AI Merges with Underwater Photography to Unveil Ocean

MIT • June 26, 2025

In the Northeastern United States, the Gulf of Maine represents one of the most biologically diverse marine ecosystems on the planet. But even as this ecosystem supports rich biodiversity, it is undergoing rapid environmental change. The Gulf of Maine is warming faster than 99 percent of the world's oceans, with consequences that are still unfolding. A new research initiative developing at MIT Sea Grant, called LOBSTgER - short for Learning Oceanic Bioecological Systems Through Generative Representations - brings together artificial intelligence and underwater photography to document the ocean life left vulnerable to these changes and share them with the public in new visual ways. The project explores how generative AI can expand scientific storytelling by building on field-based photographic data.

Sweltering heat strains New England power grid, nearly breaks record for usage

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2025

Mainers and New Englanders at large were cranking air-conditioning units and fans Tuesday to try to sweat out the record heat that swept through the Northeast. The result of all that power usage? The highest amount of electricity the region has utilized at peak hours since 2013, as well as a low-level emergency that let operators activate reserve resources. Maine saw temperatures in the high 90s, with humidity driving the heat index well into the 100s. Numerous cities and towns hit triple digits, either breaking, equaling or coming within shouting distance of heat records. That included Portland, which hit 99 degrees, and Fryeburg, which hit 100 — both records for June 24. Augusta also reached a 100-degree high, while the Lewiston-Auburn area came just shy at 99 degrees.

Heat likely the cause of Casco Bay Bridge closure Wednesday

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2025

Northbound traffic into Portland on the Casco Bay Bridge came to a halt Wednesday afternoon as workers addressed a mechanical issue. Heat is the likely culprit for the mechanical issue, which has happened in the past. The police department announced that the northbound lane of the bridge was stuck open in a post on Facebook around 4:10 p.m. The post was updated around 4:30 p.m. to note the bridge was back open.

Rising number of jellyfish sightings reported at southern Maine beaches

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2025

Willard Beach received a special summer visitor over the weekend: a 5-foot-wide lion’s mane jellyfish that washed ashore at the popular South Portland destination. That jellyfish was one of an increasing number that Mainers have reported on or near the shore in recent weeks, prompting warnings of caution from officials and experts. There have been many other reports of jellyfish stinging humans or being spotted near land recently. So far this year the vast majority of sightings have been lion’s mane jellyfish, which is one of the largest species. Jellyfish aren’t new to Maine’s aquatic ecosystem, but their behaviors vary. Some years, there are none to be found, but in others — such as this year — they seem to appear everywhere.

Timber HP exits bankruptcy with long-term growth plan

WABI-TV5 • June 25, 2025

After filing for bankruptcy in March, a wood fiber insulation manufacturer announced a successful emergence. Timber HP in Madison will now get back into full swing and officials said they’re strategizing for long-term growth. Cianbro Corporation, who is the general contractor at the mill, remobilized on-site and is near completion of the manufacturing line for the company’s third product -- TimberBoard.

Opinion: Diversifying our energy sources will lower costs for seniors, protect national security

MAINE MORNING STAR • June 25, 2025

Roughly 100,000 Maine households struggle to pay energy bills. Maine residents deserve energy solutions that will drive costs down. Unless our leaders take action, it doesn’t seem like the threat of higher and higher energy prices is changing anytime soon. Older consumers are particularly vulnerable to the burden of high utility bills. our national security is also at stake. Relying on imported, expensive fuel exposes the United States to volatile energy markets overseas and gives our adversaries a leg up. Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont together spend $8.2 billion annually on imported energy. What Mainers need are sources that strengthen our grid resiliency and add more American energy to the mix. The answer lies right in front of us: we can lower electricity costs for seniors and protect our national security by diversifying our energy sources. Here in New England, offshore wind is a powerful domestic energy solution. ~ Steve Ball, Retired Colonel, 27 years in the U.S. Army, Windsor

Opinion: ‘Big, beautiful bill’ should not include sale of public lands

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2025

Even those who aren’t outdoorsy can appreciate time outside, so you might be shocked to learn that some politicians in Washington are trying to make such experiences less accessible. Being a conservative Republican, there’s a lot for me to like in the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, but there’s nothing beautiful about the portion of this bill which would allow the government to sell public lands. Out West, public land is key to livelihood and quality of life in many communities. The precious few federal lands in Maine include some of the finest in the world, including Acadia and Katahdin Woods and Waters. Keeping our great American public lands in public hands should be important wherever you live. Selling off our nation’s great natural heritage could open the door for Congress to sell public lands whenever it feels like it. If that happens, a fundamental building block of American greatness will have been ground into dust. Once these lands are sold, they are gone. ~ Steve Trafton, Hallowell

