South Portland petitions Maine DEP to take action on unused oil tanks

SOUTH PORTLAND SENTRY • January 29, 2025

An upcoming license renewal would permit Portland Pipe Line Corporation to store and transfer 11 billion gallons of crude oil through its oil tanks in South Portland annually. Last week, the city sent a letter to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection urging the agency to require air emissions modeling to assess potential health risks in order to renew the license. Or, the city’s letter suggests, the DEP could “accept a voluntary agreement” from the corporation to permanently decommission tanks currently out of service.

Another, weaker, earthquake shakes same area off coast of York

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 29, 2025

Maine experienced another earthquake Wednesday morning, but this one was much weaker than the one that rattled the region Monday. The 2.0 magnitude earthquake happened at 3:15 a.m. about 5.5 miles off the coast of York Harbor. The magnitude 3.8 earthquake on Monday — the fifth largest in Maine history — was felt as far north as Bangor and south as New York City.

Group of Maine lawmakers trying to block Sears Island wind port

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 28, 2025

A new effort is underway in the Legislature to derail the Mills administration’s plan to build a wind port on Sears Island. Proposed legislation — backed by six Republicans, a representative of the Passamaquoddy tribe and a Democrat — directs the state Department of Transportation, with the Maine Coast Heritage Trust, to extend the island’s conservation easement to cover all of Sears Island. Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport, said, “The Maine DOT has been trying to industrialize Sears Island for decades and has spent millions doing so.” Sears Island is a 941-acre tract off the coast of Searsport. In 2009, it was, by agreement, divided into two parcels: about 600 acres were placed in a permanent conservation easement held by the Maine Coast Heritage Trust and 330 acres were reserved by the Maine Department of Transportation for future development. The site is eyed for a wind port to assemble wind turbines and other equipment for use in the Gulf of Maine.

Snowy Owls in Winter 2024/25

MAINE AUDUBON • January 28, 2025

Snowy Owls are coming south! This is always a fun and exciting time for birders and owl aficionados as we get an opportunity to see one of the most charismatic and endearing animals. For a time, it was thought that these birds coming south were in poor health, but more recent work involving tagging and translocating birds has shown the majority of these birds are healthy. This is also shaping up to be a big winter for Barred Owl sightings in Maine. A few tips on how to find them and how to view them in the best way. Finding them: habitat is key. Snowy Owls tend to be along the coast where they catch lots of sea ducks. Barred Owls occur in most mixed forests, often roosting in or around hemlocks. Viewing: 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.

Wilderness, The Last Frontier

NATIONAL PARKS TRAVELER • January 24, 2025

Given President Trump’s first-day pronouncements, the likelihood of new wilderness designations appears to be fading. Where opportunities were once ample in Alaska, for example, Trump sent a message in a Day 1 Executive Order that was the opposite of prioritizing land for protection from development. That means a nation that once swore to take heed of the ideals of Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, and Aldo Leopold — to protect its wildest places to ensure future generations have “a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning, not just after we got through with it,” as President Johnson said when he signed The Wilderness Act into law in 1964 — no longer sees value in unbridled nature. 

Questions about how updated definition of ‘coastal wetland’ would impact landowners, developers

MAINE MORNING STAR • January 27, 2025

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is looking to update the definition of coastal wetlands in some areas of statute, but lawmakers have questions about how much it could affect landowners and developers along the state’s 3,500 miles of shoreline. Rather than reference the highest annual tide to define the area of a coastal wetland, the department is proposing a switch to the highest astronomical tide. Naomi Kirk-Lawlor, who represented the DEP, said the highest astronomical tide would be a “more consistent delineator.” after a series of severe storms and flooding events last winter. Gov. Janet Mills earmarked more than $21 million in her supplemental budget last year to rebuild working waterfronts. There have also been multi-million dollar federal investments to make Maine’s infrastructure more resilient to the effects of climate change. Maine Audubon and Sierra Club Maine testified in support of the bill.

