Maine businesses say H-1B visas are critical to filling labor gaps

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 5, 2025

H-1B visas allow 65,000 skilled workers to come to the U.S. each year to fill specialized jobs, often in technology, health care, higher education, scientific research or other STEM fields. Locally, they’re favored by companies like The Jackson Laboratory, Eastern Maine Medical Center, UMaine, Idexx and Wex. Elon Musk, who’s has been tapped to lead the new Department of Government Efficiency, says H-1B visas are the reason he and many other immigrants have found success in the U.S. He is prepared to “go to war on this issue.” Anti-immigration Republicans have criticized the program. President-elect Donald Trump has historically opposed H-1B visas, but last week appeared to change course, saying the country “needs smart people.”

Maine winter recreation faces uncertain future

SUN JOURNAL • January 5, 2025

Maine has lost about two weeks of winter temperatures and snow cover since the early 20th century. The warmer winters have had a stark effect on snowmobilers in the past few years around the Lewiston/Auburn area. Snow is usually accompanied by rain or warm temperatures soon after melting most, if not all, of the freshly fallen snow. The more frequent winter rain has caused washout problems along trails. The Perkins Ridge Sno-Travelers club has focused a lot of its efforts on grooming for other winter activities, such as snowshoeing, skiing and fat-tire biking. Some winter recreationists are hopeful that winter recreation activities will continue in Maine despite warmer winters; others are less confident.

Editorial: A further sorry twist to Brunswick foam leak

MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • January 5, 2025

Tens of thousands of gallons of firefighting foam that leaked from tanks at the former Brunswick Naval Air Station last summer have been sent out of state for disposal. On the receiving end were incinerators in Ontario and Arkansas, and the people living near those incinerators are rightfully concerned that the toxic chemicals could be hurting them.“Study after study shows we don’t build incinerators of any kind in white, middle-class neighborhoods,” says Gail Carlson, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Colby College. Until we can take full responsibility for our own chemical mismanagement, we have to stamp out mismanagement.

Lack of ice threatens smelt season for 3rd year

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 5, 2025

Dozens of smelt camps used to dot Maine’s tidal rivers four or five decades ago. The season began shortly after Christmas and ran through the end of March, but climate change has ripped that tradition apart. Several camps have gone out of business and the ones that are left have shortened seasons, if any at all.

Quebec magical hiking trails are really accessible to Maine hikers

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 4, 2025

Just like in Maine, the people of Quebec embrace the wilderness through outdoor activities like snowshoeing and skiing, hiking and biking, ice skating and canoeing. Conserved land and trail systems are scattered throughout the province, which is home to 28 national parks, and that doesn’t count trail networks like Sentier des Caps de Charlevoix. Plus there are downhill ski mountains and — of particular interest to me — a 9-mile ice skating trail called Domaine de la Forêt Perdue, which roughly translates to “field of the lost forest.”

Maine natural gas prices will rise less than expected following pipeline talks

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 4, 2025

Regulators and three natural gas pipelines serving Maine have reached agreements on rate increases that advocates said are smaller than anticipated but may still lead to higher prices for customers. Specifics on the changing rates tied to the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, Algonquin Gas Transmission and Granite State Gas Transmission, which serve businesses and large electricity generators in the region, are still under wraps and will need federal approval later in 2025. Though Maine’s climate goals seek 80 percent renewable energy generation by 2030, natural gas remains a key source for the state and currently generates nearly half of New England’s power.

US Chamber, oil industry sue Vermont over law requiring companies to pay for climate change damage

ASSOCIATED PRESS • January 4, 2025

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute are suing Vermont over its new law requiring that fossil fuel companies pay a share of the damage caused over several decades by climate change. The federal lawsuit filed Monday asks a state court to prevent Vermont from enforcing the law, which was passed last year. Vermont became the first state in the country to enact the law after it suffered catastrophic summer flooding and damage from other extreme weather.

Warming winters turn Waterville into unexpected skiing destination

MORNING SENTINEL • January 4, 2025

While warming winters are leaving many recreation businesses who rely on cold and snow without a vital lifeline, others are turning to man-made snow: like Quarry Road Trails in Waterville. “We’ve become a mecca of sorts because nowhere else has snow, quite literally,” said Victor Esposito Jr., Quarry Road’s lead ski coach. “People come from all over, 20, 30, 40 miles, because we’re not a two-hour drive like most of the resorts and we don’t charge anywhere near as much: And we actually have snow.”

Browntail moth populations in Maine crashed in 2024, so expect a less itchy spring

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 4, 2025

Proliferation of a fungus caused browntail moth populations to crater in 2024, which likely means that Maine residents will get relief from the forest pest this spring and summer, scientists said. The state tracks defoliation caused by the caterpillars, and saw it plummet from 46,000 acres in 2023 to 2,000 acres in 2024. UMaine is researching whether a pheromone can be used to disrupt the mating patterns of browntail moths, another way to control the population. Browntail moth populations typically go through a boom-bust cycle that lasts 10-12 years, and 2024 was considered the ninth year of the current outbreak. So in year 10, 2025, it appears likely that Maine will enter a “bust” cycle for the browntail moth.