Kennebunk advances climate initiatives

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2025

The Town of Kennebunk is moving forward with its Climate Action Plan initiatives. At a recent select board meeting, the board unanimously accepted a state grant for solar panels and eliminated the use of single-use plastics in municipal spaces. In December of 2024, the town submitted an application to the Maine Governor’s Office of Policy and Innovation for a Community Resilience Partnership Community Action Grant that would fund the installation of rooftop solar panels at the Waterhouse Center in downtown Kennebunk. The total cost of the project is estimated at $107,000, and the grant will cover $75,000 of the price tag. The remaining $32,000 is anticipated to be funded through a clean energy tax credit.

Westbrook group pitches a new splash pad for kids

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2025

Friends of the Cornelia Warren Outdoor Recreation Area released results of its privately-funded survey that sought what residents would like for improvements. The survey showed 75% of 451 respondents favored a splash pad, “if taxes are not affected.” Federal and local funds could be available for improvements without local property tax money, but a city official Tuesday indicated improvements at the recreation area would be complicated. Warren and Fraser fields, both located within the Cornelia Warren Outdoor Recreation Area, are considered by Maine Department of Environmental Protection to be Tier III PFAS sites. Sludge had been previously applied to the fields.

Maine’s local bluefin fishery is healthy and sustainable, experts say

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 25, 2025

Bluefin tuna is one of the Gulf of Maine’s most prized resources, coveted by chefs and savvy home cooks for its superior flavor, high fat content and culinary versatility. Because it’s the most prized of the tuna species, bluefin is more expensive than yellowfin or bigeye. Demand for Gulf of Maine bluefin tuna has been growing. And local bluefin experts and sustainability authorities want you to know there are more than enough bluefin to meet that demand. In the late 1990s, Western Atlantic bluefin tuna stock assessments showed that the fishery was down as much as 90 percent from its numbers in 1970; Eastern Atlantic bluefin harvested off the Mediterranean were suffering as well. There was talk at the time of listing bluefin as an endangered species. A 20-year rebuilding plan enacted in 1998 by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas helped bolster bluefin stock on both sides of the Atlantic.

New laws will help Hancock County towns take over Bucksport-area dams

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 25, 2025

A group of towns in Hancock County is making plans to take ownership of two dams that a scrap metal company wants to get rid of. This month the Legislature approved, and Gov. Janet Mills signed into law, three bills that are aimed at allowing quasi-municipal watershed management districts to be formed to own and maintain dams on Alamoosook Lake and Toddy Pond. The towns that surround these lakes — Orland, Blue Hill, Surry and Penobscot — have been worried since last summer that the company that owns the dams could just abandon the properties, risking a severe reduction of water levels.

Letter: Collins should stand up for green energy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 25, 2025

Sen. Susan Collins’ political party has been taken over by people who want to further enrich themselves during the next few years. They want to stop the development of green energy and make us depend even more on fossil fuels, even though this would doom future generations to weather disasters. It will take a great deal of political courage to vote against this budget, to tell these men they cannot take our tax dollars and keep doing these things. And yet this is what we need Collins to do. ~ Richard Thomas, Waterville

A Bangor heat record was melted on Tuesday

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2025

Bangor’s high-temperature record for June 24 had stood for 30 years, but it didn’t stand a chance on Tuesday. The high of 98 degrees in the Queen City surpassed the old high mark of 93 degrees reached in 1995, 1975 and 1963.

Versant Power customers will see another rate increase next month

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 24, 2025

Versant Power customers will see their electricity bills rise slightly beginning July 1. The rate increase follows an earlier, larger increase that took effect in April. When the new rates go into effect, a typical residential customer in the Maine Public District who uses 500 kilowatt-hours per month will see a $2.80 increase to their monthly bill, Versant said. a typical residential customer in the Bangor Hydro District using 500 kWh per month is expected to see a 31-cent increase to their monthly bill. Versant, which is Maine’s second-largest electric utility, serves about 165,000 customers in northern and eastern Maine.

