Bar Harbor business owners are pessimistic as tourism season begins

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 23, 2025

With the unofficial start of Bar Harbor’s tourism season just days away, local business owners are apprehensive about what 2025 might bring. The scenic seaside town on Mount Desert Island, which serves as a gateway to Acadia National Park, has attracted seasonal visitors for more than a century but this year is expected to present myriad challenges for the businesses and organizations that cater to tourists. President Donald Trump’s bellicose diplomacy could deter foreign tourists from coming, and his administration’s efforts to sharply reduce the federal budget could mean that more jobs at Acadia go unfilled — an obstacle that in recent years has also been caused by a lack of affordable housing in the area. But while those potential hurdles have yet to play out, one thing is for sure: there will be far fewer cruise ship visits in Bar Harbor this year than usual.

Opinion: We must protect our oceans’ golden geese

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2025

19 years ago, Jean-Michel Cousteau persuaded President George W. Bush to set aside 140,000 square miles of Pacific Ocean as critical marine sanctuary while phasing out commercial fishing. Barack Obama and Joe Biden followed suit — the former expanding fivefold the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument while the latter restored restrictions Donald Trump had overturned. Another Obama contribution, the New England Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument, hasn’t harmed the fishers, with Maine’s boats having netted $700 million-plus in 2024. For Trump, it’s a no-brainer to revert to practices that cause the depletion of commercially critical stocks. Marine monuments and sanctuaries cover small critical parts of the world’s oceans, and the denizens there need protection if enough of them are to wind up on our tables. ~ Neil Cote, Saco

Yarmouth Clam Festival returns with focus on sustainability

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2025

This year, the Yarmouth Clam Festival will make extra efforts to increase the event’s sustainability and reduce its environmental impact. The festival is marking its 60th anniversary and likely will see over 100,000 visitors during July 18-20. The emphasis on sustainability follows the Yarmouth Town Council adopting the Yarmouth Climate Action Plan last spring. One of the plan’s goals is to increase community collaborations toward reducing waste and emissions produced in Yarmouth.

Warren gets $4M EPA grant to clean up mountains of toxic carpet

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 23, 2025

After years of trying to deal with a property contaminated with heaps of toxic carpet scraps, the town of Warren has been awarded $4 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection to help clean it up. Warren will use the funding to clean up the 71-acre former Steamship Navigation site on Route 90, which has been littered with 300,000 cubic yards of carpet since the late 1990s when Chester Randall Dunican and his wife Kathleen began dumping the material there to serve as berms for a proposed rifle range.

Maine has the most land trusts per capita of any state, according to new report

MAINE PUBLIC • May 23, 2025

A new report shows that Maine's 84 land trusts have conserved nearly three million acres, protecting both public access and natural resource-based industries at a scale that's unmatched in most parts of the country. That's partially because Maine has very little public land, said Jeff Romano, director of Public Policy at Maine Coast Heritage Trust. "New Hampshire, has over 20% of its land publicly owned, whereas in Maine, it's less than 7%," he said. The report finds that Maine ranks far behind many other states for its overall percentage of public lands. Most land trusts remain on the tax rolls, and Romano said more than 6,000 volunteers are working to restore marshes, preserve wildlife corridors and create hiking trails as public demand for more conservation land increases.

Maine solar developer fined for water pollution

MAINE PUBLIC • May 23, 2025

A solar company has been fined almost $236,000 by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for polluting the Kennebec River during construction of a 5 megawatt array in Embden. Sediment runoff from a development by Tower Solar Partners LLC ran into the river from nearby Alder Stream, according to its agreement with the department. Erosion control measures were improperly installed and not maintained. The company spent more than $722,000 to remediate the impact of noncompliance, in addition to the state penalty. Tower Partners was purchased in 2022 by Luminace, a subsidiary of Brookfield Renewables.

Backyard chicken bill making its way through Maine State House

SPECTRUM NEWS • May 23, 2025

A bill to require cities and towns to allow backyard chickens is flying through the State House and should soon land on Gov. Janet Mills desk. In 2021, Maine was the first state to enshrine a right to food in its state constitution. But after a public hearing, the Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee simplified the bill, stating only that “a county or municipality may not adopt a regulation or ordinance that prohibits a person from keeping chickens on that person’s residential property.” The bill passed the House 131-8 and sailed through the Senate without a roll call vote. Cities and towns can regulate backyard chickens through ordinances related to health and safety, but the bill will not allow them to ban them.

