Maine receives federal grant to boost innovation of forest-based products

MAINE MORNING STAR • January 15, 2025

Maine is receiving an additional $22 million from the federal government to support forest-based biomaterial production and manufacturing. The funding announcement from the Biden administration adds to approximately $1 million in other federal grants the state has received for its forest-based biomaterial consortium. The new funds will support two projects to strengthen innovation by leveraging manufacturing and workforce resources, and bring the hub’s products to the global market.

Maine’s lighthouses added to global list of endangered heritage sites

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 15, 2025

Maine’s lighthouses have been added to a global list of monuments and cultural sites facing major challenges or threats, including from the effects of climate change. World Monuments Watch released its annual list of heritage sites that are threatened by a variety of forces, ranging from neglect to wars to flooding and extreme weather driven by climate change. The historic lighthouses of Maine made the 2025 list along with 24 other sites. “A changing climate presents mounting challenges for the state’s lighthouses,” the organization says.

Biden administration withdraws rules to save endangered whales from collisions

ASSOCIATED PRESS • January 15, 2025

The federal government is withdrawing a proposal that would require more ships to slow down in East Coast waters to try to save a vanishing species of whale, officials said Wednesday. The move in the waning days of the Biden administration will leave the endangered North Atlantic right whale vulnerable to extinction as the Trump administration is signaling a shift from environmental conservation to support for marine industries, conservation groups said.

Livermore to hold special town meeting for new solar project

FRANKLIN JOURNAL • January 15, 2025

The Livermore Select Board announced Tuesday that there will be a special town meeting Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. at the Town Office regarding a new solar 19-acre project on Route 4. Vice Chairperson Brett Deyling said the project caught them off-guard. He said they need to put an ordinance in place.

Farmington names new director of parks and rec department

LIVERMORE FALLS ADVERTISER • January 15, 2025

he Parks and Recreation Department has a new director, Jennifer “Jenn” Savage, of Chesterville, according to Town Manager Erica LaCroix. Previously the assistant director, she succeeds Matthew “Matt” Foster who resigned in October to take a position with state Bureau of Parks and Lands. At the selectmen meeting Tuesday evening, LaCroix also announced Michelle Dowd of Farmington was hired as the assistant director for the Parks and Recreation Department.

Auburn manufacturer makes bowling lanes out of paper

SUN JOURNAL • January 15, 2025

If you’ve been bowling since the 1980s in this country, chances are the lanes you rolled the ball down were made in central Maine. And they were made from layers of paper, not strips of wood. Tucked away in the woods sits Panolam Surface Systems, known for many years locally as Pioneer Plastics. The name has changed but it remains the sole supplier of high pressure laminate, or HPL, synthetic bowling lanes to the top three manufacturers of bowling products — Brunswick, AMF and US Bowling. It’s the same plant where laminate countertops and other laminate products have been competing with brands like Formica for decades. The products today are more varied and have become much more advanced.

Residents react to largest subdivision ever proposed for Monmouth

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • January 15, 2025

A proposed development would bring 62 identical single-family homes on 33 undeveloped acres over the next 3 1/2 years, making it the biggest such project in Monmouth’s history. Not only would the proposed neighborhood — to be named Hilltop View Estates — disrupt the rural character of 4,000-person Monmouth, but half-million dollar houses do not reflect the type of development the town should promote says neighbor Kathy Perless. Ashley Woodbury’s property is bordered on two sides by the proposed development. She said during the public hearing that she was most concerned about the safety impacts of the stormwater filtration pond planned for directly west of her house and the neighborhood road entrance planned for directly to the north.

Maine environmental advocates unveil priorities for new session

MAINE MORNING STAR • January 15, 2025

A coalition of 40 conservation, climate and public health organizations unveiled its policy priorities for the new legislative session, which they said would help the state address the climate crisis, cultivate healthy communities and protect land, water and wildlife. The Environmental Priorities Coalition highlighted nine priority areas along with corresponding legislation or proposals to achieve those goals.

