Maine Calling: Solar Update

MAINE PUBLIC • February 13, 2025

The expansion of solar power has been a big part of the state’s renewable energy goals but has been met with resistance on several fronts. Learn about the status of solar power generation in Maine—from small rooftop arrays to community solar farms, and large-scale industrial solar projects. Is Maine on track to meet its goals? What solar incentives are currently available—and do they work? And, what’s the fate of the “Solar for All” program that was supposed to start this year? Panelists: Phil Bartlett, member, Maine Public Utilities Commission; Peter McGuire, climate reporter, Maine Public; Phil Coupe, co-founder, ReVision Energy. VIP Callers: Dan Burgess, director, Governor's Energy Office; Nate Owen, founder & CEO, Ampion; Kate Pastore, resident, Town of Greene.

Pingree calls for lifting National Park Service hiring freeze

MAINE PUBLIC • February 13, 2025

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree is calling on the U.S. Department of the Interior to lift the hiring freeze on the National Park Service. National Parks around the country, including Acadia National Park, are unable to conduct normal seasonal staff hiring because of the freeze, which could affect park operations this summer. "It's hard to get seasonal workers in Maine, and the longer you have to wait, the less likely you are to get them," Pingree said. Acadia National Park annually collects $12 million of revenue from entrance fees. But because of the hiring freeze, dozens of seasonal placements for fee collectors have been rescinded. "You don't want to stop the people who actually collect the fees and help to pay for the park."

Maine considers tightening rules for recycling solar panels

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 13, 2025

Maine legislators are trying to draft new rules for the disposal of end-of-life solar panels and other components, meeting resistance from some in the solar industry and clean energy advocates in the process. Opponents to Lemelin’s legislation say the solar industry is being singled out for recycling rules that do not apply to fossil fuel industry components such as pipelines, wires and poles, and that claims of toxic solar panels are unfounded and are slowing efforts to build solar farms. Critics also said the 90-day rule is arbitrary and inflexible. Solar power capacity in Maine has climbed 20-fold in five years, to 4,505 projects with a capacity of 1,562 megawatts last year, from 1,058 projects with a capacity of 73 MW in 2019.

Topsham unveils its updated Climate Action Plan

TIMES RECORD • February 13, 2025

Topsham invites residents to chime in on the town’s proposed 2025 Climate Action Plan, which includes strategies to mitigate the risks of climate change. The third and final community workshop for the Climate Action Plan was held at the Topsham Municipal Building on Feb. 6. Members of the Topsham Energy Committee discussed the plan and took feedback from the residents packed into the room. Some key climate concerns outlined in the plan include extreme storms, increased flooding, power outages, erosion and sea-level rise. The plan says seniors, low-income households and mobile home residents are most at risk.

Opinion: Watershed Moments

MACHIAS VALLEY NEWS OBSERVER • February 13, 2025

I traveled to Augusta in early February to testify on several environmental bills. The three-hour drive triggered memories of similar past journeys. Thirty years ago, I took a leave of absence from UMM to work for newly elected Independent Governor Angus King. I had advised King to oppose car testing, which was part of how Maine was complying with the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. I’d leave the Dennys River watershed every Monday morning and drive west down the Airline through the East Machias, Machias, Narraguagus, and Union River watersheds to the Hancock County Highlands. The environmental left had just started their Atlantic salmon endangered species listing effort on those watersheds. I advised my new boss to oppose that listing, and he took that advice. The country remains closely divided. The shock and awe policy strategy and purpose that Trump is following is charging up an optimistic “irrational exuberance” amongst his supporters (I voted for him three times). ~ Jonathan Reisman

Cuts to EPA's environmental justice work put Maine communities at risk

PUBLIC NEWS SERVICE • February 13, 2025

The Trump administration has begun dismantling the Environmental Protection Agency's office dealing with reducing environmental harms to minority and low-income communities. More than 160 staffers in the Office of Environmental Justice and Civil Rights have been placed on administrative leave. Adrienne Hollis, vice president of environmental justice, health and community resilience and revitalization for the National Wildlife Federation, said the office is critical to coordinating environmental protection efforts in Maine and elsewhere. All environmental litigations in the Justice Department have also been put on hold.

