Opinion: Do not remove rail line from Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 13, 2025

The Legislature is currently considering a bill, LD 30, that would authorize removal of 25 miles of state-owned rail line from Portland to Auburn and replace it with a pedestrian trail costing at least $1 million a mile for which no funding is currently available. This would be a serious mistake, and the Legislature should reject or at least amend it to prohibit the use of state funds to remove rail. Most of the line is still in use for freight service. Rail removal in no way constitutes “interim use,” as LD 30 claims. Once rail is removed, it is highly unlikely rail service will ever return. A trail could be built alongside the railroad, as Maine has already done in six other locations. We support rail-with-trail construction on state-owned lines. ~ Peter Cole, Maine Rail Group

Opinion: Big Oil should pay Maine’s climate bill

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 13, 2025

Big Oil has denied for years that its products are harmful. Its members claim to be the clean energy leaders. The top five oil companies spend $125 million a year on green advertising to convince us of this. The facts present a different picture. In 2024, world oil production reached a new high, sending 40 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Rep. Grayson Lookner and Sen. Stacey Brenner have introduced legislation to establish a “Maine Climate Superfund.” The money would be used to clean up from storms and build new infrastructure to accommodate climate change. Damage to public and private infrastructure from last year’s winter storms cost over $100 million. Repair to our state electric grid cost an additional $228 million. Maine communities and taxpayers should not be stuck with these bills. Urge your legislators to support LD 1808 and LD 1870, the climate superfund bills. ~ Sue Inches

Care about climate change? Join your fellow Mainers. | Letter

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 13, 2025

In 1970, as a high school sophomore, I received permission from my parents to skip school and attend what was then the first Earth Day celebration march and protest in Philadelphia. I have vivid and cherished memories of that day, one in particular being that a U.S. senator from Maine — Ed Muskie — gave a speech! I was asked by my science teacher to lead our class in a discussion about Earth Day later that week. It is estimated that 20 million people nationwide attended hundreds of the inaugural Earth Day events, giving rise to the nascent environmental movement. And wouldn’t you know it, the Clean Water Act was passed two years later, in 1972. So, yeah! Care about climate change? Protest! ~ Harry Nelson, North Yarmouth

Maine lobstermen remain mighty political force despite shrinking numbers

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 12, 2025

Maine lobstermen once held more than 7,000 commercial licenses, but now about half many actively fish for Maine’s most valuable catch. The decline has occurred since the late 1990s as Maine’s commercial fishing industry, which is dominated by lobstermen, faces increasing challenges in the form of climate change, increased regulation and competition for space in the Gulf of Maine. While the drop has been gradual, its effects could be far-reaching, given lobstermen’s central role in Maine’s coastal economy and their political might in both Augusta and Washington D.C.

It will be raining rabies vaccines over Aroostook County this week

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 12, 2025

It will be raining rabies vaccines over Aroostook County this week. About 450,000 oral vaccines will be dropped from the air between Monday and Saturday, according to Lindsay Hammes, a spokesperson for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention. That will be in addition to the annual fall rabies vaccine drop. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services, which is partnering with the Maine CDC, is dropping the extra vaccine doses because of a spate of reports of rabid raccoons over the past year.

Bill would require Maine to adopt strictest standards on ‘forever chemicals’ in water

TIMES RECORD • May 12, 2025

A bill introduced by Maine Rep. Poppy Arford, D-Brunswick, last week would require the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to adopt the most stringent standards available on PFAS contamination. The bill, LD 1786, is among several “forever chemicals” bills that lawmakers will consider this session following a catastrophic firefighting foam spill at the Brunswick Executive Airport in August 2024. The proposed bill would require the DEP to post the most stringent standards on its website and share that information directly by email, mail or telephone with well owners who may be affected by PFAS contamination. It would also require the department to communicate up-to-date and clear test results and a list of resources available for remediation, testing and financial assistance. Even trace amounts of the forever chemicals that make up the bulk of the foam are considered a public health risk.

Falmouth’s Pollinator Parade marks 10 years of making a buzz

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 12, 2025

Families and young pollinator enthusiasts gathered at Maine Audubon’s Gilsland Farm in Falmouth on Saturday for the 10th annual Pollinator Parade. With young children and adults dressed as butterflies, bats, bumblebees and beekeepers, the event marked a decade of raising awareness of pollinators critical to the local environment. With 150 attendees donning raincoats and wings, the event had crafts, live music and a procession of the pollinators braving the drizzle. The pregnancy and early childhood organization Birth Roots and Maine Audubon have partnered on the event since 2015 to raise awareness about the vulnerability of pollinators, which are critical to ecosystem health and food systems.

Orange baby lobsters, the rarest of their kind, find a new home in Maine’s ocean

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 12, 2025

The odds of finding an orange lobster are 1 in 30 million. The University of New England just released 15 orange babies, no wider than a thumb and no longer than a pinky, into the wild to defy those odds.

