decades, I have had opportunities to explore dozens of public lands in the eastern and western parts of the U.S. However, I had not been to many of those in the middle.

This Spring, I spent five weeks on a cross-country road trip from Maine, down the spine of the Appalachians, across a southern tier, over the western deserts and mountain ranges to the Pacific, then back east through the northern states. I could not get to every national park, historical park, monument, preserve, parkway or other unit within the National Park System, or other public land, but I did visit more than four dozen in the whirlwind tour (list below). It gave me a better sense of the scope of our nation’s public lands coast to coast.

You can read the entire report here.

Maine students head outdoors for Life Happens Outside Challenge

SUN JOURNAL • May 8, 2025

The Teens to Trails’ Life Happens Outside Challenge is urging Maine students to trade the indoors for the outdoors during a weeklong outing beginning May 9. The challenge encourages schools to track how many minutes students spend outside during that time, with a prize of $1,000 for the top three middle schools. The event, open to middle schools, has 25 schools participating this year. Alicia Heyburn, Teens to Trails’ executive director, said the idea behind the challenge is simple: to help students contemplate how they spend their free time and learn through experience the benefits of time outdoors.

Letter: A fairer version of Maine’s proposed EV fee

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 8, 2025

I’ve owned two fully electric cars since 2011. I wholeheartedly agree that I should be supporting the state highway fund to replace the road use taxes I’d have paid if I were driving a gas car. But $250 per year? A gas vehicle would pay $53, about 21% of the proposed fee. A fair tax would be based on vehicle weight and miles driven to compensate for the damage done to our highways. The heavier the vehicle, and the more it was driven, the higher the fee. To make sure nonresidents pay their share, we can still charge a tax at the pump. That way all residents and nonresidents would pay their fair share, not just EV owners. ~ Daniel Abbott, Portland

Opinion: Sporting camp legislation would harm nonprofit groups

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 8, 2025

Operation Reboot Outdoors takes veterans on outdoor adventures, including hunting and fishing trips cost free. Rep. Jared Golden’s office was successful in getting us $770,000 toward building our state’s first ADA-accessible hunting lodge so that we can have a wide range of vets, including the severely disabled, do overnights with us. Unfortunately, there is a group pushing, LD 1737, which would create a new term, “commercial sporting camp.” This bill has problems. Some bureaucrat from DHHS is potentially going to be judging whether caretakers live close enough, whether they got too many short-term rentals or whether their share of day visitors (food, gas, lodging customers) was too great to qualify for a lodge moose permit tag. The Legislature must resoundingly defeat this proposal. ~ Dan Waite, Turner

Canoe racing is returning to the Allagash

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 8, 2025

A new 15-mile downriver Class II whitewater canoe and kayak race is sparking some buzz among veteran paddlers still deciding whether to make the trek north. The inaugural Tylor Kelly Allagash Dash, slated for 10 a.m. May 18, was recognized by Maine Canoe & Kayak Racing Organization as the 11th race in a 2025 series that awards racers points as it goes along, according to Jake Feener, who is organizing the event with his wife Lisa. The race’s namesake, Tylor Wade Kelly was competitive, racing just about anything — including wooden canoes with wooden paddles he made himself.

Opinion: Removing navigational buoys is an unsafe idea

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 8, 2025

The United States Coast Guard proposal to remove inshore buoys in favor of using GPS electronic displays for inshore navigation is the most ridiculous, unsafe nautical idea I’ve ever heard. During my career in the Coast Guard and as a Merchant Marine officer, I’ve used every form of offshore navigation available to determine our position from sextant to shipboard electronics including loran, sat-nav, GPS and radar. Taken together they ensure the vessels’ safety. Hazards are everywhere: reefs, shoals and even wrecks. I cannot imagine members of the merchant marine/sailing brotherhood supporting such an unsafe U.S. Coast Guard action as removing buoys and subsequently deleting their location from the thousands of United States nautical charts and GPS displays. Without buoys as aids to navigation serious groundings will certainly follow. ~ Richard de Grasse, Islesboro, Coast Guard veteran and retired U.S. Merchant Marine officer

‘Relentless’ effort needed to get Maine ready for extreme weather, commission says

SUN JOURNAL • May 7, 2025

The 24-member Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission was established by Gov. Janet Mills in May 2024 after several extreme storms rocked the state in late 2023, wiping out infrastructure and flooding roadways. The commission aimed to create a long-term resiliency plan for the state as extreme storms become more common due to climate change. The commission’s plan has three core pillars: strengthening infrastructure and reducing disaster risk, improving disaster preparedness and response, and sustaining the state’s resilience momentum. A statement from Mills’ office said the increasing uncertainty about federal disaster funding highlights the importance of the state’s efforts to address climate change.

Appalachian Trail Conservancy Decries President's Proposed Budget

NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER • May 7, 2025

President Donald Trump's fiscal 2026 budget proposal is anathema to the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. According to the organization, the budget outline presented by the president proposes to "slash funding and fundamentally alter the structure and functions" of the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service. "The reported staffing reductions this year, including over 4,000 at USFS, are already affecting operations across both the USFS and NPS, from trail maintenance to permitting and recreational access," the organization said. In addition, the budget proposes to potentially give to the states NPS assets that are not “national parks.” The Appalachian National Scenic Trail is a unit of the National Park System, but not a national park.

Deer tick populations further solidify footing in Maine; ecologists monitor for new species

MAINE PUBLIC • May 7, 2025

Vector ecologists at the MaineHealth Institute for Research say there's good news and bad news when it comes to tick populations in the state and the diseases they carry. The bad news is that even though ticks may be top of mind during warm weather, they're remaining active well into December. And deer tick populations are established in every county in Maine except Aroostook, said vector ecologist Chuck Lubelczyk. The good news, he said, is that Maine still does not have any established populations of the aggressive lone star tick, which carries a bacteria that can cause an allergy to red meat.