The most comprehensive online source of conservation news and events in Maine and beyond, edited by Jym St. Pierre
MAINE PUBLIC • March 6, 2025
Conservation groups say a flawed federal review of fish passage plans for dams on the Kennebec River could doom endangered Atlantic Salmon. John Burrows from the Atlantic Salmon Federation said changes approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will not restore fish to the river. "The only way to do that is to remove some of these dams, and FERC has just written that off," Burrows said.
TIMES RECORD • March 6, 2025
Daniel Stevenson was appointed the new executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority on Monday. He will be overseeing the cleanup of one of the worst environmental disasters in the state’s history. “Right now, the most important priority is public safety, both in the immediate and long term,” he said. “Brunswick Landing is full of potential. We can nurture young tech startups and businesses that move Maine into the 21st century. Although the chemical release is unfortunate, things are coming together here. We will continue working with the Navy, EPA and DEP, putting science first in all our efforts — from release cleanup work and ongoing monitoring to redevelopment.“
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 6, 2025
Maine could gain more than $2 million from New England’s electricity grid operator to help pay for electric vehicle subsidies through a proposal in the state Legislature. The measure would allow Maine to use funding from one of several electricity markets operated by ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator. It is part of a larger effort to expand the use of zero-emissions transportation. Transportation accounts for nearly half of the carbon emissions in Maine and expanding electric vehicle use would help the state achieve its target of reducing greenhouse gases by 45% in 5 years.
MAINE PUBLIC • March 6, 2025
The Maine Turnpike Authority is dropping its controversial Gorham connector project, a proposed four-lane highway that would run from South Portland through Westbrook and Scarborough to Gorham. Instead, state transportation authorities say they will undertake a comprehensive effort to find ways of easing persistent rush hour traffic in the region. Turnpike officials spent more than a dozen years and millions of dollars pursuing a five-mile toll road that would connect Portland’s western suburbs to the interstate. But growing public opposition to the $330 million project led the Turnpike to pause it last year. Now all work has stopped while the state conducts fresh research on the issue.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 6, 2025
The more populous southern New England states need electricity and northern Maine offers abundant opportunities to deliver wind energy from Aroostook County and hydropower from Canada. Tie the two together with a more than $1 billion transmission upgrade, and renewable energy will flow without impediments to the rest of the region. And with the cost split among the six states, Mainers will reap tremendous benefits at a bargain. That’s the first-of-its-kind pitch made by New England’s governors to the region’s grid operator. One project nearing completion is the 145-mile NECEC transmission line, which is expected to bring 1,200 MW of Canadian hydropower to the New England grid. More than 34% of construction is completed, and the project is expected to come online in 2026.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 6, 2025
Maine transportation officials have agreed to take a fresh look at traffic congestion west of Portland and consider solutions other than the controversial Gorham Connector proposal. The Maine Turnpike Authority has asked the Maine Department of Transportation to lead a two-year study that will include reviewing how the pandemic changed some of the underlying reasons for the 5-mile, four-lane toll highway extension. The decision follows a year of community conflict over the connector proposal and growing negative feedback “from the public and civic leaders who have called for a broader, more holistic and multimodal approach to addressing the region’s mobility challenges.”
MAINE MORNING STAR • March 6, 2025
Two bills from Sen. Joseph Martin (R-Oxford) that seek to assert state sovereignty and ownership up to 12 and 24 nautical miles off the state’s coast are scheduled to have a public hearing Thursday before the Legislature’s Marine Resources Committee. Just two years ago, similar legislation was brought forward and failed. At the time, both the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Maine Lobstermen’s Association raised concern that such a change is legally fraught and wouldn’t result in the desired outcome of protecting lobster fisheries, leading both entities to oppose the bill.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 6, 2025
“Would you like to hold a bear cub?” asked Randy Cross, a biologist from the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Randy had the stellar reputation of being the person who knew more about black bears than probably anybody in the country. I was thrilled to have been asked to go along with a group of 20 others on an outing led by Randy to learn about the bear population in our state.
BANGOR DAILY NEWS • March 5, 2025
Grand Falls Agromart, a Canadian fertilizer company located 3 miles from the Hamlin, Maine, border crossing plans to set up a facility in northern Maine next year, saying it is the only way to stay in business and circumvent the bilateral trade tariffs that went into effect on Tuesday.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 4, 2025
Tariffs that took effect Tuesday targeted all products from Canada and Mexico, hitting particularly hard in Maine, where residents depend more heavily on heating oil than in any other state. President Donald Trump slapped 25% tariffs against all goods, with energy facing a 10% tariff. Consumers of heating oil and propane will feel the hit by the end of the week, he said, and households that are struggling to make their payments will now pay 10% more. “This will be a hard pill to swallow,” said Patrick Woodcock, president and CEO of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and ex-director of the Maine Energy Office. More than 80% of heating fuel and gasoline is imported to the state from Canada. ISO-New England, the region’s grid operator, said it estimates it would be on the hook for $66 million to $165 million a year to pay a 10% to 25% tariff on electricity imported from Canada. “In a worst-case scenario, the ISO could be forced to seek bankruptcy protection and the federal government could restrict or ban Canadian electricity imports into New England until the duties are paid,” it said.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 5, 2025
Spurred on by last year’s Brunswick Landing chemical spill, a Maine legislative committee unanimously endorsed two proposals Wednesday that would catalog, collect and destroy the state’s unwanted stockpile of toxic firefighting foam. The bills, plus one other that would require all foam to be removed from Brunswick Landing, have met with enthusiastic support from the Brunswick community, including many neighbors who say they don’t want another community to endure an accidental spill like the one that upended theirs. If approved by both chambers, the bills would still require appropriations committee approval because of the combined $5.2 million price tag.