Want to Help Wildlife? There’s a Community Science Project for Everyone

MAINE AUDUBON • January 28, 2025

Community Science is your chance to join friends, neighbors, students, and teachers in collecting valuable scientific data on wildlife in Maine. Your sightings will help us better understand, protect, and conserve Maine native wildlife and habitat. From projects led by Maine Audubon to others spearheaded by the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, there’s something for everyone. Maine Audubon Projects: Loon Count, Marsh and Stream Explorers, Signs of the Season, Vernal Pool Stewardship Award, Backyard Bumble Bee Blitzes. Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Projects: Maine Amphibian and Reptile Atlas, Maine Golden Eagle Study, Rabbit Sightings, Maine Owl Pellet Project.

Military uses drones to search for old rocket debris at midcoast beach

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 28, 2025

Nowadays, Reid State Park is best known to many Mainers as one of the state’s finest sand beaches. But during World War II, visitors would not have been eager to enter the beach area that was soon to become a park. That’s because flight crews from Brunswick Naval Air Station practiced firing test rockets at a barge anchored just off Mile Beach, littering the area with warheads and rocket motors. Federal officials have advised that the unexploded ordnance poses no threat to the public, but they have periodically returned to the midcoast beach to search for it, including over the last year, in the wake of the twin storms that pounded the state’s coast in January 2024. Officials said that the storms uncovered underwater munition debris inside the state park and that researchers had surveyed about 30 acres of its sand dunes and shallow water to produce a map of “hot spots.”

Still reeling from PFAS spill, Brunswick residents push back on plans for sludge treatment plant

MAINE MORNING STAR • January 28, 2025

Brunswick resident Sandra Carslick said she and her neighbors have been living in a “bad dream” for the five months since 1,600 gallons of toxic foam spilled so-called forever chemicals at the already contaminated former Naval Air Station nearby. At a Brunswick Town Council meeting on Monday night, Carslick said that bad dream could soon become residents’ “worst nightmare,” if the town reopens a processing site for chemical-laden sludge from sewer treatment plants across Maine, and potentially beyond. The residents were responding to plans from Delaware-based Viridi Energy to update and expand Brunswick Landing’s anaerobic digester, which converts sewage sludge — also referred to as biosolids — into renewable natural gas and byproducts that get sent to landfills. 

Opinion: Trump, trade, and immigration: What might be in store for Maine?

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 28, 2025

Maine would feel Trump’s tariffs on Canada. Canada is Maine’s largest trading partner, making up around 50% of our exports and 60% of our imports. Over half of those imports are for fuel oil and electricity, where price increases would be felt dearly. Many of our imported products are inputs used by Maine companies. Across-the-board tariffs will increase the costs of doing business for these companies rather than giving them a competitive edge. New tariffs may also be met with retaliation. Our largest export to Canada is seafood products. A U.S.-Canada trade war could harm Maine’s most iconic industry. Trump’s proposed tariffs could increase consumer prices here by $1,200 to $2,000 per household in the first year. Deportations will also bring higher costs to ordinary Mainers. Trump has inherited an economy that is the envy of the world. It will be up to him and his team whether to nurture this opportunity or squander it. ~ Kristin Vekasi, School of Policy and International Affairs, UMaine

Viles Arboretum Winterfest, Feb. 1

CENTRAL MAINE • January 28, 2025

Viles Arboretum, 153 Hospital St., is set to hold its annual Winterfest celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1. Visitors can explore the arboretum’s trails by foot, snowshoe, or cross-country skis. Admission is free. Activities include:
• Learning about winter animal tracks.
• Identifying trees during winter.
• Sledding on the arboretum’s scenic hills.
• Discovering Kennebec River ice harvesting history.
• Trying hands-on activities like ice fishing.
• Roasting marshmallows and sipping hot cocoa.

Arctic front expected to bring snow squalls, cold blast to Maine

SUN JOURNAL • January 28, 2025

An Arctic front sweeping through Maine and New Hampshire on Tuesday brings the potential for dangerous winter weather conditions, according to the National Weather Service in Gray. Forecasters warn that wind gusts reaching 35 mph to 45 mph could create snow squalls and brief white-out conditions during the Tuesday morning commute. Temperatures will drop throughout the day, with wind chills falling into single digits by afternoon. The NWS predicts 2 to 4 inches of snow Wednesday.

