Trump administration's repeal of EPA ‘Endangerment Finding’ sparks debate in Maine

NEWS CENTER MAINE • February 14, 2026

The Trump administration has revoked the EPA’s long-standing “endangerment finding,” a scientific determination made during the Obama administration that concluded greenhouse gases pose a danger to human health and welfare. Supporters say the rollback could lower vehicle costs and boost energy independence, while critics warn of environmental and public health risks. "The findings were flawed so it's good to have them updated," State Representative Mike Soboleski, R-Phillips, said. “The repeal of this finding threatens the health of people and our environment immediately,” Kate Sinding Daly, who serves as Vice President for Law and Policy at the Conservation Law Foundation, said.

Letter: It’s time to act on climate change

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2026

Climate change concerns me greatly, yet it appears to have been put on the back burner. LD 2037 supports the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). RGGI supports decreasing the greenhouse gasses that add to global warming. LD 1870 would support some financial incentives for people to lower their carbon emissions. I believe these bills need support from everyone. My husband and I gave up buying toys, going out to dinner regularly, going to shows, and forfeited many vacations so that we could run our house with solar. Many of us could do this, and yes, like us, it means giving up something. Giving up something before we have famine, before fire burns us down, before rain floods us out, and before wind destroys our everything; before rebuilding becomes impossible. It is time to act and put our dreams aside for now. ~ Ann Pedreschi, Holden

Somerset SnowFest kicks off with week of winter activities in Skowhegan

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February x, 2026

Kayaks and kiddie pools, it turns out, work well as sleds. A laundry basket — not so much. That was the lesson learned among competitors in the “Anything But a Sled” downhill race Saturday at the west side of Lake George Regional Park, one of several activities going on as part of the first day of Somerset SnowFest. Among the other popular events Saturday was the fifth annual Ice Hole “World Championship,” which had dozens of competitors. The game is like cornhole, but players toss pucks into two shallow holes in the ice 33 feet apart. A long-running annual winter carnival at Lake George grew into Somerset SnowFest as the local economic revitalization nonprofit Main Street Skowhegan began hosting Skijor Skowhegan in 2019. The two organizations have now joined forces to coordinate the winter event.

A Valentine’s story in the tundra: How two whimbrels reunite each year in Arctic Alaska to mate

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 14, 2026

It may be the most enduring love story in the shorebird world, two birds coming together from different parts of the hemisphere. Hudsonian Whimbrels are famously faithful, often mating for life and returning each May and June to the same stretch of Arctic tundra to breed. What is also noteworthy is that the love story pairs with one of the most astonishing migrations in the natural world. The whimbrel is a striking, long-legged shorebird with a graceful down-curved bill, traveling up to 9,000 miles each year from the high Arctic to the coasts of South America. What makes this story urgent is that the whimbrel is disappearing. Once numbering in the hundreds of thousands, populations have declined by as much as 70% over the past two decades due to habitat loss, climate change and disruptions along the very migratory routes they have followed for millennia.

Opinion: Plug-in solar can reduce Maine utility bills

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2026

Imagine purchasing a device, taking it home, setting it outside on a deck or a wall on a bright afternoon, plugging it in to an approved socket, and tapping into energy emitting photons from a star 91.53 million miles away. Within minutes your dishwasher, your lights will be powered not by costly fossil fuel energy but by the free energy of the sun. Imagine being able to reduce your utility bill by 20 to 40 percent! This scenario isn’t magic. Up to 4 million households in Germany have purchased that device, called plug-in-solar, and are using it, successfully offsetting their utility bills. Mainers could have access to plug-in-solar within the year if legislation is approved. LD 1730 would allow residents to use these devices without the burdensome and expensive interconnection requirements designed for large rooftop arrays. Tell your local representatives that you want them to support LD 1730, the plug-in solar bill. Twenty environmental organizations support this game-changing bill to make clean renewable energy accessible and affordable for all Mainers. ~ Kathleen Sullivan, Freeport

Maine’s lobster hot spot appears to be having a baby boom

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2026

Scientific surveys show an uptick in the number of baby lobsters, hinting at a possible rebound coming for one of the nation’s most valuable fisheries. A long-running scientific survey shows the number of young-of-year lobsters found in Maine’s most valuable lobster fishing territory — which includes the state’s top five grossing lobster ports — has been above average for the past two years. The resurgence in baby lobsters off Maine’s central coast, from Friendship to Corea, will not “save the day” for the lobster industry. The young-of-year count is still 44% lower than it was two decades ago, he said, and the warming oceans suggest a long-term downward trend. But the uptick of the past two years is good news for the $528.4 million-a-year Maine industry, even if it only represents the stabilization of a population in a part of the state that depends on lobstering.

