The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
Thank you for reading Maine Environmental News. Each year, we post thousands of news summaries, notices, and links related to important environmental issues from across the state (and beyond). If you find this service useful, you can help us continue to provide it by making a donation. Just click on the button below and contribute whatever you can afford. Thanks again for your generous support!
Sincerely,
Jym St. Pierre
Editor, Maine Environmental News
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 20, 2025
A Hampden trash plant is scheduled to reopen in six to eight weeks, five years after it closed. The plant will start accepting small amounts of trash as it ramps up to full operation by the end of this year, said Michael Carroll, executive director of the Municipal Review Committee, which is a group of 115 cities and towns. The MRC operates the plant, Municipal Waste Solutions, which closed in 2020. The committee partnered with Innovative Resource Recovery, LLC, a subsidiary of White Oak Global Advisors, an investment firm that has the backing of billions of dollars. Hampden’s plant reopening should divert trash from Juniper Ridge Landfill.
MAINE MORNING STAR • February 20, 2025
U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree is asking the Trump administration to go even further to protect National Park Service workers — seasonal and otherwise — amid the federal hiring freeze. Last week, Pingree sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum asking him to immediately resume seasonal hiring for the National Park Service to prevent financial ramifications, including the potential for a $500 million shortfall if there aren’t workers there to collect entrance fees. While Pingree said on Wednesday she is relieved to hear the Department of the Interior will reinstate the seasonal hires who were subject to the original hiring freeze announced last month, she’s now calling to immediately lift the hiring freeze across all parks and all positions.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 20, 2025
Floating communities, breakwaters and parks. New water taxi services, replanted eelgrass beds and sauna-based tourism. Reclaimed tank farms turned into ponds, marshes or parks. Covering shoreline bluffs with native plants that draw pollinators and prevent erosion. These are some of the imaginative ideas that architecture, engineering, environmental studies and urban planning students from schools like Harvard, Yale and Cornell developed as part of a design studio to help Portland and South Portland prepare for climate change. Student designs are on display in the community gallery at the Portland Public Library through March 15. The work will move to the South Portland Public Library on March 21 and, along with additional art work, to the SPACE Gallery in Portland on April 4.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 20, 2025
On Tuesday, the Maine Department of Marine Resources held its first public demonstration day, where anyone — in and out of the industry — could see how ropeless lobstering gear, still being developed, could work. And for some lobstermen, it felt like the first time the state was listening. State officials and representatives of fishing groups weren’t there to convince anyone that the equipment, meant to curb whale entanglements, worked. They knew it would be a losing battle. The traps get plunged into the water, sinking to the bottom until they’re summoned with the tap of a button. The lobstermen were skeptical, at best.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 20, 2025
Investing in clean and renewable energy is a commonsense way to help reduce harmful carbon emissions, protect our environment, and increase the resiliency of communities across the state, particularly along the coast. It is also just a smart move for Maine’s economy and workforce, with the production of clean energy and related technologies supporting thousands of jobs and spurring business growth throughout the state. Sen. Susan Collins should continue to help advance smart policies that increase investments in our state’s clean and renewable energy economy and workforce, while also protecting existing clean energy tax credits passed as part of the Inflation Reduction Act. ~ Jay Nutting, Vassalboro
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 20, 2025
Voters in the Washington County town of Steuben will decide on March 11 whether to ban commercial rocket launches, after bluShift Aerospace approached local officials a few years ago to see if they might be willing to have the company base some of its operations there. The company wants to build small rockets, which would use environmentally friendly fuel it has developed, to launch satellites into orbits above the earth’s north and south poles. The relatively sparsely developed coastline in Washington County, and the shoreline’s southern exposure to the sea, are well-suited for the company’s plans. But the vote in March could bar the company from either building rockets in Steuben or launching them off the town’s coastline.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 20, 2025
Maine’s outdoor recreation economy has generally happened on its own, but the state has a plan to more deliberately grow it 10 percent in as many years. The 10-year Outdoor Recreation Economy Roadmap, spearheaded by the Office of Outdoor Recreation and Maine Outdoor Brands, recognizes what others have accomplished and identifies goals and actions that will build on that base. The goal is to grow the $3.4 billion economy into a $3.7 billion one, said Jeff McCabe, deputy director of the Office of Outdoor Recreation on Wednesday.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 19, 2025
Workers at Acadia National Park were laid off last week as part of a mass firing of about 10,000 federal employees to slash government spending. The eight Acadia National Park employees laid off represent a 10% reduction of year-round staff for one of the state’s busiest tourist attractions. The terminated Acadia workers are among 1,000 National Park Service employees who were fired as President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk make dramatic cuts to the federal workforce. Acadia National Park has received nearly 4 million visitors annually since the pandemic, and last year, it brought in over $475 million in visitor spending and contributed $685 million in economic output. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said she is continuing to work with Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum “on the remaining problems caused by the sweeping hiring freeze and the elimination of probationary workers.”
