Maine Environmental News

Letter: Litter mars Maine – and its image
Portland Press Herald - Thursday, September 09, 2010
Although our air may be deemed cleaner, the landscape that lines our roads has become an ashtray and dumping grounds for unwanted litter. Perhaps in the future people will change, but for now the blatant misuse of the beauty that surrounds us is inexcusable.

Value of Portland seafood catch continues slide
Associated Press - Thursday, September 09, 2010
The National Marine Fisheries Service has released its annual report detailing the nation's fishing catch for 2009. The report says Stonington was Maine's top port, at $26.5 million. Portland was the No. 56 fishing port by value in 2009, down from 36th a year earlier. The port routinely ranked among the Top 10 in the 1990s.

EEE, West Nile virus appearing in Northeast
Associated Press - Thursday, September 09, 2010
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says West Nile virus is cropping up in mosquito pools and in people across the Northeast and across the nation.

Opinion: Maine’s rush to develop wind power is ill-advised
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
I believe Maine’s governor and other public servants are dedicated to making our state a better place, but when they become carried away by a tide of one-sided allegations, the public is not well-served. They should have pursued wind power with caution since every European country that has tried it has discontinued their subsidies. Wind is more expensive than natural gas and other alternatives, and wind power can contribute to pollution during the 70 percent of the time turbines produce so little. Yet, Maine is embracing wind power because policy is being made by wind companies and by state officials with nontechnical degrees.

Maine tribes finish 100-mile Spiritual Run
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Filled with the spirit of their ancestors, Penobscot Indian Nation members and other Wabanaki gathered early one recent morning before the sun rose to embark on a journey that took them down the same paths their forefathers used. Butch Phillips, 70, a Penobscot elder, led one of many groups that left Indian Island last week for the annual Katahdin Spiritual Run, a 100-mile trek by canoe, bike and foot to Mount Katahdin, a sacred site for the state’s four native tribes.

First Wind Eyeing New Project in Piscataquis County
Maine Public Broadcasting Network - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Maine's largest wind power developer, First Wind, based in Massachusetts, is eyeing another project in Maine that could add up to 35 turbines along a ridge in Piscataquis County, near Bingham.

Annual Raptor Migration Attracts Hawk-watchers to Cadillac
Mount Desert Islander - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Sitting atop the highest peak within 50 miles of the sea from Maine to Rio de Janeiro, watchers scan the sky for one of nature’s most magnificent spectacles. Bleary-eyed, they watch a wide patch of blue, hoping, waiting, for their eye to catch a distinctive sweep of movement. Sudden, there it is, riding the thermal updrafts over the 1,532-foot edifice of Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park. It’s a broadwing hawk, one of thousands of raptors that use the peak as a navigation waypoint on their annual fall migration to warmer climes.

Subdivision Plans Complete
Mount Desert Islander - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Plans for a proposed 10-lot subdivision across from Acadia National Park’s Hulls Cove visitor center were found complete by the planning board on Sept. 1. A public hearing on the project was tentatively set for Wednesday, Oct. 6.

Tree Plan Draws Fire
Mount Desert Islander - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Plans to cut down more than 70 trees along a short stretch of Norway Drive were assailed by residents during the Bar Harbor town council meeting on Tuesday. After significant debate, councilors voted 5-2 to allow the project to move forward.

FDA Gives Stamp of Approval to Genetically Engineered Salmon
Ellsworth American - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has decided that Atlantic salmon genetically engineered to reach market size in half the time it takes ordinary farmed salmon are safe to eat and not a threat to the environment.

Opinion: The Nature of Things....
Bar Harbor Times - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Birds make excellent indicators. The proverbial "canary in a coal mine" derives from the practice of coal miners bringing caged canaries underground. These colorful songsters were particularly sensitive indicators of elevated levels of carbon monoxide and methane, so when they stopped singing, it was time to skedaddle. Today, birds are indicators of much broader scale disturbances.

Camden hears from wind opponents
Herald Gazette - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
The Camden Select Board on Sept. 7 heard from citizens concerned about a possible wind turbine installation on Ragged Mountain. While no specific plans are in the works for a wind turbine development on Ragged Mountain, there was a strong show of opposition to any possible project at that location. In June, the Island Institute suggested a three-phase project that analyze the technical, logistical, economic and environmental aspects of installing wind turbines on Ragged Mountain.