Another data center proposed, this time in southern Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2026

A large data center is in the works in southern Maine, Sen. Matt Harrington, R-York, told fellow state lawmakers Thursday, but the details of the project are unclear. Harrington brought up the project as he and other members of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee discussed a potential moratorium on new data center development in the state. But Harrington said such a moratorium “would harm” a data center proposed in his district “that’s well along in the planning process.” Data centers — facilities that house computers to store data and run online applications and services —  require significant amounts of power to operate. As they rise in prevalence, they could consume up to 12% of the country’s total electricity usage by 2028, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Portland neighbors are suing to halt or scale back Riverton housing project

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2026

A project approved last year would place two buildings on a 1.5-acre strip of land on Forest Avenue and between the driveway to Talbot Community School and properties on Belfort Street. Since the project was pitched, a group of neighbors — organized as Friends of Belfort — have been rallying against a development that they argue will be disruptive and out of place in an area that already has infrastructure challenges. After the Portland Planning Board approved the project in July 2025, the neighbors filed an appeal, as well as several civil claims against the city and developer Acre Properties, challenging the zoning and the developer’s ownership rights to build the project as designed. The developer threatened to start work regardless of the outcome of the case, leading the group to ask the court for a preliminary injunction that would pause the project until the case is decided.

EPA ruling on climate change could make Maine’s air harder to breathe

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2026

The Environmental Protection Agency’s repeal of the legal basis for federal climate protections, announced Thursday, has cleared a path for upwind industrial polluters to send a wave of toxic exhaust into Maine — a state that already grapples with one of the highest asthma rates in the nation. Maine has strict clean air regulations and few big polluters, but the EPA’s rollback of the landmark 2009 determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health will strip the federal emission limits off upwind smokestacks and tailpipes in the deregulated Midwest and South. “Maine is already called the ‘tailpipe’ of the nation because of the air pollution that flows from other states into our atmosphere, and this misguided action will only make it worse,” Gov. Janet Mills said,

Maine leaders pitch solutions to enhance grid as temperatures drop and electricity prices soar

MAINE MONITOR • February 13, 2026

Cold snaps like those that recently gripped Maine cause natural gas prices to skyrocket and electricity prices along with them. That’s because natural gas accounted for 55 percent of total electricity generation on the New England grid in 2025. Energy policy consultant Jeremy Payne says it’s taking too long for generation projects such as wind or solar farms to get through initial state environmental review and ultimately connect to the New England grid. Philip Bartlett II, chairman of the Maine Public Utilities Commission, said, “There’s a lot we need to do both in terms of replacing outdated assets but also modernizing the grid so that it can accommodate [electric vehicles] and other [power sources] that we want to put on the grid, and make it much more flexible.” Adding more capacity to the grid to accommodate more renewable energy projects, however, would cost ratepayers more in the short term.

Worried about PFAS in your drinking water? Legislators advance plan to test and treat wells

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 13, 2026

With growing concern about the prevalence of forever chemicals in Mainers’ drinking water, a proposal to fund the testing and clean-up of affected private wells is headed to a vote in the Maine Legislature. Last week, lawmakers on the Environment and Natural Resources Committee voted 9-4 to advance LD 2115, which would establish the Well Contamination Response Fund for private drinking water wells impacted by hazardous materials, including perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS. With an initial investment of $1 million from the state’s general fund, the fund would be used for testing, remediation, and the installation and maintenance of filter treatment systems.

Opinion: Global water bankruptcy means a complicated future for Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 12, 2026

According to the United Nations, the supply of water available for human use has been so depleted and polluted that we have crossed into “water bankruptcy.” Maine is a comparatively “wet” place. But that does not confer immunity to the climatic and other stresses underlying global water bankruptcy. Worsening water deficits will reinforce the climate advantages that are already attracting in-migrants to the Pine Tree State. An influx of “water refugees” could enhance the vitality of Maine’s economy and host communities. Agriculture and outdoor recreation, legacy sectors crucial for Maine’s rural vitality, and Maine’s four-season lake and mountain tourist destinations should also benefit. It is paradoxical that Maine might benefit from others’ suffering. This dilemma underscores our moral obligation to steward Maine’s water resources sustainably and equitably. ~ David Vail, professor of economics emeritus at Bowdoin College and a member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby’s Economics Research Network

Woodland Pulp’s bleach plant remains closed 2 weeks after UMaine student’s death

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 12, 2026

The bleach plant at Woodland Pulp mill, where a University of Maine student died from a chemical release last month, has been closed since the incident, according to a mill official. UMaine junior Kasie Malcolm, a 20-year-old chemical engineering student and intern at the Woodland Pulp mill, died after being exposed to hydrogen sulfide at the facility’s bleach plant. The gas leak also left nine workers injured. An investigation by OSHA is underway at Woodland Pulp.