SENATOR ANGUS KING • February 19, 2025
U.S. Senator Angus King is introducing legislation to help improve conditions for kelp forest and marine life. The Help Our Kelp Act — which has a companion bill in the House of Representatives — would invest federal resources to address ongoing crises that kelp forest ecosystems face along the Maine coast. Kelp forest ecosystems in Maine and along the nation’s shores provide food and habitat for hundreds of fish and marine mammals. These aquatic regions stabilize Maine’s coasts allowing for responsible economic activities including fishing, shipping and innovations in the blue economy. Over the last 50 years, changes in climate, poor water quality and overfishing have damaged between 40-60 percent of America’s kelp forests.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 19, 2025
The heads of four major labor unions, including the parent union of the local that represents many Bath Iron Works employees, called on President Donald Trump on Wednesday to boost American shipbuilding and enforce tariffs and other “strong penalties” against China for its increasing dominance in that sphere. China manufactured more than 1,000 oceangoing vessels in 2023, while the United States made fewer than 10.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 19, 2025
The city of Portland has hired a consulting firm to update and refine the design adopted by the City Council in 2015 for an updated Franklin Street. WSP USA Inc., a global engineering and design firm, was selected for the project after a “competitive selection process.” Planning work is expected to take about 10 months. The project to overhaul Franklin Street, a major thoroughfare that runs through downtown Portland, has been in the works for nearly two decades and is projected to cost $26 million. The plan aims to restore the road to something closer to what it was decades ago before the area was transformed by urban renewal — a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 19, 2025
The Cabin Fever Reliever kicks off the sportsmen’s show season on Saturday, Feb. 22, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., at the Brewer Auditorium.. The event, put on by the Penobscot Fly Fishers, is for one day only. It is the first in a string of popular sportsmen’s shows that are held in Brewer, Orono, Presque Isle and Augusta.
SENTRY/LEADER • February 19, 2025
The South Portland City Council unanimously voted down a proposed ordinance on Tuesday that would have phased out the use of gas-powered leaf blowers citywide and instead will only require city departments to begin switching to electric models.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 19, 2025
Dawson Street neighbors had no idea that a 10-acre solar farm had been proposed next door until Portland International Jetport started cutting trees last month to clear a runway approach. City officials have halted the tree-clearing project near Interstate 295 because it may have violated local, state and federal land use laws. But the scope of tree removal so far — and the potential for 10 additional acres to be cleared for a solar farm — has neighbors feeling disregarded, exposed and vulnerable. Cassie Moon said Tuesday that wetlands have been filled, a vernal pool has been plowed under and the roar from I-295 has increased exponentially without the buffer of evergreens. “It has all been destroyed. Nobody notified the neighbors this was happening. And with a solar farm it will be even worse.”
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 19, 2025
I cannot even begin to comprehend how there are individuals in this state who take part in coyote killing contests, and that these barbaric events are allowed by the Maine Department of Inland Fishies and Game. I believe these contests are inhumane and serve absolutely no purpose other than to torture animals. I encourage everyone who cares about a healthy ecosystem, working towards eradicating Lyme disease and for the ethical treatment of all animals, to please contact your state representative and senator and let them know your thoughts on this matter. ~ Janie Whitney, Bar Harbor
MAINE PUBLIC • February 18, 2025
The Maine Office of the Public Advocate is urging rate-payers enrolled in community solar programs to double check their utility bills, after a small number of customers reported not seeing expected savings. Public Advocate Heather Sanborn said there's no current indication this is a widespread issue, and that problems with one solar provider involving delivery rates have been resolved — but that folks should double check out of an abundance of caution. Ratepayers who notice billing discrepancies are urged to contact the public advocate's office.
MAINE PUBLIC • February 18, 2025
The uncertainty fueled by the Trump administration’s wave of funding and hiring freezes is now being felt by Maine farmers. Those who have signed agreements with the U.S. Department of Agriculture are nervously awaiting word on whether they will get their promised funds, or be on the hook for thousands of dollars of projects that are already well underway. Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said she is hearing from farmers worried about losing their livelihoods to these sudden expenses. "It's got my blood boiling, and I know it's got a lot of farmers in the state of Maine very concerned about how they're going to make ends meet," she said.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 18, 2025
President Donald Trump’s mass firing of federal workers has hit Acadia National Park. Eight full-time staff at the national park that mostly lies on Maine’s Mount Desert Island were laid off Friday amid the Trump administration firing more than 10,000 federal workers across multiple agencies, according to Friends of Acadia. The eight staff collected fees at entrances and helped maintain more than 150 miles of trails. Trump’s federal hiring freeze has also drawn concerns from Acadia supporters over whether it would affect seasonal positions. Acadia typically fills more than 100 seasonal positions each year to deal with the influx of visitors during the core tourism season. The park is perennially among the 10 most visited in the country.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • February 18, 2025
Donald Trump’s pick to be Secretary of Interior is Doug Burgum. The former governor of North Dakota ran in the 2024 Republican presidential primary but dropped out and became a big Trump supporter. Burgum is being rewarded with overseeing the Department of Interior (DOI), which manages hundreds of millions of acres of your public lands. Trump and Burgum see not national treasures to be conserved but resources to be exploited. Like Trump, Burgum is a huge booster of oil and gas drilling. He is expected to reverse protections for our public lands, wound the Endangered Species Act, shrink or delete national monuments, and push drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. On Monday, he sent an email update about big news from DOI. There was no mention of the 2,300 Interior professionals who were fired last Friday. Instead, he trumpeted the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. His hearing is February 20. He will be confirmed by the MAGA-dominated US Senate. How will Sen. Susan Collins vote?