Letter: Wind power questions have frightening answers
Kennebec Journal - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
I believe our state government has sold out, lock, stock and barrel, to the wind industry. I have little hope of seeing any meaningful regulations put in place to check the coming destruction. There are a lot of questions being raised about mountain top industrial wind these days. And the answers, when we can get them, are frightening.

Letter: Saying climate change is false puts planet in great danger
Portland Press Herald - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Dr. Alan W. Boone's Maine Voices column doubting that climate change is human-caused ("Climate change caused by humans? That's a highly disputable claim," Aug. 28) was irresponsible. No scientific body of national or international standing is in disagreement with the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – the one exception being petroleum geologists. Geologists are not climatologists.

Rockland lobster warehouse to be rebuilt after five-alarm fire
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Linda Bean picked her way Tuesday afternoon through the charred wreckage of her lobster storage facility that burned in a five-alarm fire over the weekend in the Rockland Industrial Park. Nine thousand pounds of live lobsters died in the blaze. “It was a real disaster.”

Camden a top foliage town, says magazine
Bangor Daily News - Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Camden, a community where mountains literally meet the sea, has been chosen by Yankee Magazine as one of New England’s best spots for fall foliage travel.

Opinion: There's a lot Maine can do to meet its environmental challenges
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
All too often environmental issues in Augusta are portrayed as a tradeoff. This session, the Maine Legislature proved that conservation done right protects the environment and creates new economic opportunities, while also lowering costs for Mainers.

Letter: Inaccurate criticisms
Times Record - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Recently, a letter and an opinion column in The Times Record criticized my reporting about the governor’s task force that shaped the state’s wind power policy by asserting that I had written things that I hadn’t. If critics want to come forth and use both facts and their names, I’d be happy to respond to them.

Opinion: Cutler’s restructuring plan is flawed
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Independent candidate for governor Eliot Cutler’s proposal to restructure state government is an entertaining read. I laughed. I cried. Cutler recommends the removal of authority from the Land Use Regulation Commission, a citizens board, by transferring power to the executive branch. He supports his proposal by perpetuating a deeply flawed talking point — that the LURC decision on Plum Creek was too long and too costly. In reality, LURC was perfectly capable of delivering a quick answer on the Plum Creek proposal. And the answer would have been “no.”

DOT works with Army to swap out culverts
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
The Maine Department of Transportation plans to replace culverts in several areas in central Maine this fall, pending a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Under the federal Clean Water Act, the Maine DOT must file for a permit because the work might affect the habitat for Atlantic salmon.

First Wind developing plans for 33-35 turbines in Bingham area
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Officials with First Wind LLC, a Boston-based wind energy company, told the Piscataquis County commissioners Tuesday that they are eyeing the installation of 33 to 35 wind turbines in Kingsbury Plantation and Blanchard Township. The location of the proposed project in Blanchard is about five miles from the Appalachian Trail.

Tidal power turbine being moved to benefit fishermen
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
For weeks, Ocean Renewable Power Co. has been working with local officials and the Maine Marine Patrol to find a new location for its tidal power turbine in Cobscook Bay so that the equipment would not negatively affect local fishermen.

Homeowners are taking desperate measures against bedbugs
Associated Press - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
A resurgence of bedbugs across the U.S. has homeowners and apartment dwellers taking desperate measures to eradicate the tenacious bloodsuckers, with some relying on dangerous outdoor pesticides and fly-by-night exterminators. The problem has gotten so bad that the EPA warned this month against the indoor use of chemicals meant for the outside.

Maine to collect old pesticides
Associated Press - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Chemicals, such as DDT, lead arsenate and chlordane, are difficult and expensive to get rid of. The Maine Board of Pesticides Control will accept banned and unusable pesticides at no cost to homeowners. Four sites will be set up throughout the state where people will be able to bring their obsolete pesticides. Homeowners must pre-register by Oct. 1.

Maine ocean lab to build permanent home
Associated Press - Tuesday, September 07, 2010
Bigelow Laboratory is breaking ground for its permanent home in East Boothbay along the Maine coast. The Bigelow Center for Blue Biotechnology will be the first building on the laboratory's new, 64-acre ocean research and education campus. The lab has received $4.5 million from the Maine Technology Asset Fund for the new center.

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