The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 18, 2024
On Nov. 5, voters will be asked whether they want the state to borrow $10 million to help restore historic community buildings that are owned by the government or nonprofit entities. It would make public grants available for the preservation of historic buildings owned by a government or a nonprofit entities, which are not eligible for existing historic rehabilitation tax credit programs.
TIMES RECORD • September 18, 2024
The last sprinkler inspections of the Brunswick Executive Airport hangars that use toxic foam to fight fire – Hangars 4, 5, and 6 – reveal all three systems had multiple deficiencies that went uncorrected for more than a year, not just the one involved in last month’s record-setting foam spill. The hangars still using aqueous film-forming foam, which is especially good at stopping fuel fires but contains especially high concentrations of toxic forever chemicals, are dogged by a faulty control unit, aging parts, horn and strobe problems, and non-working flame detectors, inspection records show.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 18, 2024
Since the beginning of 2024, there have been 20 climate disasters in the U.S., and each has cost more than a $1 billion. These people are suffering, and taxes will increase to provide relief and to help them rebuild. We know that climate change is caused by increasing CO2 levels and that 75% of that CO2 comes from our burning of fossil fuels. Despite the fossil fuel industry’s attempts to deflect the conversation from the main cause of climate change, scientists know it is possible to drastically slow climate change. We need to tell our legislators we want strong legislation now that supports a rapid transition to renewables. ~ Nancy Hasenfus, Brunswick
WASHINGTON POST • September 17, 2024
Researchers have discovered that of the roughly 14,000 known chemicals in food packaging, 3,601 – or about 25% – have been found in the human body, whether in samples of blood, hair or breast milk. Those chemicals include metals, volatile organic compounds, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS, phthalates and many others known to disrupt the endocrine system and cause cancer or other diseases.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 17, 2024
When Dick Hill’s and Richard Tappen’s children were growing up, they’d run up and down Popham Beach together while visiting their families’ cottages. On Tuesday, the two men sat on opposite sides of a sunny courtroom at the start of a bench trial in Lincoln County Superior Court over who should have access to that same neighborhood beach. The families own cottages in the Popham Beach Estates Subdivision and are suing each other over who is allowed to access the beach in front of their properties, which are separated by two vacant lots.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 17, 2024
State regulators waived Tuesday a requirement that they approve Spanish energy firm Iberdrola’s takeover of Central Maine Power’s parent company. Iberdrola held 81.6 percent of CMP parent Avangrid’s stock before purchasing in June the remaining 18.4 percent in a $2.6 billion deal. Maine’s largest utility and its parent firm Avangrid, which is headquartered in Connecticut, had submitted a request in May for the Public Utilities Commission to waive a state law requiring regulators to approve any reorganization of a utility. By agreeing Tuesday morning to waive the requirement, the commission avoided adding extra hurdles to Iberdrola’s takeover. Opponents who included Public Advocate William Harwood and consumer groups argued it transforms the publicly traded Avangrid into a private company and exempts it from filing certain financial records.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 17, 2024
Why does the Public Utilities Commission think that repeating the same mistake that created the worst performing electrical distribution organization in the country, Central Maine Power, is a good idea? Why do they think it is a good idea to keep finances hidden by an organization that has time and time again come back to the PUC for a rate increase because of yet another costly management mistake? Why should this company be believed after all the misleading half-truths (to be charitable) in a multimillion-dollar propaganda campaign to defeat a vote that would lose them this cash cow? ~ Laurent Hourcle, Saco
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 17, 2024
Initial testing showed Bangor had higher levels of PFAS in its sewer system than many other communities. But it didn’t show where the chemicals were coming from. Additional testing showed the highest levels of PFAS in the city’s wastewater were coming from the Pine Tree Landfill and the site of the former Dow Air Force Base, which now holds the Bangor International Airport, Bangor Air National Guard and Bangor Army National Guard. Despite the results, the city’s drinking water is safe because it’s sourced from Floods Pond in Otis, far from the two sites.
WGME • September 16, 2024
Brunswick town leaders continue to push for action and answers over Maine’s worst spill of toxic firefighting foam in 30 years. At a council meeting Monday, councilors acknowledged they don’t have much power in the situation, but that isn’t stopping them from making big requests to the state, and voicing frustrations about the response to the spill. Among them, the council asks state leaders to disable other foam suppression systems at the Brunswick Landing by September 30.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024
The Department of the Interior announced Monday that it will auction off wind leases for eight areas on the outer continental shelf of Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. The first auction of sites in the Gulf of Maine will take place on Oct 29. Officials said that the sites could produce as much as 13 gigawatts of energy – enough to power 4.5 million homes. The region offered for sale is roughly 120,000 acres smaller than an area initially proposed by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management in April. The bureau aimed to avoid offshore fishing zones, vulnerable habitats and transportation routes, officials said.