Opinion: Accurate testing the key to Maine’s PFAS response

CENTRAL MAINE • February 13, 2025

Over the past several years, Maine has taken numerous steps in addressing the growing concern of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) contamination. With the implementation of new regulations, including an interim drinking water standard of 20 parts per trillion for six PFAS compounds, the state has positioned itself at the forefront of PFAS management. However, the success of these efforts’ hinges on a crucial factor: accurate and reliable testing as the cornerstone of Maine’s PFAS strategy. By prioritizing accurate data and timely results, Maine can build a sustainable path forward in combating PFAS contamination. ~ Katie Richards, Maine Laboratories, Norridgewock

Penobscot Nation to alter 3 midcoast dams to make them fish-friendly

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 13, 2025

The Penobscots have identified Mill Brook Dam in Searsport, Pitcher Pond Dam in Lincolnville and Chickawaukie Pond Outlet in Rockland as barriers to the migration of Atlantic salmon, alewives, American eels and brook trout to their native spawning grounds, according to Carter Cates, fisheries program outreach coordinator for the Penobscot Nation. They are the latest in a long line of dams, including recently on the Kennebec River, that have either been removed or modified to allow migratory species of fish access to their native grounds.

A Maine town hopes dredging will give fishermen 24/7 access

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 13, 2025

A coastal Hancock County town with 50-plus miles of coastline has no public access point that commercial fishermen can use at low tide. To change that, the town of Brooksville has been working for more than five years on a plan to dredge out the area around its town landing at Betsy’s Cove. The urgency of that project became more clear to Brooksville officials in recent years, after the yearlong closure of a private all-tide marina in 2023 demonstrated that public deep-water access was vital for the future of commercial fishing in the town.

Trump Nominates Oil and Gas Advocate to Run Bureau of Land Management

NEW YORK TIMES • February 12, 2025

President Trump has nominated Kathleen Sgamma, a professional advocate for the oil and gas industry, to run the Bureau of Land Management, an agency within the Interior Department that oversees grazing, logging, drilling and wildlife conservation on 245 million acres of public land. Sgamma is president of the Denver-based Western Energy Alliance, where she has worked for nearly 20 years on behalf of independent oil and gas companies that have sought to strip away government protections and rules on extracting fossil fuels on public lands in Western states.

Biosolids plant raises concerns in post-PFAS spill Brunswick

MAINE PUBLIC • February 12, 2025

Plans to expand a biosolids processing plant for sewage biosolids in Brunswick have alarmed residents who are still coping with the aftermath of a toxic forever chemical spill on a former naval air base just six months ago. Critics of the proposed expansion question why Delaware-based Viridi Energy would import PFAS-laden waste into Maine at a time when the state is struggling to process its own sewage sludge. The group Brunswick United for a Safe Environment will fight the new project while pushing to remove PFAS foam from the old air base.

Column: With all due respect, where is the George Smith award?

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 12, 2025

No outdoors figure in the history of Maine was more influential than George Smith. Under his leadership, Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine became a veritable political powerhouse. He helped create the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund and the Land for Maine’s Future program. If not for George’s leadership, Maine would not have its heralded State Heritage Fish law. In 2017, George received an award from Maine Conservation Voters, something you don’t expect to see for someone from the hook-and-bullet arena. George was a prolific writer. He had outdoors columns in several Maine publications, two blogs, and three outdoors books. He also co-hosted the “Wildfire” television show. I was there when George took the stand at a meeting with the National Park Service in support of Katahdin Woods and Waters, a complete reversal from his earlier position. George publicly supported Native Fish Coalition, a group I helped found. The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife sponsors the Wiggie Robinson Legendary Guide Award and the Fly Rod Crosby Outdoor Lifetime Achievement Award. Where is the George Smith Award? ~ Bob Mallard

Maine train derailment that spilled 500 gallons of fuel caused by beaver dam, officials say

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 12, 2025

A 2023 train derailment in rural Somerset County that spilled 500 gallons of diesel fuel was caused by excessive water that flowed through a beaver dam and washed out part of the track, state officials said Wednesday. Three locomotives and six train cars from Canadian Pacific Kansas City derailed in Sandwich Academy Grant Township on April 15, 2023, into nearby wetlands and the Moose River, a tributary to Little Brassua Lake. After the crash, 500 gallons of diesel from the train flowed into the lake during the railway’s cleanup because the company failed to empty saddle tanks on the locomotive before removing the engine.

Scarborough council wants to increase residents’ access to town beaches, potentially free of charge

SCARBOROUGH LEADER • February 12, 2025

The council gave preliminary approval to changes to beach fees and policies at its meeting on Feb. 5 but indicated they'd like to do more to increase residents' ability to access town-operated beaches – potentially for free. The changes would apply to the town-operated beaches of Ferry Beach, Higgins Beach and Pine Point Beach.