Column: Snowy owls are coming to Maine; see them in the most ethical way

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 4, 2025

Yes, Snowy Owls are coming south! This is always exciting for birders and owl aficionados as we get an opportunity to see one of the most charismatic and endearing animals. We typically only see them following a year of high reproductive success in the Arctic, where they nest. When there is too much competition often the young birds will wander south in search of food. The fun word associated with these types of movements is called an irruption. if your presence is changing the animal’s behavior in any way, you are too close. The first sign will be the owl looking your way. If an owl turns its head to look at you or in your direction, or if you have made eye contact, then that is your sign to start backing up. Don’t flush a bird just so you can get a photo of it flying! ~ Doug Hitchcock, Maine Audubon

Opinion: Maine must remain vigilant in protecting its forests

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 4, 2025

During the last severe outbreak in the 1970s and 1980s, the spruce budworm infestation caused widespread tree mortality across Maine’s forest. It cost our economy hundreds of millions of dollars and the ecological effects were significant. This summer, landowners and state officials noted increased spruce-fir defoliation in northern Maine. Indicators predict elevated budworm populations in approximately 250,000 acres. In response, landowners implemented a coordinated plan. We hope federal and state funding will be approved so we can tackle spruce budworm head-on. The early intervention program will cost $15 million in 2025 alone. But if left untreated, the current infestation could disrupt Maine’s forest economy to the tune of $794 million annually. ~ Alex Ingraham, Pingree Associates, which manages 820,000 acres of forestland in Maine

A conversation with Samantha Horn, director of Maine’s new Office of Community Affairs

MAINE MONITOR • January 3, 2025

I came to Maine in 1999 and I started working in natural resource agencies, including Inland Fisheries and Wildlife as a biologist and Department of Marine Resources as the aquaculture policy coordinator, and I really got a strong sense of how Maine communities were engaging in discussions around how to make decisions about how we use our land, how we use our water. I then got the opportunity to join the Land Use Planning Commission where I could think deeply about how we use our land, how people who live in the local area can have a strong voice. And then from there, I went to The Nature Conservancy, then did a little bit of consulting along the same lines. All of my jobs have been about: How can communities have agency and good discussions about how we use land? Now I’ve landed in this role. It’s housing, it’s land use, it’s how we conserve lands. It’s a coastal program. It’s lots of threads, but it’s all about how our communities can be healthy.

Injured hiker rescued in Acadia National Park on New Year’s Eve

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

A woman was rescued on New Year’s Eve after she fell on a mountain in Acadia National Park. The 68-year-old was hiking with her husband on Gorham Mountain about 4:30 p.m. Tuesday when she slipped from a standing position and hurt her lower leg, according to John Kelly, a management assistant in the Acadia superintendent’s office. Five park service employees and 11 volunteers from MDI Search and Rescue carried the woman about an eighth of a mile to the Gorham Mountain parking lot on the Park Loop Road. Her husband drove her from the scene.

Letter: How Maine can act on climate change

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

I attend King Middle School in Portland. In social studies class, we have been learning about climate change and energy sources. Wind energy is a healthy energy source for Maine to mitigate climate change. By having blades rotate as the wind blows, a turbine is spun so that power can be generated. The average wind turbine installed in the United States today gives the turbine up to 20 years of productive use. Hydropower is an energy source able to develop on a mass scale. Maine should focus on solar power. ~ Hamsa Sadak, Portland

Maine reported record-high number of tickborne disease cases last year

MAINE PUBLIC • January 3, 2025

Maine reported a record number of tickborne disease cases in 2024, breaking another record high set the year before. There were 3,218 reported cases of Lyme disease last year in the state, nearly 300 more than in 2023, according to data from the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases of other tick-borne diseases, including Babesiosis and Anaplasmosis, also increased and broke state records. Data from the Maine CDC show that the rate of tickborne diseases was especially high among Mainers in the midcoast.

Irving acquires Aroostook sawmill

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

Irving Forest Products has acquired an Aroostook sawmill from another Canadian company. Irving will take over the Masardis sawmill in a sale that closes Monday, the company announced Thursday. The sale price wasn’t disclosed. The Masardis mill, owned by Groupe Lebel of Quebec, employs 80 workers and has an annual capacity of 115 million board feet. With this acquisition, Irving now owns 10 sawmills across Maine and New York that have a combined annual capacity of 1.3 billion board feet. Irving is Maine’s largest landowner, with 1.3 million acres of timberland. Groupe Lebel acquired the Masardis sawmill, Aroostook’s largest, in 2018 from Quebec-based Maibec, which had bought the former J. Paul Levesque sawmill in 2015.

Solar power is cutting daytime electricity demand on New England’s grid

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 3, 2025

Power generated by rooftop solar panels in Maine is small relative to other New England states but nearly doubled in the last year. Rooftop solar is known as “behind the meter” because it does not take power from the regional grid. That is why, on days when rooftop solar use is high, it creates a dip in daytime energy demand on the grid instead of the typical lunchtime spike. The trend is unlikely to affect retail electricity prices on a customer’s power bill, ISO said. But that could change if time-of-use rates become more popular.

Opinion: Jimmy Carter left historic environmental legacy

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 3, 2025

President Jimmy Carter was a great humanitarian, statesman and environmentalist who was ahead of his time. As a Navy submarine officer, he saw the clear and present danger of being reliant on fossil fuels, and as a farmer understood how important it was not to disrupt the climate with excess carbon. Although he wasn’t able to see his entire vision for a sustainable planet take place, he did make milestones federally that we take for granted today. He started America down the right path. Without his actions the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates close to $370 billion toward clean energy initiatives and tax breaks never could have happened. Nor would have Maine become the climate leader it is today. ~ Ramona Cornell du Houx, Solon

Central Maine Power aims to finish controversial western Maine power corridor in 2025

MAINE PUBLIC • January 3, 2025

After years of political and legal setbacks, a new power corridor through western Maine is finally nearing completion. The New England Clean Energy Connect was proposed back in 2017 as a way to deliver electricity from Canada to the U.S. Despite years of pushback the company behind the project — Connecticut-based Avangrid — says the 145-mile transmission line and power station upgrades will be operational by the end of this year. In a filing with Maine regulators, the company said a 54-mile corridor from the Canadian border to The Forks is fully cleared. More than 900 pole bases have been installed and over 750 poles erected, according to Avangrid.