BACKPACKER • September 16, 2024
For years, tensions have run high between AT thru-hikers and rangers in Baxter State Park. One hiker wonders, could moving the terminus solve the problem? Even if authorities decide that a change as drastic as moving the terminus is eventually necessary, that point would be years away at least. The number of hikers on the AT has held steady or even dropped since Covid, suggesting that nothing needs to change yet. But growing interest in one of America’s most beautiful and difficult trails could flip the narrative.
MAINE PUBLIC • September 16, 2024
Five Maine communities have been selected for a federal program designed to support energy transitions in rural coastal and island communities. Brooklin, Chebeague Island, Cranberry Isles, Passamaquoddy Tribe at the Pleasant Point Reservation and Washington County will get technical and planning assistance to make their energy systems more resilient. Nick Battista of the Island Institute said these communities are often at the end of a long extension cord, making them more vulnerable to outages, and at a disadvantage as they try to incorporate renewable energy sources.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 16, 2024
Maine’s federal lawmakers are asking the U.S. Navy for help cleaning up last month’s accidental release of toxic firefighting chemicals that the Navy left behind at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station, the largest such spill in Maine in at least 30 years. The Navy still owns the airport hangar where 51,000 gallons of toxic firefighting foam was discharged after an overhead fire suppression system with a deficient service record malfunctioned.
MAINE PUBLIC • September 16, 2024
Twelve new conservation projects will receive close to $4 million in funding under the Land for Maine's Future Program. The latest round of projects includes four former dairy farms, which will be preserved for agricultural purposes. Others include part of the Stonington Lobster Cooperative and two other parcels along the midcoast and in Hancock County, which will be preserved as working waterfronts. Nearly 300 acres near the Branch Lake recreation area in Ellsworth will also be conserved.More than 640,000 acres have been conserved since the Land for Maine's Future program was established through a voter bond back in 1987.
MORNING SENTINEL • September 16, 2024
The 48th annual Common Ground Country Fair, which celebrates rural living and features more than 1,000 exhibitors and speakers, is set to kick off Friday and continue through Sunday in Unity. The fair at 294 Crosby Brook Road bills itself as emphasizing vibrant communities, sustainable living and local economies, while highlighting organic agriculture. It is hosted by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, or MOFGA.
MAINE PUBLIC • September 16, 2024
The acting administrator of the Federal Transit Administration, Veronica Vanterpool, joined Maine Transportation officials in Rhode Island Monday, highlighting construction of a hybrid ferry being built there for the Maine State Ferry Service. The Maine Department of Transportation Chief Engineer Joyce Taylor, said the new vessel, the Captain Almer Dinsmore, will serve two purposes. It will "serve our clients and our customers that are out on the islands here in Maine, or visit Maine," she said. Taylor added, "we also want to do what we can to support using less fossil fuels." The Dinsmore is to run between Lincolnville and Islesboro.
WGME • September 16, 2024
Monday night, the chair of the Brunswick Town Council, Abby King, will address last month's firefighting foam spill at Brunswick Executive Airport. She is expected to address an inspection report revealing potential problems more than a year ago. Last month, thousands of gallons of foam spilled at the airport, leading to a big environmental cleanup involving PFAS, or “forever chemicals.” Thursday, lawmakers called for the resignation of Kristine Logan, the executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority. Logan previously said they had "clean tests" of the fire suppression system at that hangar. It’s been revealed that the agency had an inspection report from July of 2023 showing there were deficiencies. “I have friends who have farms not that far from that spill,” State Sen. Mattie Daughtry said. “It not only could be costly to them, but to the state and the town…when there reports saying there were deficiencies in that system.”
KENNEBEC JOURNAL • September 16, 2024
A proposed city policy would ban the planting of non-native plant species as part of a new effort to foster food sources for animals. The proposed policy, under consideration by a newly active Augusta Conservation Commission, would require all future plantings within city limits to be species native to the region. Exceptions would be made for decorative annuals, plants for food and sports fields or lawns.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 16, 2024
The New Hampshire Fish and Game wardens rescued a Maine woman who had slipped and fallen during a hike on a New Hampshire trail on Friday. Ethel LaFlamme, 58, from Greene had been hiking the Champney Falls Trail, a popular hiking spot for viewing the Champney Falls, when she slipped and injured her hip.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • September 16, 2024
No sirens are blaring, nobody even looks frightened, but they should be. Last week the world moved into uncharted territory. The “aspirational” goal of never allowing the average global temperature to rise more than 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial norm (more than 1.5 degrees C) has been breached for a whole year — and probably for ever. ~ Gwynne Dyer
