Belfast makes plans to clean up 2 contaminated buildings

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 23, 2025

The city of Belfast has made plans to deal with two contaminated downtown buildings it owns in the coming months. The city received $2 million through the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Brownfields program earlier this year to clean up the former Waldo County Superior Courthouse and a dilapidated building at 74 High St. known as Bradbury Manor so they can be reused. A consulting firm hired by the city, TRC, is proposing to demolish and abate the manor site while containing contaminated soil, and to abate materials at the former courthouse during the renovation process along with capping soil.

Is Maine’s drought making seasonal allergies worse?

CENTRAL MAINE • October 23, 2025

Maine’s extended drought could be prolonging the fall allergy season, but there isn’t enough data available to confirm a connection, experts say. During a drought, there is no rain to “wash” pollen out of the air, said Andrea Nurse, a researcher at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute. Instead, the pollen released by a common fall weed like ragweed stays adrift longer and travels farther, making it harder for people to avoid. Drought-related winds can also pick up and recirculate old tree and grass pollens left on top of a parched ground. Despite these facts, scientists and doctors can’t yet prove whether droughts like the one currently gripping Maine — new federal data shows 93% of the state was in severe or extreme drought as of Tuesday — make seasonal allergies worse.

Despite recent rain, drought continues to spread statewide

MAINE PUBLIC • October 23, 2025

Despite this week's rainfall, the entire state of Maine is now experiencing some drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report. Around 93% of the state has been impacted by severe drought conditions, up from 73% last week. Senior service hydrologist Sarah Jamison with the national weather service in Gray said the four inches or so of rain was a good first step — but that Maine will need another 10 to 12 inches before winter to get fully out of the woods.

Tourists flocked to Aroostook County this summer

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 23, 2025

Nearly double the number of people who visited Aroostook County in 2024 visited this summer, according to numbers released Thursday by the Maine Office of Tourism. Final tourism numbers won’t be out until the end of the year, but the snapshot of summer travel indicates 7.3 million people spent time in Maine, 6% fewer than last year’s 7.8 million. But Aroostook drew about 511,000 tourists during the season, a significant jump over roughly 300,000 people in 2024.

Part of Riverside Trail closed indefinitely because of safety, maintenance concerns

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 23, 2025

A section of the Riverside Trail in Portland is closed indefinitely as Portland Trails begins repairs and cleanup following the removal of several homeless encampments on the trail along the Presumpscot River. The closure, which affects about a mile of trail between Forest and Warren avenues, took effect Oct. 17. Portland Trails, a nonprofit that maintains almost 100 miles of trails, had previously issued an alert for the area, warning trail users of safety hazards and advising caution, but decided last week to move to a full closure after the encampments along the river were swept.

Trump administration finalizes plan to open pristine Alaska wildlife refuge to oil and gas drilling

ASSOCIATED PRESS • October 23, 2025

The Trump administration on Thursday finalized a plan to open the coastal plain of Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling, renewing long-simmering debate over whether to drill in one of the nation’s most sensitive wilderness areas. The plan fulfills a promise by President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans to open this portion of the refuge to possible development. The massive GOP bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, passed during the summer, called for at least four lease sales within the refuge over a 10-year period.

Yarmouth trail signs highlight Wabanaki language, tradition

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 23, 2025

Amid the chirps of chickadees, clamor of squirrels scampering up hemlock trunks and the soft flow of the Royal River, Passamaquoddy/Maliseet words can be heard in the woods of Yarmouth once again. “Nulasihkuwolpon Sipuhsisuwi Kcihq,” says the voice of Dwayne Tomah. “Welcome to Riverfront Woods Preserve.”  The words emerge from the Wabanaki interpretive sign project in Yarmouth’s Riverfront Woods Preserve. Officially completed this week, the educational signs erected throughout the preserve share the history and cultural life of the Wabanaki Confederacy and its long connection to the diverse ecologies in the 50 wooded acres.