Maine airports seek exemption from wildlife protection laws

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 28, 2025

A group of aviation business leaders and officials spoke Monday in support of a bill introduced by Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, to exempt airports from the state protections afforded the 57 fish and animals listed as endangered or threatened in Maine. Maine wildlife officials and advocates are against the bill, arguing it is unnecessary and could put the state’s imperiled wildlife at risk. They said habitat loss remains the No. 1 threat to at-risk species and that animals are rarely the cause of aviation accidents. A review of 564 Maine-related incidents in the database dating back 10 years shows no human injuries from aircraft-wildlife strikes. All but 17 involved birds. In those cases not involving birds, pilots reported hitting 5 red foxes, 4 white-tailed deer, 3 bats, 2 skunks, a porcupine, a woodchuck and an unidentified land mammal.

A year of extremes: 2024 was Maine’s hottest on record

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 28, 2025

Last year was Maine’s hottest on record, with midsummer and late fall heatwaves and record temperatures in the north driving the average annual statewide temperature 5 degrees above the historical average, records show. It was Earth’s hottest year on record, too, and the first time in recorded history that the annual average exceeded the climate threshold established in the 2015 world climate treaty. Across Maine, 2024 was also a year of weather extremes. It began with floods and ended with a drought.

Letter: A dangerous new era of climate disaster is here

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 28, 2025

Wildfires are burning hotter and moving faster. Around the globe, extreme weather and searing heat killed thousands of people last year and displaced millions. In Europe, extreme heat contributed to at least 47,000 deaths in 2023. In the United States, heat-related deaths have doubled in recent decades. When are we going to stop killing our planet from burning fossil fuels to power our homes, cars and industries? ~ Ron Sadler, Rangeley

Opinion: Solar power not to blame for Mainers’ rising electricity bills

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 28, 2025

Blaming solar power for rising electric bills is misleading and dangerous. The real culprits? The volatile cost of fossil fuels and the growing financial toll of climate-related damage. Yet, some legislators continue to target solar energy, proposing retroactive changes that would dismantle contracts and investments already in place. Retroactive policy would harm more than 80,000 program participants including Maine municipalities, schools, hospitals, small businesses and residents that have embraced solar to lower and stabilize energy costs. What can Maine do to address rising electric bills? 1: Double down on clean energy. 2: Reduce program expenses and better monetize benefits. 3: Scrutinize utility costs to ensure utilities are not overburdening ratepayers. 4: Support vulnerable populations by helping low-income households afford electricity. 5: Implement Solar for All. ~ Stanley Paige Zeigler, Montville, served as House chair of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee

Couple who fought off Belfast fish farm reflect on years-long saga

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 28, 2025

By the time Nordic Aquafarms announced this month that it was pulling the plug on its $500 million salmon farm in Belfast, the decision felt almost inevitable. Over seven years, the company had invested millions in the project, which had received necessary permits and once enjoyed enthusiastic support from city officials for the economic benefits it could have brought. But the fish farm also faced fierce opposition from local landowners and environmental activists, culminating in a string of legal defeats in recent years that had closed off any obvious path forward. For Judith Grace and Jeffrey Mabee, the local couple who played a key role in stopping the project, Nordic’s departure feels less like victory than an inevitable step in a bitter, David-and-Goliath fight they wish could have been avoided in the first place.

This mysterious worm’s population has plummeted in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • January 28, 2025

Mainers reported drastically fewer invasive “crazy worms” disrupting their soil in 2024 after an apparent population explosion the year before. Also known as Asian jumping worms or snake worms, they’ve been in Maine for more than a century but have been multiplying in recent years. Nearly impossible to stop, the fast-reproducing worms eat through organic matter in soil, making it harder to grow plants, and posing a big risk to the state’s valuable forests if they spread.

Fearing flight hazards, bill would end some habitat protections at Maine airports

MAINE MORNING STAR • January 27, 2025

A grasshopper sparrow has made itself a home at the Eastern Slope Regional Airport in Fryeburg. While the presence of that particular bird is precious given its status as an endangered species in Maine it’s also become a nuisance for the airport. Maine Sen. Rick Bennett (R-Oxford) said he considers himself a champion of the environment, but the situation with that sparrow has prompted him to propose certain wildlife regulations be rolled back because of the risk animals can pose to pilots and passengers at airports. The environmental community, on the other hand, worries the change would set a dangerous precedent for eroding conservation and environmental protection standards elsewhere in the state.