Snowy and freezing? It’s the perfect time to play outside in Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 12, 2026

So far, this winter has been frigid and snowy. Outdoor enthusiasts have seen enough bare trails and thin ice in recent years to know they should take advantage of the season while it lasts. And more powder means more business for many: Maine GearShare in Brunswick filled more reservations in January than in all of 2024; ski resorts have seen more visitors hitting the slopes; and snowmobilers have more trail options. “You can’t go wrong right now,” said Jefferson Tucker, director of the Quarry Road Trails in Waterville. “It’s the best of everything at the moment.” Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley saw 20% more visitors during the long weekend for Martin Luther King Jr. Day than the same weekend the previous year, and it was the biggest three-day stretch the resort has ever seen. At Mt. Abram in Greenwood, weekend ticket sales are up 30% from last winter.

Wolfe’s Neck Center in Freeport partners with Penobscot Nation for research

TIMES RECORD • February 12, 2026

Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture and the Environment received a $10,000 grant to partner with the Penobscot Nation on a research project to survey the property at Wolfe’s Neck Farm, once home to the Wabanaki and Abenaki peoples. One question Wolfe’s Neck Center will explore is what the land looked like 13,000 years ago, as well as what changed. “We decided to put one [application] in that would look at this place from the perspective of the Penobscot people,” said Tilly Laskey, public historian for Wolfe’s Neck Center. Wolfe’s Neck Center will apply its 626 acres and around 250 acres of Wolfe’s Neck Woods State Park to determine Wabanaki cultural uses on the land.

Sebago celebrates 200 years and plans its future

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 12, 2026

Sebago held an event on Tuesday to commemorate the town’s 200th anniversary, as well as kick off the expected year-and-a-half-long effort to develop the town’s new comprehensive plan. The comprehensive plan wil balance the need for development with the preservation of Sebago’s rural character,

More than mitigation: The role of forests in climate adaptation

SCIENCE • February 12, 2026

Planting, maintaining, and restoring forests are among the suite of strategies used to mitigate climate change through carbon storage. However, forests can also contribute to climate adaptation by cooling the local environment, altering hydrology, and improving human health and well-being. Reek et al. synthesized data and findings on forests’ effects on temperature and hydrology and discuss how these effects vary depending on the environmental context, with implications for forest management and climate adaptation planning. 

UMF offers new River Studies Certificate in partnership with the River Management Society

DAILY BULLDOG • February 11, 2026

The University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) has partnered with the River Management Society (RMS) to offer the River Studies and Leadership Certificate (RSLC), creating opportunities for students to explore the multi-disciplinary foundations of careers studying, managing and protecting rivers. Students enrolled in the RSLC program study river systems in ways that integrate the life and earth sciences, policy and conservation, socio-cultural and economic factors, as well as education and recreation.

Patten, Maine, gets $260,000 grant for new MTB trails at Peavey Brook

SINGLETRACKS • February 11, 2026

A $260,000 grant is bringing 3.5 miles of new mountain bike trails to northern Maine’s Peavey Brook Outdoor Center, expanding the remote town of Patten’s trail network to as much as 10 miles and positioning this timber town-turned-outdoor-recreation hub as the next destination in the state’s growing mountain bike scene. The expansion at Peavey Brook Outdoor Center will add to the existing five miles of trail on the property. PBOC was created by the Elliotsville Foundation, Inc. and is co-managed by the Outdoor Sport Institute and Mt. Chase Lodge. Patten sits 40 miles northeast of Millinocket at the northern entrance to Baxter State Park. While Millinocket has seen increasing popularity as a regional riding destination in the Katahdin Area Trails network—popularity that will only grow with new trails coming to Hammond Ridge—Patten is carving out its own identity in Maine’s trail landscape.

Rep. Jared Golden's remarks in support of the Katahdin Woods and Waters Access Act

This bill authorizes the National Park Service to secure a legal interest over an existing road and public access into Katahdin Woods and Waters National Monument . The bill does not mandate the federal government to buy any land. It simply allows NPS a seat at the table with local landowners to help secure public access to the monument. The underlying land is already for sale and we expect the Penobscot Nation, a federally recognized tribe in my district, to purchase it. The Penobscot support this bill, along with local businesses and community groups, nearby town governments, and many others. The goal is a system of shared management and partnership that keeps the land in private hands, while creating certainty for a broad range of stakeholders. That includes people looking to pass through into the monument. It also includes hunters, fishermen, foragers, and other sportsmen, as well as loggers and others in the timber economy. ~ U.S. Rep. Jared Golden