$3.8 million in Maine conservation projects will protect more than 3,500 acres of land, waterfront

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024

More than 3,500 acres of land across the state will be protected through a state conservation program, the governor’s office announced Monday. The land, which includes farmland, working waterfronts and undeveloped areas for recreation and wildlife habitats between Berwick and Hancock, will be preserved using $3.8 million from the Land for Maine’s Future Program. Since 1987 LMF has conserved more than 542,000 acres of land, created 100 miles of coastal access, preserved 42 farms and 9,819 acres of farmland, conserved 30 working waterfront properties and converted 158 miles of former railroad corridors to recreational trails

Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School partners with Dartmouth to offer mountain medicine program

MAINE PUBLIC • September 16, 2024

Acadia Mountain Guides Climbing School is partnering with Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center to offer a new mountain medicine program. The program is the first of its kind on the East Coast, and will include courses on wilderness rescue, mountain skills and emergency medicine. The goal is to bring medical and rescue skills into one program, said Acadia Mountain Guides owner Jon Tierney. A mountain guide, nurse and paramedic, Tierney has seen firsthand how rescue situations affect care.

Fewer piping plover pairs on Maine beaches, but lots of chicks

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024

The number of breeding pairs of piping plovers on Maine beaches was down this year, but the fledged chicks they produced surpassed the state’s recovery goal for the endangered shorebird. The plovers fledged 237 chicks for a productivity rate of 1.66 chicks per pair, which surpasses the state’s recovery goal of 1.5.

Gorham Connector’s estimated cost is up, traffic counts down

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024

Traffic counts are down where the Maine Turnpike Authority plans to build the Gorham Connector, fueling calls for the agency to back off the increasingly controversial highway project that’s meant to address commuter congestion west of Portland. The authority also released a 2023 revenue study last week that estimates the full cost of the connector will be at least $331 million. Project engineers HNTB said at a community meeting in March that the cost would be “something north of $200 million,” a 5-year-old estimate that turnpike officials have stated repeatedly and said hadn’t been updated.

Organic dairy farmer appreciates extraordinary everyday moments

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024

An interview with Annie Watson, an organic dairy farmer. She’s run Sheepscot Valley Farm in Whitefield since 2013 with her husband, Michael Moody. They live on the farm with their three sons. he’s also president of the Maine Dairy Industry Association and a board member of the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA). She’ll be giving a keynote address Friday at the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity, which runs Friday through Sunday.

Opinion: Trump’s view of immigrants threatens Maine’s economy, communities

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024

Trump’s use of the southern border crisis – largely people fleeing poverty and violence – to frighten Americans is morally reprehensible and engenders real fear among immigrants in Maine and across our nation. Do Maine lobster boat captains who hire immigrants to pull traps or managers of lobster processing plants share Trump’s brutal opinion of immigrants? Do blueberry farm owners in Washington County or potato growers in Aroostook County who depend on immigrants to help harvest their crops? Would the state’s restaurants and hotels echo Trump’s vicious claims about immigrants? Contrary Trump’s distorted representation of immigrants, in this state and nation new immigrants contribute to the economic and cultural vitality of life. ~ John Ripton, Kennebunkport

Letter: Reflecting on climate change denial

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024

The first predictions about climate change were voiced decades ago. Now the data for human involvement are all but definitive. Why deny this? One reason is the enormity of the threat. Another is the surety of painful changes and choices to come. Marshaling the will and resources to tackle this threat is almost mind-boggling. ~ Tom Meuser, Portland

Libbytown celebrates small park with a big impac

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 15, 2024

A small triangle encircled by linden trees overlooking a bustling highway, Thomas Park might not seem like much. But for the residents of Portland’s Libbytown neighborhood who worked for years to have the park recognized, it represents a serene escape from urban life. Sold to the city in 1913 by the prominent Thomas family for just $1, Portland’s so-called “newest old park” celebrated its 111th anniversary on Sunday. Thomas Park was always intended for outdoor recreation but fell out of use half a century ago. That is, until February when city council members unanimously designated the greenspace as a city park thanks to community efforts.

State commission responding to storm damage explores public flood insurance

MAINE MONITOR • September 15, 2024

While Maine has seen seven federal disaster declarations for severe storms and flooding in the past three years, statewide enrollment in federally-backed flood insurance policies is dwindling. Only 1.3% of all homes and buildings in Maine are covered under the National Flood Insurance Program. Public infrastructure has been repeatedly damaged, including the coast’s working waterfronts, and the state has been reliant on federal disaster assistance to rebuild. At a meeting earlier this month, members of the state Infrastructure Rebuilding and Resilience Commission wondered whether a public insurance option offered by the state could protect both the uninsured and the state’s own public infrastructure.

Maine’s high court is about to weigh a major legal battle on beach ownership

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 15, 2024

Since statehood, Maine courts have held that individuals can own land as far as the low-tide line, but the public is allowed to “fish, fowl and navigate” between the high and low tide marks. The language stems from a 1647 colonial ordinance that was enacted 170 years before Maine’s statehood. In 1989, it was at Moody Beach that the Maine Supreme Judicial Court upheld this private ownership system. Now more than 30 years later, two dozen people are asking the high court to reconsider their ruling.