Opinion: How a community garden plot taught me to dig beneath the surface

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 15, 2025

My aunt has a garden plot that I took care of over the summer. She was in town one day and we went to the garden. While everything seemed perfect in the neighboring plots, I learned that it wasn’t. She taught me that the nutrient value of vegetables depends on the soil. One of the best soil ecosystems is a forest floor, which is spongy, with trees and leaves covering the soil, shielding it from direct sunlight so it doesn’t dry out. The soil has the capacity to absorb and hold water because it has holes for air and water to get in and out. The plant’s roots in the forest floor are able to function properly and the whole ecosystem can work together to thrive. I realized that my aunt’s garden, for all its chaos, held a deeper kind of order, emulating the forest floor. It taught me that the real value often isn’t obvious from the surface. Like in the garden, life’s real purpose often lies just out of sight, where you can’t see it until you’re willing to get your hands dirty and uncover the meaning. ~ Grace Alexander, Portland

Opinion: MainePERS continues to bet on fossil fuels

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 15, 2025

Oil and gas companies spent over a trillion dollars on new wells, pipelines, refineries and ports in 2023 alone. To pay off these investments, these facilities must operate for 30 years. CO2 emissions reached a record high of 37.4 billion tons in 2023. If the status quo continues, life as we know it could be over before this century ends. At a recent board meeting a Maine Public Employees Retirement System analyst declared, “We don’t make bets.” But continued investment in fossil fuels is betting that 66,000 peer-reviewed studies are wrong that carbon emissions are causing serious damage. Nor was there mention of risks, not just risks to human health and life on the planet. Also, the risk to fossil fuel companies caused by the growing number of lawsuits against them — now at 86 and counting. A law requires that MainePERS divest from fossil fuels by 2026. No one expected it to pull the plug all at once. But with no plan in place, that may end up being its only option. ~ Sue Inches, MainePERS member, North Yarmouth

Letter: Drawing inspiration from nature

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 15, 2025

A friend sent me an Edward Abbey poem that speaks to deep longings I think we all feel. It triggered my wide-awake allegiance to the Earth, a jolt of recognizing my deep belonging to it.
“The love of wilderness is more than a hunger
for what is always beyond reach;
it is also an expression of loyalty
to the earth –
the only home we shall every know,
the only paradise we ever need –
if only we had eyes to see.”
from Edward Abbey’s “Desert Solitaire”
~ Rosalie Paul, Brunswick

2 men survive when snowmobile goes through ice in Dexter

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 14, 2025

No one heard them yelling for help, but two men survived Tuesday when their snowmobile broke through the ice on Wassookeag Lake in Dexter. The father, who was in his mid-50s, and his son, who was in his early 20s, entered the lake at the boat ramp and were heading across the middle to go ice fishing when their snowmobile suddenly went through the ice around 11:30 a.m. The son managed to give his father a boost to help him get onto the ice. The father grabbed their pack basket and rolled back toward the hole, offering his son the basket. His son grabbed it and the two men were able to get him out of the water too. The son had no boots or coat on by the time he got out of the water. Eventually, EMTs from the local ambulance service checked them out.

State-funded University of Maine System research and development generates record rate of return

DAILY BULLDOG • January 14, 2025

State-funded University of Maine System (UMS) research is delivering its highest-ever rate of return. Led by the University of Maine, the state’s public research university, UMS directly generated $6.45 for every $1 the State invested through the Maine Economic Improvement Fund in Fiscal Year 2024. In FY24, the $21.85 million appropriated by the State for MEIF generated $141 million in external R&D grants and contracts just in the seven sectors and mostly at UMaine to support laboratories and researchers, including students, who collaborate with Maine companies. In total, Maine’s public universities secured more than $260 million in R&D grants and contracts in FY24. Maine invests just 1.1% of its GDP in R&D, far below the national average of 3.6% and 5.7% by other New England states.