Opinion: Our Rurality Reality: Demographics, Disparate Impact

MACHIAS VALLEY NEWS OBSERVER • October 23, 2025

Maine is promulgating climate, energy, and equity policies that have had an adverse disparate impact on rural Maine. Climate policy has driven up energy and electricity prices, been opaque as to the size and distribution of the costs and benefits (averted climate change), and loudly pursued equity without defining it. Legislation from 2nd Congressional District Republican leadership offered several opportunities to correct these issues. A series of party line votes assured that the adverse disparate impact will continue. Maine has increased public/conservation land holdings using generous Land for Maine’s Future funding. The 30% goal would require doubling public lands holdings by adding 3 million acres. Public lands holdings and acquisitions are concentrated in the 2nd CD - no county in the 1st CD has even double digits in public holdings: The 30% public lands goal has an adverse disparate impact on the 2nd CD, removing much larger percentages of the tax base, and it is only going to get worse. ~ Jon Reisman

Mainers are building energy-saving window inserts for one another

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 23, 2025

For more than a decade, the nonprofit WindowDressers has offered low- or no-cost window inserts, designed to plug drafty windows and keep heat indoors. Armstrong, a longtime volunteerturned coordinator, said the Rockland-based group helps New Englanders lower their heating bills while bringing people together for “community build” sessions.

Letter: Wildlife will pay the price for our population explosion

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 23, 2025

In their reporting on the careers of Jane Goodall and David Attenborough, CNN, NPR and PBS all skipped mention of their many statements warning of dire consequences for wildlife, their habitats and us if we don’t find ways to cork the population-growth genie — and soon. ~ Anthony Taylor, Buxton

Northern Maine farm receives statewide community service award

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 23, 2025

A family-run farm in northern Maine is now getting statewide recognition. Freckle Farm in St. David is this year’s recipient of the Maine Institute for Family-Owned Business Shep Lee Community Service Award. The award, according to the Portland-based institute, recognizes a business of any size that demonstrates a commitment to giving back to the community, volunteerism, and employee service to the community. The 2.4-acre farm is run by Keren and Corey Morin. The Morins and their five children mostly handle everything at the farm, and will occasionally get help from volunteers. The farm began in 2020 as an effort to tackle food insecurity amid the COVID-19 pandemic. They were shocked to see empty grocery store shelves in their town in 2020. This motivated them to start the farm and prevent their neighbors in town from going hungry.

Column: The nightmare every Maine hunter fears

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 23, 2025

I had a terrible dream the other night. Not a Stephen King-style horror that haunts you in the dark, but a different kind of nightmare. In it, hunting simply didn’t exist. No rifles, no bows, no shotguns. No hunters wandering the woods. A world without one of America’s oldest traditions. I thought about how lucky we are to live in a country where, with few exceptions, nearly anyone can hunt. For me, it is about putting meat on the table, but it is also much more. The woods and fields are my cathedral, a place where I find peace, rejuvenation and a sense of being whole. Those opposed to hunting might find that elsewhere. I have yet to see it. I feel sorry for those who never understand the need or passion as I do. ~ Al Raychard

Earthquake hits near Maine island

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 22, 2025

An earthquake rattled Monhegan early Sunday morning. The magnitude 2 temblor shook the ground at a depth of 6.7 miles just about 1.8 miles north of the midcoast island about 3:13 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Since 1997, there have been more than 150 recorded earthquakes in the state. The strongest quake in recent memory occurred on Oct. 16, 2012, when a 4.5 magnitude earthquake shook the ground in East Waterboro.

Waste stream experts to speak about plastic at Brunswick and Bath libraries

TIMES RECORD • October 22, 2025

The Neighborhood United Church of Christ in Bath and the Earth Care Team of First Parish Church in Brunswick are partnering to inform area residents about the many related challenges and opportunities that go along with plastic pollution. Curtis Memorial Library in Brunswick will host the first evening at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 30. The second evening is slated for 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 5, at Patten Free Library in Bath. On the first evening, Mariel Geiger, policy lead of the Surfrider Foundation’s Maine Chapter, will speak on “The Good, The Bad and the Ugly of Plastics.” Vanessa Berry, the Natural Resource Council of Maine’s Sustainable Maine program manager will follow, speaking on Maine’s first-in-the-nation “Extended Producer Responsibility for Packaging” legislation. The second evening will feature Megan Mansfield-Pryor, Bath city councilor and Waste Management Climate Policy advisor at the Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future. She will speak on “Town Efforts to Reduce Plastic Pollution.” Also featured will be Bea Johnson, ecomaine environmental educator, speaking on the topic of “What To Do About Plastics in Your Home.”