Column: Subtle signs of fall creeping up on Tripp Pond

SUN JOURNAL • September 15, 2024

We headed to the Promised Land for our September exploration of 3-mile long Tripp Pond in Poland. This optimistic name, given to the area by early settlers, refers to the fertile farm country surrounding the northern end of the pond. The eastern side of the pond is flanked by Route 11 and a long line of cottages. The western shoreline and northern end of the pond feature long stretches of unbroken forest and hidden marshes. ~ Michael Perry

Editorial: Brunswick spill a ‘never again’ moment for Maine

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 15, 2024

The fire suppression system in question at Brunswick Executive Airport was deemed “deficient” in the months before the PFAS leak. It is a sorry state of affairs when it takes a catastrophe like this one to sharpen the focus of our regulatory bodies and our codes. Our treasured local environment is not a testing ground. We know more than enough about what needs to be done and insisted on when it comes to curtailing toxic chemical contamination. Accountability and liability need to be crystal clear; the buck has to stop somewhere. And the consequences, where it doesn’t stop, need to be grave enough to be effective.

Letter: PUC must prioritize vetting Iberdrola’s Avangrid plans

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • September 15, 2024

Iberdrola’s plans to buy out Avangrid and take the company private would be a sketchy deal for Maine people. Corporate interests seldom align with the public good. It’s clear that this $2.5 billion deal was not concocted with the interests of Maine ratepayers in mind. We need our regulators at the Public Utilities Commission to stand up and figure out exactly how ratepayers might be affected by the proposed ownership change. ~ Deb Fahy, Hallowell

The health benefits of ocean air may not just be an old wives’ tale

BANGOR METOR • September 15, 2024

If you’ve ever spent a summer day by the sea’s edge, with salt water splashing over your toes, the sun tingling on your skin and the salty fresh air filling your lungs with its magical effects, then you’ve probably witnessed the healing powers of the cold Atlantic waters. But is that salty fresh air actually healing? The Victorians thought so, and now science is backing up some of those old-timey beliefs.

Bigger park and an amphitheater among recommendations for former Maine State Prison site

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 15, 2024

An expanded park and outdoor amphitheater are among the recommendations for the former site of the Maine State Prison that a committee will present to Thomaston later this month. immediate actions include looking into purchasing land surrounding the park to expand it, adding gateways at two entrances to the park, and extending water and electricity to the gazebo and flagpole. The committee’s recommendations also call for letting the area of the park that overlooks the St. George River to grow wild and pursuing a Certified Wildlife Habitat for the area. In the long-term, the recommendations include an outdoor amphitheater at the west end of the park.

This mountain in Baxter State Park is great for beginner hikers

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 14, 2024

Alone in the southwest corner of Baxter State Park, Sentinel Mountain has a fitting name. Surrounded by pristine ponds and lowlands, it rears up out of the forest, standing guard over one of Maine’s most beloved swathes of conserved wilderness. The mountain tops off at just 1,842 feet above sea level, making it one of the smaller peaks in the park. Yet from its bare granite ledges, hikers are rewarded with open views of Maine’s tallest mountain, Katahdin, as well as neighboring behemoths such as Doubletop, OJI, Barren and The Owl.

Soy foam product seen as safer firefighting alternative to ‘forever chemicals’

MAINE MORNING STAR • September 14, 2024

In the search for a more eco-friendly firefighting foam, soybeans may be the answer to moving away from “forever chemicals.” While PFAS contamination is very effective as a firefighting foam, one alternative may be a foam based out of soybeans that is completely biodegradable. Cross Plains Solutions demonstrated its firefighting foam at the Big Iron Farm and Construction Show in North Dakota this week.

Forever chemicals found in Androscoggin River after foam spill

CBS 13 • September 14, 2024

Forever chemicals have now been found in the Androscoggin River. A nonprofit group took water samples after a massive spill of toxic firefighting foam last month at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station. Now, the results are in. “The contamination from the outfall pipe was very high, the highest we’ve ever seen it,” Friends of Merrymeeting Bay Chair Ed Friedman said. Test results show the total concentration of all the PFAS in the sample was 16,000 parts per trillion. “The highest we’ve ever gotten from the outfall pipe before has been two or three hundred parts per trillion,” Friedman said. Brunswick Sewer District General Manager Robert Pontau said, “We need to stop using these products. Get it out of the system all together.”

Maine’s energy efficiency agency is bullish on electric heat pump installation

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 14, 2024

Maine’s quasi-state agency that promotes energy efficiency says the state is on track to reach its goals in electrifying buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In July 2023, Maine surpassed its goal of installing 100,000 new heat pumps two years early. Gov. Janet Mills set a new target of installing another 175,000 heat pumps in Maine by 2027. Maine will receive up to $72 million from Washington to install heat pumps for home heating and cooling and hot water heaters. But a business owner Thursday questioned a shift in a rebate program to incentivize electric pumps that heat an entire house, rather than a few rooms. The Maine Climate Council has set a goal of 487,000 homes – 90% of single-family homes in Maine – that will meet their entire heating load with electric heat pumps in retrofits and new construction.

Jay Planning Board to consider reapplication for shoreland zoning permit for transmission project

SUN JOURNAL • September 13, 2024

New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission is reapplying for a shoreland zoning permit for its corridor running through the town of Jay. The proposed 145.1-mile, high-voltage, direct current electric transmission line will run from the Quebec border to Lewiston to connect with the New England power grid. The Planning Board approved a permit in May 2021 and extended the permit for another year in 2023. With all the delays in the project, including posted roads this spring and other issues, the portion of the project in Jay is not complete. The existing permit will expire on Nov. 9.