Blue states hope their clean energy plans withstand collision with Trump

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 12, 2025

For states that are pursuing plans to build more wind and solar projects, the federal government has suddenly shifted from a powerful ally to a formidable opponent. State leaders are still scrambling to make sense of President Donald Trump’s flurry of executive orders, funding freezes, agency directives and verbal threats about clean energy. Trump has slammed the brakes on offshore wind development, halted permitting for renewable energy projects, frozen grants and loans supporting rooftop solar panels and household weatherization assistance, and he’s created uncertainty around the tax credits that are a driver of clean energy development.

Opinion: Let’s keep the door closed to nuclear energy in Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 12, 2025

Several bills pending in Augusta are aimed at reviving nuclear power in the state. One bill (L.D. 342, sponsored by Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport) would shove nuclear energy into Maine’s Renewable Portfolio Standard. Nuclear energy is not renewable. Another bill sponsored by Rep. Paul (L.D. 343) would order the Public Utilities Commission to investigate small modular reactors, which basically are the same as older mega reactors, including generating radioactive waste. Yet another pro-nuclear bill would prohibit a community’s right to veto construction of a nuclear facility in its backyard. There still are no permanent disposal facilities for the nation’s more than 90,000 metric tons of nuke-generated radioactive waste. It is held in Wiscasset and about 100 other sites around the nation. Maine has developed a robust climate action plan for true renewable energy. Let’s not let a raft of “foot-in-the-door” bills detour Maine from that path. ~ Cathy Wolff, Kittery

Opinion: Make Maine Canadian again

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 11, 2025

President Donald Trump wants to make Canada the 51st state. Instead, I’m offering a deal you can’t refuse. Cooperate with Canada, we’ll let your ships keep using the St. Lawrence River. All we want is northern Maine. Help us draw a straight border from the southeast corner of Quebec to the Maine coast above Bar Harbor. Indigenous peoples of Maine and New Brunswick have shared their lives from the beginning. Acadians of northern Maine will reunite with their cousins in the land that created poutine. Mainers already interact daily with the Irving interests of New Brunswick, who provide most of their gas stations and are Maine’s biggest landowners. The northern Mainers officially joining us can look forward to a safer country, better health care, and longer life expectancy. Yield northern Maine, you’ll feel no pain, Chicago ships will sail again. And for us, it’ll be Mainifest Destiny. ~ Joseph Gough of Ottawa was born in Lubec

Land trust trail project weighs conservation and accessibility in Bowdoinham

TIMES RECORD • February 11, 2025

A section of the Kennebec Estuary Land Trust’s Center Point Preserve in Bowdoinham will soon be reshaped so handicapped outdoor enthusiasts can enjoy the trail. The existing path is riddled with roots and loose terrain. The updated Center Point All Persons Trail, as its name hints, is intended for everyone. KELT acquired the 22-acre preserve in February 2023 and obtained an additional 11 acres in December of the same year. Thanks to a multi-year collaboration and a recent $460,000 award from the Maine Natural Resources Conservation Program (MNRCP) to upgrade three existing culverts on the property, over $630,000 in grant funding has been devoted to improving the property’s wetland habitat and building a new trail that meets USDA Forest Service accessibility standards. 

Regulators to investigate Passamaquoddy solar dispute

MAINE PUBLIC • February 11, 2025

The Maine Public Utilities Commission said it will settle a dispute over a major rooftop solar development planned by the Passamaquoddy Tribe. Late last year, the Indian Township government asked the commission to confirm that it was not violating state rules by installing solar panels on more than 200 homes and buildings in the Washington County community. The project, which included individual battery backup systems, was funded with a $7.4 million federal grant. However, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, the utility that serves the area, said it was concerned that the individual rooftop systems combined were a single discrete electric generator. And the entire system together would produce about 20 times more power than allowed under the state's rules for solar arrays qualified to receive benefits through the net energy billing program. On Tuesday commissioners instead voted to start a formal investigation into the matter.

Bird flu has been detected in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 11, 2025

The highly contagious bird flu has been detected in Maine. The virus infected four Canada geese, two red-tailed hawks and a great horned owl found in Kennebunk, Kittery, Ogunquit, South Berwick, South Portland and York, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. It also has been found in poultry flocks in four New England states, the wildlife department said Tuesday morning. The highly contagious virus has killed millions of chickens nationwide, which has been the primary driver in a 65 percent increase in retail egg prices recently.