Part of former Jay paper mill to be waste processing site

SUN JOURNAL • June 24, 2025

A Bangor company is acquiring the landfill and wastewater treatment plant at the former Androscoggin Paper Mill. JayCo LLC has signed the documents to take over the site and is awaiting the transfer of permits, at which point the facility will become part of a statewide network of waste collection sites that feed a processing hub in Hampden operated by Municipal WasteHub, formerly known as the Municipal Review Committee. The nonprofit organization provides waste management services for about 115 Maine member municipalities. “We’ll use this site (Jay) for grinding wood debris and other environmental services, always keeping everything in state, with no out-of-state waste to be accepted,” Michael Carroll, executive director of Municipal WasteHub, wrote in an email.

Farm to Neighbor Maine Secures $99K Kendall Foundation Food Vision Prize

MORNING AG CLIPS • June 24, 2025

Farm to Neighbor Maine (F2N) has been awarded a $99,000 New England Food Vision Prize by the Henry P. Kendall Foundation. This significant award recognizes F2N’s innovative work, “Growing Collaborative Menu and Crop Planning with Maine School Nutrition Directors and Farmers,” which aims to enhance regional food sourcing by Maine’s K-12 cafeterias. Portland-based nonprofit Cultivating Community (a member of the F2N collaborative), is the fiscal sponsor for the award.

Maine Ranked 8th Best State for Outdoor Enthusiasts

SMILEHUB • June 24, 2025

Outdoor activities from water sports to searching for geocaches to hunting provide a wide range of benefits for states and their citizens. For individuals, being in nature boosts their physical and mental health. For states, the presence of outdoor activities provides an economic benefit, while also helping preserve natural areas through increased participation in conservation efforts. SmileHub compared each of the 50 states based on 18 key metrics. Outdoor Activity Friendliness of Maine (1=Best, 25=Ave):
• Overall Rank: 8th
• 10th - Outdoor Recreation Economic Impact
• 4th - Air Pollution
• 14th - Share of Adults Reporting No Leisure Time Physical Activity
• 26th - National Parks per Capita
• 1st - Camping Spots per Capita

Opinion: Maine’s ocean potential is vast if science leads the conversation

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • June 24, 2025

The ocean is the next battleground for so many projects including large-scale industrial aquaculture, offshore wind, and climate change. Embedded in all these conversations is what we want to produce and how we want to do it in our oceans. What are the impacts from any and all of these proposed projects? Maine likes to create task forces, but rarely does it let science or long-term data reviewed by marine industry experts – meaning those people who make their living on the water, lead its decision making. Take for example the membership of the Blue Economy Task Force. Many of the appointees to the committee make money from industrial-scale aquaculture, whether its building, shipping or equity investment. Protect Maine, however, is a cheerleader for science. If Maine really wants to be a leader and not just an apologist for industrial-scale aquaculture, Protect Maine believes the state needs more science and unbiased participation in mapping the Maine ocean. We should be asking what the inputs from every vantage point are and what the impacts are. ~ Crystal Canney, Protect Maine’s Fishing Heritage Foundation

How Maine is impacted by Trump administration's plans to rescind rule blocking national forest logging

WMTW-TV8 • June 24, 2025

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday that the Trump administration plans to rescind the Roadless Rule, which blocked logging on national forest lands for nearly 25 years. The Roadless Rule has affected 30% of national forest lands nationwide, or about 59 million acres. This includes the White Mountain National Forest. Part of that national forest is in western Maine bordered by communities such as Stow, Lovell, Stoneham, Bethel and Gilead. The White Mountain National Forest contains approximately 368,000 acres of inventoried roadless areas. The Roadless Rule has kept logging at bay on about 213,000 roadless acres, but the remaining 155,000 roadless acres are vulnerable to road construction and timber sales because they were identified later in the 2005 Forest Plan. The change marks a sharp turnaround from the Biden administration, which far from opening up more areas to timber harvesting sought to do more to restrict logging and protect old-growth forests.

Commentary: New England won’t be sacrificed to Big Oil

MAINE MORNING STAR • June 24, 2025

Do you remember the shocking images from the Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon oil spills? The oil-slicked birds, the wrecked beaches, the empty fishing boats, and worst of all, the stories of lost lives? The Trump administration wants to bring polluting and dangerous oil and gas offshore drilling back — including to our New England shores. Trump claims the U.S. is in an “energy emergency.” We’re not. In fact, we’re producing more fossil fuels than ever before. This isn’t about energy security. It’s about handing over our ocean to polluters. This flimsy justification won’t hold up in court, which is why we’ve joined Earthjustice and many other environmental organizations to challenge it. ~ Erica Fuller, Conservation Law Foundation