Deep-sea diver insists a huge lobster nearly killed him

SUN JOURNAL • February 15, 2025

In April of 1863, the Anglo Saxon, stuffed with emigrants from England and cargo, ran ashore in thick fog on the tip of Newfoundland, claiming nearly 300 lives. Not long after, three divers were sent down to try to recover valuable items. One told a Bangor newspaper in 1893 what happened next. He saw “a huge creature moving toward the vessel. It seemed to be several feet high and about eight feet long and it had on each side an enormous arm.” It had countless little legs, a mottled brown color and two shining black eyes, along with two “supple horns, each resembling an enormous whip. The monster threw out one of its arms and seized me below the shoulder. I felt as if my bones were being crushed.” Desperate, he plunged the knife into one of the eyes. The pain grew unbearable and he blacked out. The next thing he knew, he was in a skiff on the surface, hauled out by his comrades. His rescuers told him they had seen “an awful, deep-sea lobster.” Did it really happen? There is no way to know.

Wolfe’s Neck Farm’s $35 million climate grant caught up in funding freeze

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 15, 2025

A popular Freeport demonstration farm that was awarded a $35 million climate-smart agriculture grant to promote sustainable practices at 400 farms across the country finds itself in financial limbo as a result of President Donald Trump’s federal funding freeze. Despite a signed contract, the USDA told the Wolfe’s Neck Center for Agriculture & the Environment it would not be issuing any reimbursements at this time. Wolfe’s Neck will have no choice but to shut the program down if it isn’t reimbursed by the end of the month.

Dover-Foxcroft stares down massive tax hike to maintain ailing dam

MAINE MONITOR • February 14, 2025

Residents in Dover-Foxcroft could see their property tax bills increase by hundreds of dollars each year if the town commits to maintaining its ailing dam on the Piscataquis River to federal standards. In June, voters rejected plans to remove the Mayo Mill dam. Removing the dam would likely have been funded with outside grants; there are likely far fewer outside funding opportunities available for ongoing maintenance. Maintaining the dam to federal standards would run the town just under $10 million. Eileen Bader Hall, of The Nature Conservancy in Maine, said, if the town wants to reconsider “dam removal and river restoration, we stand ready to partner with them to help plan and implement a solution.” Meanwhile, federal funding options for fish passage could be the next allocation axed by President Donald Trump.

Lawmaker wants to make federal drinking water PFAS limits the legal standard in Maine

MAINE PUBLIC • February 14, 2025

A Hallowell lawmaker said he will introduce a bill to make the current federal drinking water limits for PFAS the legal standard in Maine. Democratic Rep. Dan Shagoury said the bill would assure residents that Maine's drinking water is safe, regardless of what the Trump Administration might do to the regulations. “If the federal standards go away it's a guarantee, then that there will be a mechanism that says we still have to meet that standard," Shagoury said. The state limit for PFAS is 20 parts per trillion, while EPA regulations introduced last year set a limit of 4 parts per trillion. Hallowell's public drinking supply has PFAS levels beyond safe federal limits. So, the Hallowell Water District installed a filtration system that provides safe drinking and cooking water to residents. The town plans to build a new water treatment system.

Maine to eye protecting limits on PFAS in water as Trump scraps rules

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2025

A Maine legislator plans to introduce a bill soon that would require the state to meet current federal limits on forever chemicals in public drinking water as fears mount that the White House will roll back the stricter safe-drinking levels set last year. The Trump administration already has rolled back some limits on the toxic forever chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. In January it withdrew a pending Biden administration plan to set PFAS discharge limits for chemical manufacturers.

Augusta park, minus controversial statue, proposed for former YMCA site

KENNEBEC JOURNAL • February 14, 2025

A new proposal from a landowner could turn the prominent former YMCA site at the intersection of State and Winthrop streets into a park. The proposal takes the place of a previous plan of the site’s owner to develop the same spot as a museum housing a statue of the owner’s relative, a former U.S. chief justice from Augusta who presided over a ruling that maintained racial segregation. The new plans, from philanthropist and seasonal resident Robert Fuller, do not involve the statue of Melville Fuller. Instead it would feature flower gardens, landscaping, a playground, picnic tables, benches, a parking lot and walking paths on a site across the street from the Capital Judicial Center and Lithgow Public Library, in a part of the city where parks aren’t currently allowed.

Farmers and rural businesses spent big on improvements. Will promised rebates arrive?