Patagonia drops lawsuit against Marden’s over fake jackets

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2025

Patagonia has dropped its trademark lawsuit against the Maine bargain retailer Marden’s Surplus and Salvage. The outdoor gear and clothing company sued Marden’s in March in the U.S. District Court of Maine. It claimed Marden’s was knowingly selling counterfeit jackets and down sweaters with replicas of Patagonia’s trademarked mountain-range logo. Patagonia called the fakes “virtually identical,” according to the lawsuit. Marden’s had these jackets on racks at its stores in Scarborough, Biddeford, Gray and Sanford, according to the lawsuit. But a general manager for the Maine company said it was unaware the products were counterfeit. Patagonia did not specify the reason for dropping the lawsuit. Marden’s worked with Patagonia outside of the courtroom.

York County hospitality industry reports Canadian bookings are down

MAINE PUBLIC • May 23, 2025

When President Donald Trump said he wanted to make Canada the 51st state and then slapped 25% tariffs on Canadian imports in March, former Canadian Premier Justin Trudeau angrily shot back that Canadians would not come to Old Orchard Beach this summer. The Mills Administration met with the hospitality industry this week to talk about the fallout of that rhetoric on tourism in York County. Seaside Inn owner Ken Mason said reservations are down nearly 20% and he had to refund close to $7,000 in pre-booking deposits. Chris Whittaker of Ocean Park Realty in Old Orchard Beach said his vacation rental business is also down. Data show Canadians spent almost half a billion dollars in Maine in 2024.

Scarborough council opposes amendment to state bill regarding Scarborough Beach State Park

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2025

The Scarborough Town Council has passed a resolution opposing an amendment to state bill LD 1093, which would allow Maine State Park passholders to access Scarborough Beach State Park for free. Management and residents expressed concern for overcrowding and a loss of revenue.

Maine business owners feel pinch from lack of Canadian tourists amid tariff uncertainty

WGME-TV13 • May 23, 2025

Memorial Day weekend marks the unofficial start to summer but a big question remains in Maine: How will the trade war between United States and Canada impact tourism in the state? According to the Maine Office of Tourism, nearly 800,000 Canadian visitors spent approximately $497.7 million in 2024. Overall, Canadians made up about 5% of last year's total of 14.8 million visitors, who spent more than $9.2 billion. That total spending supported 115,900 jobs in Maine and generated $5.4 billion in wages, according to the tourism office. Gov. Janet Mills, however, said in a radio address that Maine could lose an estimated 225,000 visitors from Canada this year as a result of U.S. tariffs on Canadian imports, as well as President Donald Trump's calls to make Canada the 51st state.

Last-minute hitch imperils Appalachian Trail conservation project in Somerset County

MORNING SENTINEL • May 22, 2025

A long-planned deal that would give the National Park Service 1,845 acres of forest next to the Appalachian Trail corridor in Somerset County hit a snag Wednesday when a majority of the county commissioners objected to it. The nonprofit land trust facilitating the transaction had asked the county to express its lack of objection, a requirement imposed at the last minute by the federal government before it would approve more than $2 million in funding for the conservation project. But three of the five Somerset County commissioners said at their regular meeting Wednesday in Skowhegan they would not support the county issuing a “no objection” letter, largely because the acquisition would close the area to hunting. Their decision, which could change in the coming days as the commissioners review more information, puts the chance to permanently conserve the land in jeopardy.

After hailing them as important, EPA cancels PFAS research grants

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 23, 2025

Despite hailing them as important, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has cancelled $15 million in grants to research and reduce the effect of forever chemicals on farms, including almost $5 million in local research projects to the University of Maine, the Mi’kmaq Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe. “These funds were congressionally approved and appropriated, and they cannot be terminated in this way,” said Chelli Stanley of Upland Roots, a group working on the Mi’kmaq Nation grant. “It is unconstitutional.” Earlier this month, U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins assured Maine Senator Susan Collins that $17 million the agency had awarded to the Agriculture Research Service and UMaine to establish a new PFAS research lab was still intact.