Maine’s Great Fire raged in 1825 and destroyed almost a million acres

SUN JOURNAL • January 14, 2025

(First posted June 14, 2020) In 1825, disconnected fires burned through some 3 million acres in Maine, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, fed by a hot, dry summer that left the Atlantic Maritime region vulnerable. The Great Fire, as some in Maine called it, was the biggest and most destructive forest fire ever seen east of the Mississippi River. At least 832,000 acres burned in Maine, destroying large swaths of forest. An 1894 report to Maine’s forest commissioner said the fire likely began in the Piscataquis River valley before spreading north and east for many miles until it reached, and crossed, the Penobscot River. Miles and miles of timberland burned.

Common Ground Fair poster has a message about horses

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 14, 2025

This year’s Common Ground Country Fair poster features a pair of Belgian draft horses that send a subtle message. The Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association revealed on Tuesday that Katherine Noble Churchill’s oil-on-linen painting of two working horses had won its annual poster design contest. It will decorate T-shirts and advertisements for the annual fair, which the association announced will run Sept. 19-21 this year. The two brown horses in the painting stand with their ears halfway back, meaning they are listening to their surroundings, according to Churchill.

Maine's outdoor skaters revel in a bonanza of wild ice on lakes, ponds, and rivers

MAINE PUBLIC • January 14, 2025

Maine hasn't seen a lot of snow yet this year, a disappointment for skiers and snowmobilers. But a stretch of sunny, frigid days earlier this month created an abundance of clear, smooth ice on lakes, ponds, and even some rivers, a rare treat for outdoor skating enthusiasts. Black ice means a safe, smooth, mirror-like surface unblemished by snow, rain or thaw. For wild ice chasers, it's the undisputed holy grail. Frank Whittier said, "We're truly cherishing this moment, but our lakes are not freezing as much in the winter." That means when the ice is in, there's no time to waste.

Forever chemicals in sludge fertilizer pose cancer risk, EPA says

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 14, 2025

Forever chemicals in sewage-based fertilizer spread on pastures can increase cancer risks for people who consume milk, beef, eggs and other products from those farms, with some risks potentially far exceeding acceptable levels, federal officials said Tuesday. The risks will vary from farm to farm, depending on fertilizer makeup and use, but a draft report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the risk of consuming milk, beef or eggs from cows or hens raised on sludge-fertilized pastures can exceed safe thresholds by “several orders of magnitude.”

Environmental Priorities Coalition, Lawmakers Announce Priorities for 2025

MAINE CONSERVATION ALLIANCE • January 14, 2025

Today, Maine’s Environmental Priorities Coalition (EPC), a partnership of 39 environmental, conservation, climate action, and public health organizations, joined legislative leaders to announce their collective priorities for the 2025 legislative session. Each year, the EPC identifies a unified policy agenda to advance climate action, further environmental justice, protect biodiversity and the environment, and cultivate healthy Maine communities. The 2025 EPC Legislative Priorities:
•  Making polluters pay for climate damages
•  Preventing future toxic spills of PFAS foam
•  Protecting Mainers from skyrocketing utility costs
•  Reaching 100% clean electricity by 2040
•  Funding the Land for Maine’s Future program
•  Addressing stormwater pollution
•  Improving transportation planning
•  Modernizing the comprehensive planning process
•  Recognizing Wabanaki self-determination

Visiting Maine, Canadian officials warn against trade war as Trump threatens tariffs

MAINE PUBLIC • January 14, 2025

As President-elect Donald Trump pushes for a 25% tariff on Canadian imports, a delegation from the eastern province of Prince Edward Island is pleading the case for continued free trade while touring New England this week. Dennis King is P.E.I.'s premier, said his province plays a key role in cross-border trade, exporting over $1 billion worth of goods to the U.S. in 2023, much of it in the form of potato and seafood products. “If it costs our goods and services 25% more to come across the border, they're going to be costing Americans 25% more to consume them.”

Inventory update shows decrease in toxic foam at Brunswick airport

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 14, 2025

The Town of Brunswick had asked the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority to provide an inventory of all aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) at the airport following a disastrous foam spill in August — Maine’s worst in 30 years. The authority provided an inventory in October, stating that it had 6,300 gallons of the concentrate left in its hangars. In a corrected inventory submitted to the town, the authority is now reporting there are only 5,700 gallons.