Brunswick Rotary Club presents Phillips Award to conservationist

HARPSWELL ANCHOR • October 22, 2025

Brunswick conservationist Jym St. Pierre has been named the sixth recipient of the Brunswick Rotary Club’s annual Walter H. “Doc” Phillips Memorial Award, named for a late Harpswell volunteer. The club presented the award Oct. 16 during a ceremony at the Harpswell Town Office. St. Pierre, who lives in Brunswick, has spent nearly five decades protecting Maine’s natural landscapes. Since 1995, he has served as Maine director of RESTORE: The North Woods. He previously worked with the Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society, the Northern Forest Alliance and the Maine Department of Conservation. He also helped found the Kennebec Land Trust and Maine Conservation Voters. He continues to serve on the board of Friends of Baxter State Park, as well as the Brunswick Town Commons Committee.

Maine summer visitor numbers down slightly, despite fears of broader fallout from Canadian boycott

MAINE PUBLIC • October 22, 2025

Fewer Canadians visited Maine this summer, but the drop-off was not as bad as many in the state's hospitality industry had initially feared. According to a report from the Maine Office of Tourism, Canadians did make up a smaller share of summer visitors this year. Overall visitor numbers were down 6% this summer, and more than half of that decline is attributed to Canadians who may have been alienated by tariffs and President Trump's suggestion that Canada become the 51st state. But the report says the drop-off was not as steep as expected, in part due to a concerted effort by the Mills' administration to welcome Canadian visitors. The report says overall, visitors spent nearly $5 billion in the state this summer.

Maine DEP accuses Orrington plant owner of delaying environmental cleanup

MAINE PUBLIC • October 22, 2025

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has filed another notice of violation against the owner of a former Orrington chemical company for allegedly failing to complete environmental cleanup at the site. Mallinckrodt US "continues to evade the clear requirement" that it remove remaining mercury-contaminated soil at the old HoltraChem factory, according to the Oct. 20 notice. The state said the company had failed to submit a revised cleanup plan to excavate tainted soil and had not filed a suitable proposal to remove an industrial sewer at the site. The company also had not established a trust fund to cover future operation of the plant's wastewater treatment plant, groundwater collection and monitoring, according to the notice. Three years ago, the company agreed to pay at least $187 million to address mercury pollution in the Penobscot river and settle a long-running lawsuit. Representatives for Mallinckrodt's parent company, medical device manufacturer Medtronic, did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

New accessible nature trail unveiled in Brunswick

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 22, 2025

A new trail at Woodward Point Preserve in Brunswick aims to make the outdoors more welcoming. Andy’s Trail — named for Dr. Andrew Cook, who along with his wife contributed the farmland that would become Woodward Point Preserve — is now open to the public. The half-mile, 5-to-7-foot-wide, packed-stone surface was built to comply with U.S. Forest Service and Architectural Barriers Act accessibility guidelines. That meant constructing the trail with suitable slope for wheelchair users and people with other mobility constraints, and using hard, durable materials.

South Portland couple raising home to counter rising water

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 22, 2025

When Jim Shafer and Carol Epstein moved into their South Portland home more than 10 years ago, they weren’t thinking about how climate change would directly impact them. “What the storms of January 2024 said to us and to many others is that the impacts of this are happening now,” Epstein said. “It brought an immediacy to it.” By next spring, their first floor will be elevated by 5 feet — the product of more than a year of permitting, planning and construction, the project is estimated to cost $500,000. The sea level in Maine is projected to rise between 1.1 and 3.2 feet by 2050 and 3 and 9.3 feet by 2100, increasing the risks — and impacts — of coastal flooding. Epstein and Shafer might be among the first South Portland residents to elevate their home in response to the rising risk of coastal flooding, but their neighbors are eagerly watching the progress and monitoring results. Elsewhere along Maine’s coast, homeowners have been elevating their homes for years.

Maine expands ‘do not eat’ advisory for wildlife due to PFAS contamination

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 22, 2025

The Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention is recommending that people limit consuming animals harvested from three different towns due to PFAS contamination. The new advisories apply to deer and turkey hunted in parts of the towns of Knox, Thorndike and Unity. That is on top of warnings to limit intake of animals harvested in Fairfield, Skowhegan, Unity, Unity Township, Albion, Freedom, Knox and Thorndike. The Maine CDC issued the new guidelines after elevated levels of PFAS, the group of man-made “forever chemicals,” were detected in deer or wild turkey sampled by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services and the Maine CDC.