The secret tunnels keeping Mainers safe from dangerous animal crashes

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 22, 2025

In Maine, the odds of a driver hitting an animal are 1 in 83. From large passages under roads to small ones for turtles and snakes, Maine is quietly embracing methods long used in the western U.S. to divert animals around high-strike roads and areas reshaped by development. Not visible to drivers, there are at least six such passages built or planned in Aroostook County. So far, they seem to be minimizing animal fatalities, human injuries and vehicle damage. “Anything that can keep wildlife off the roads that our people are using is very much appreciated,” said Penny Thompson, city manager of Caribou.

Tax bill passed by House Republicans would gut Biden-era clean energy tax credits

ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 22, 2025

The multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package passed by House Republicans early Thursday would gut clean energy tax credits that Democrats approved three years ago while supporting increased mining, drilling and other traditional energy production. A marathon session that began Wednesday resulted in 1,100-plus page legislation that curbs billions of dollars in spending across food assistance, student loans, Medicaid and action to address climate change.

U.S. Senate vote to nix California tailpipe emissions standard blocks Maine, 16 other states

MAINE MORNING STAR • May 22, 2025

The U.S. Senate voted early Thursday to prevent California from enforcing regulations on tailpipe emission from new cars and trucks, upending state regulations for the nearly 40% of Americans whose states, including Maine, follow California standards. The House has already passed an identical measure, meaning the Senate vote sends the resolution to President Donald Trump’s desk. Democrats blasted the near-party-line vote for contradicting the Senate parliamentarian, who’d ruled the waiver that the EPA had granted to California to set its own tailpipe standards was not a regulation that could be rolled back under the Congressional Review Act. Maine Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King split over the emission rule, with Collins joining all the other Republicans blocking the states from setting more stringent standards than Congress enacted in 1970.

Maine’s heat pump boom has been promising for rural workforce development. Can it last?

MAINE MONITOR • May 22, 2025

Six years ago, Gov. Janet Mills set a goal of installing 100,000 heat pumps, an environmentally friendly alternative to oil furnaces and gas boilers, by 2025. The state, now a national leader for heat pump adoption, met that goal two years ahead of schedule, and Mills set a new target: another 175,000 heat pumps by 2027. Maine needs skilled workers to reach this goal. But the state must employ more than 14,000 new workers to reach its goal of 30,000 clean energy jobs by the end of the decade. While the state says it remains dedicated to this goal, some in the industry worry federal funding cuts and tariffs could create challenges for the workforce development pipeline.

Cyclists in Lewiston-Auburn pedal silently for safer roads

SUN JOURNAL • May 22, 2025

Cyclists came to the corner of Lincoln Street in Lewiston Wednesday night to participate in a somber yearly occurrence to memorialize cyclists killed by motor vehicles, and to promote sharing the road. The Ride of Silence, hosted by the Maine Cycling Club and chaperoned by Lewiston and Auburn police, took place through the Twin Cities. The mission of the event is to honor cyclists killed by motorists while raising awareness about bicycling safety. 

Advocates flood the statehouse as clean energy bills come up for debate

MAINE PUBLIC • May 22, 2025

More than 100 clean energy advocates gathered at the Maine State House in Augusta Thursday to urge lawmakers to pass several bills. Sierra Pearl is an electrical apprentice who said she sees solar as the future. But with federal uncertainty and sometimes hostility toward clean energy, she said the work she and her fellow apprentices have been counting on has dried up. Under consideration are bills aimed at reaching 90% clean energy by 2040, creating a cabinet-level Department of Energy, and creating new affordability standards for utilities. With the chilling effect uncertainty at the federal level has caused over clean energy tax credits and other funding, House and other advocates said that it's more important than ever to invest in renewables at the state level.

Wild oysters are returning to Midcoast Maine waters

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 22, 2025

Wild American oysters, long considered extinct in Midcoast Maine, have returned to the region, according to a recent study. With the help of local shellfish harvesters, researchers from the University of Maine identified the oysters in nearly 40 areas along the coastal Damariscotta River. And they raised questions about whether aquaculture farms could be responsible for the species’ return to the wild. The study also reported steep declines in soft-shell clam and mussel populations. The conclusion, the study asserts, is that industry input and participation helps scientists and rulemakers best understand Maine’s marine ecosystems — and, in turn, can help them better write the regulations that affect fishermen’s day-to-day lives.