TIMES RECORD • March 5, 2025
Last Friday, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) notified the University of Maine that it would immediately end its funding for the Maine Sea Grant — a key program that has bolstered coastal communities and created thousands of marine jobs over the past 50 years. In a termination letter NOAA official Timothy Carrington wrote that the activities of Maine Sea Grant are “no longer relevant to the Administration’s priorities and program objectives.” Wednesday, the administration agreed to renegotiate funding for Maine Sea Grant following conversations between U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. The renegotiation would put funding back on the table so long as the work supported by the program “focuses on advancing Maine’s coastal economies, working waterfronts and sustainable fisheries.”
MAINE PUBLIC • March 5, 2025
State energy officials have regained access to a $62 million dollar solar power award frozen in the early days of the Trump presidency. The Solar for All grant through the Environmental Protection Agency is intended to help low-income and disadvantaged households access solar power and energy storage. Maine lost the funding just days after President Trump took office.But on Tuesday, the Maine Governor’s Energy office said it is again able to access the fund.
MAINE PUBLIC • March 5, 2025
The U.S. Commerce Department said Wednesday it will renegotiate the terms of the Maine Sea Grant. The Trump administration announced over the weekend that it was discontinuing a four-year, $4.5 million award to Maine Sea Grant, describing the program's activities as "no longer relevant to the focus of the administration’s priorities and program objectives." But on Wednesday afternoon, Maine U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican, announced that after conversations with her the day before, the Commerce Department agreed to modify the terms of the Sea Grant Award.
NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE • March 5, 2025
A final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) issued for four dams on Maine’s Kennebec River ignores the best available science and could doom endangered Atlantic salmon to extinction while harming recovery of other sea-run fish, according to a coalition of local residents, conservation organizations, and fishing groups, together with the Penobscot Nation and Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Conservation Law Foundation. The EIS published by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) ignores comments from more than 2,000 anglers, local businesses, scientists, and others who spoke at public hearings, submitted comments online, or signed a petition, all calling for a solution on the Kennebec that results in recovery of millions of sea-run fish, including critically endangered Atlantic salmon. FERC’s flawed EIS relies on engineered fish passage that has not worked anywhere else in the world.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 5, 2025
Maine is the first state in the country to buy out a farmer driven off his land by forever chemicals. The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry spent $333,000 from the state’s $60 million forever chemical relief fund to buy a secluded 24-acre hay field and 83 acres of forest in Palermo, according to state officials and county land records. “It’s bittersweet,” said Beth Valentine, the director of the state’s Fund to Address PFAS Contamination. “I’m glad we’ve closed on our first property so other landowners can see that this is a potential option if they want to move off the land, but I also recognize it was very hard for this landowner.”
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 3, 2025
The Trump administration has agreed to renegotiate funding for Maine Sea Grant, one of the state’s key coastal resource programs, following conversations between U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnik and U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine. The renegotiation would put funding back on the table so long as the work supported by the program “focuses on advancing Maine’s coastal economies, working waterfronts and sustainable fisheries,” Collins’ office said in an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Saturday that it was rescinding the $4.5 million award that supports marine science research, workforce development and education across the state for four years. It’s unclear when the money would be restored and when projects could resume. Maine Sea Grant will need to reapply for funding.
TIMES RECORD • March 5, 2025
One of the signs of spring is the emergence of coastal salt marshes. While not verdant green, they do contain plenty of life — and support plenty more of it. Salt marshes may not be the most romantic aspect of the edge of the sea, as compared to sandy beaches or sparkling tide pools, but they do have a particular, gentle beauty. On a sunny, warm day, they look a lot like fields of hay swept by the wind. In fact, salt marshes are an incredible example of the crossover between land and sea. They live a bit in both worlds. ~ Susan Olcott, Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association
NH PUBLIC RADIO • March 5, 2025
Home heating oil. Lumber. Seafood. Airplane parts. Businesses and consumers across New England rely heavily on these and other Canadian imports, raising fears about the trickle down costs of President Trump’s imposition of a 25% tariff, which went into effect Tuesday. In Maine, Canadian imports were valued at around $4.7 billion last year, with fuel oil, electricity, seafood and lumber the largest sectors. Canada is the region’s largest single trading partner, accounting for $27 billion in goods in 2024. At a time when high food prices continue to drive frustration for shoppers, a 25% tax on Canadian agricultural imports may mean even more sticker shock at grocery stores. Representatives of Maine’s lobster industry are raising the alarm about how the tariffs could impact its closely connected supply chain with Canada.
MAINE ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS • March 5, 2025
Amy Niemczura-Sowa, the first person to complete all 59 trails, spurs, and mentioned distances in the 12th edition of the Maine Mountain Guide, tells tales. At Lithgow Library, Augusta, March 31, 6 pm, free.