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 14, 2025

A freeze on federal loans and grants is creating turmoil for rural U.S. business owners who fear they won’t get reimbursed for new, cleaner irrigation equipment or solar panels they purchased with the promise of a rebate. In Cherryville, Maine, Hugh Lassen and family grow organic blueberries on their Intervale Farm. Last year they purchased solar panels to run their home, a blueberry sorter and 14 freezers. They did it thinking they’d get an $8,000 grant through the Rural Energy for America Program. President Donald Trump ordered a freeze on giving out these funds, but federal judges have said departments can disburse them. Yet many departments have not resumed writing checks.

Moscow banned solar farms. A developer wants to change that.

MORNING SENTINEL • February 14, 2025

A former military radar base in a remote part of Somerset County could soon be the site of a large solar farm. But first, the developers proposing the project need to convince voters in the small town of Moscow to change an ordinance passed in 2023 that effectively banned such projects. Cianbro Corp., headquartered in Pittsfield, and Patriot Renewables, headquartered in Quincy, Massachusetts, have plans for a 60-megawatt solar farm in Moscow and Caratunk at a former U.S. Air Force Over-the-Horizon Backscatter Radar base once used to detect incoming aircraft and missile threats.

Why proposed limits on riprap along Maine’s shore are controversial

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2025

The major storms that hit Maine in the winter of 2024 damaged large sections of the coast, eroding bluffs, banks and beaches while also harming docks, piers and other waterfront infrastructure. The resulting effort to rebuild has inundated the state’s environmental regulators, fueling a roughly 50 percent increase in the number of applications they’ve had to process. The bulk of that uptick has been from landowners wanting to stabilize their sections of coastal shoreline. Now, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has proposed rules that are meant to streamline the handling of those applications, by allowing more of them to be approved through an expedited process known as permit by rule.

Republican legislators pushing for possible nuclear energy comeback in Maine

MAINE MORNING STAR • February 14, 2025

Though Maine decommissioned its only nuclear power plant at the turn of the century, Republicans seem to be laying the groundwork for the energy source to make a comeback. In arguments against solar tax credits and other forms of renewable energy, Republican leaders have said the state should be more open to considering nuclear energy as a low-emission power source. Proponents of nuclear energy would like to see it play a larger role in discussions around the transition to clean energy since it doesn’t emit pollution nor is it subject to the same intermittency of solar and wind. However, critics say those benefits come with other health and environmental hazards. And despite advances in technology, nuclear projects can be expensive.

Column: Here’s how the bird flu is affecting nesting colonies in Maine

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 14, 2025

The current outbreak of avian influenza has been making a lot of headlines. Gulls are being hit hard locally. We observed this in 2022 when hundreds of dead gulls were found on nesting islands. The Greater Portland Christmas Bird Count in mid-December saw the lowest total of both American herring gulls and great black-backed gulls in the history of the count: 1,055 American herring gulls and 78 great black-backed gulls, way down from record highs of 12,773 and 893. The “backyard birds,” like chickadees and woodpeckers, are very unlikely to contract avian influenza, so there is no need to stop feeding those birds. Think about the things you can do to help birds around your yard, be it during an avian influenza outbreak or not. Keep your cats indoors, treat your windows to break up reflections and reduce strikes, support the next generation of birds with native plants. ~ Maine Audubon Staff Naturalist Doug Hitchcox

Maine beer prices likely to rise from Trump’s aluminum tariffs, brewers warn

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2025

Mainers should expect to pay more for local craft beer if aluminum tariffs take effect next month, brewers and industry officials warn. President Donald Trump signed executive orders Monday that impose 25 percent tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. Most of the aluminum used in Maine comes from Canada, including the metal used for beer cans.

Column: You won’t want to miss these birding festivals in Maine

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 14, 2025

Bring out your calendar. It’s time to plan which birding festivals you’ll be attending this year. There are four major ones. Feel free to attend more than one. Over the weekend of May 16-18, Deer Isle and Stonington host their annual Wings, Waves & Woods Festival. The Downeast Spring Birding Festival is scheduled over Memorial Day weekend; this year it will be held May 23-26. The Acadia Birding Festival is the biggest and longest-running Maine festival. It’s scheduled for May 29 - June 1. Save June 5-8 for the Rangeley Birding Festival. ~ Bob Duchesne

Developers give up permits for controversial Deer Isle glampground

BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 13, 2025

The saga of a high-end campground proposal that stirred opposition and prompted zoning discussions on Deer Isle may have reached an end. In a letter to the town’s Select Board dated Feb. 12, developers behind the Fox Hollow campground project voluntarily revoked their own permits and gave up any future development rights on the 48-acre property overlooking Crockett Cove on the island’s southwestern stretch. First proposed in 2022, the project was met with organized resistance from residents and eventually a lawsuit. It also led the town to consider strengthening its zoning laws to prepare for future proposals as development pressure on the island grows.  

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.