Help for Maine seniors to purchase fresh, local produce

WABI • May 12, 2025

Mainers will soon start heading to farm stands for fresh vegetables, fruits, herbs and more. But for those on a fixed income, local produce may be considered a luxury. Ben Nelson is the fifth generation owner of Calkins Farm Stand in Hampden. It was the previous owner, his uncle who decided to start participating in the Maine Senior FarmShare program. “I think the first year we only had 20 shares or so, maybe,” recalls Nelson. “And now, we do a few hundred.” “It’s a revenue stream for farmers and it gets the best, healthiest produce to seniors,” says Craig Lapine, of the Bureau Agriculture, Food & Rural Resources. Through the Maine Senior FarmShare program, eligible Maine seniors are able to receive $50 worth of local produce annualy at no cost from Maine farmers during the growing season. 79 farms are providing fresh Maine produce directly to participants through the program this year, according to Joanna Tarrazi, Maine Senior FarmShare Program Manager. “Additionally, our partnership with the Maine Federation of Farmer’s Markets includes many additional farms that are providing produce to participants through our farmers’ market program." This year, 22 farmers’ markets are participating.

Timber company game-changing initiative will have big impact on wildlife

YAHOO! NEWS • May 12, 2025

Conservation groups and the timber company Wagner Forest Management have unveiled a groundbreaking initiative to protect 78,000 acres surrounding the Rangeley Lakes in Maine. Mark Berry, forest conservation manager for The Nature Conservancy, hailed the project as "significant at the scale of the entire Appalachian corridor." By permanently preserving this stretch of land, the effort strengthens regional biodiversity while contributing to the Appalachian wilderness. The newly announced project focuses on the Magalloway River watershed, a cold stronghold for trout.

Learn about protecting lands for the future at Rockport library

PENOBSCOT BAY PILOT • May 11, 2025

The last talk in the Rockport Conservation Commission's 2025 Climate Series at the Rockport Public Library will explore the critical role of natural lands and conservation in responding to climate change. On Wednesday, May 21, at 6 p.m., Jeremy Gabrielson, Associate Director of Planning with Maine Coast Heritage Trust (MCHT), will talk about the organization's work to enhance climate resilience and protect ecosystems. Attendees will learn what can be done to be good stewards of local lands for the future.

Maine lawmakers considering new dam safety reforms

MAINE MONITOR • May 10, 2025

After decades of understaffing, underfunding and dire warnings about the condition of Maine’s dam safety agency, state lawmakers are now considering expansive legislation that would revamp the office in charge of overseeing hundreds of aging Maine dams and set aside funds to fix them. L.D. 1848 would bolster the state’s enforcement actions against the owners of the most dangerous, derelict dams; expand mapping efforts to understand the downstream damages those dams would cause if they fail; and update the pay scale for Maine’s chief dam inspector after years of difficulty filling the position. L.D. 1382, seeks to allocate $5 million and up the maximum limit for a revolving loan designated for municipally- or quasi-municipally-owned dams. Together, the two bills mirror steps that other New England states have taken in the aftermath of catastrophic flooding and dam failures.

Debate over Maine’s ‘right to food’ continues with 3 new proposals

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 11, 2025

It’s been eight years since Maine passed the country’s first Food Sovereignty Act, allowing towns to approve ordinances letting residents buy and sell most food free of state regulation. And it’s been almost four years since voters amended the state’s constitution to include a right to food, laying the groundwork for future legal decisions about local food deregulation. But farmers, homesteaders, state agencies and lawmakers are still working out how to apply those principles. That’s apparent in the legislative session underway in Augusta, where bills addressing backyard chickens, working dogs and the right to food itself have continued the conversation and sparked some big reactions.

Car sinks in Sebago Lake after man drives off ferry dock

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 10, 2025

A car sank into Sebago Lake on Saturday morning after a Portland man drove off the unoccupied Frye Island Ferry dock and into the water. The driver, a 73-year-old Portland man, was able to escape the car before being helped to shore by good Samaritans. Officials notified the Maine Environmental Protection Agency of the incident because of the potential that the water could be contaminated.

Washington County wreath-making company fined nearly $16,000 for worker housing violations

MAINE MONITOR • May 10, 2025

The Maine Department of Labor contacted its federal counterpart last fall with concerns about the living conditions of workers at Worcester Resources, the family-owned Washington County company that supplies wreaths for the nonprofit Wreaths Across America. There were allegations that Worcester Resources was housing migrant laborers beneath the factory floor of its wreath-assembly facility in Topsfield, where smoke detectors weren’t functioning and debris was falling into the kitchen and sleeping quarters. Next door, thirty additional workers were allegedly living in two small, unsanitary bungalows, without access to potable water. fter a federal inspection, the company was cited for three “serious” violations and ultimately fined nearly $16,000. Over the past four years, Worcester Resources has racked up more than $50,000 in federal fines.

Opinion: Let’s align fisheries policies to protect Maine lobster harvesters

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 10, 2025

Canadian fisheries, in many cases, operate under stricter sustainability and size-based requirements than their U.S. counterparts. This regulatory disparity creates confusion, inefficiencies and competitive imbalances that must be addressed, not by retreating into isolation, but by working toward regulatory harmony at the federal level. The U.S. and Canadian fisheries are deeply interdependent. Species don’t recognize borders, and neither should sound fishery management. We urge policymakers to pursue solutions that reflect the reality of a shared ecosystem and a shared responsibility. ~ Tom Mazzetta, Mazzetta Company, LLC and Atwood Lobster, LLC, South Thomaston.

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.”