Maine Environmental News

News Items

Friends of Maine Mountains to screen 'Windfall' documentary in Dixfield
Sun Journal - Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Friends of Maine Mountains will host a screening of Laura Israel's new feature-length documentary “Windfall” at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at Dirigo High School. According to the movie's website, it's about residents of a small town in upstate New York dealing with a 40-turbine wind farm and its impacts. “We've got the thing scheduled at a whole bunch of places in the state,” Chris O'Neil, president of Friends of Maine Mountains, said early Tuesday.

Opinion: University system sails into future with Maine native at the helm
Kennebec Journal - Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Jim Page was just selected to lead the entire University of Maine system. A Caribou native, Jim earned a bachelor's degree in history at the University of Maine at Fort Kent, a master's degree in philosophy at St. Andrews University in Scotland, and a doctorate in linguistics and philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He taught at the University of Kansas from 1992 to 1997, then returned to Maine to lead Sewall Co., a consulting business with offices in six states that works throughout the Western Hemisphere, specializing in forestry, engineering and mapping. If he could bring together Roxanne Quimby and her harshest critics in a collaborative process with significant achievements, I can't wait to see what he can do with the disparate interests embedded in today's dysfunctional university system. ~ George Smith

Opinion: Collins is right to seek delay in boiler emissions regulation
Portland Press Herald - Wednesday, February 22, 2012
I am writing in response to a recent Maine Voices column regarding the Clean Air Act ("Senators' advocacy of Clean Air Act helps Mainers breathe more freely," Jan. 25). The author, Arthur Cerullo, without naming the legislation specifically, apparently wants Sen. Susan Collins to reverse her stand in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency's rush to impose the "Boiler MACT rule." Boiler MACT seeks to regulate emissions from some 200,000 boilers in the United States, at an estimated cost of some $9.5 billion. Sen. Collins' bill simply seeks to delay the imposition of this rule, which would have an adverse impact on many mills -- particularly in the forest products industry – here in Maine. Why delay the passage of the bill? Time is needed both by industry and the EPA. ~ Tom Elliman, Portland

Opinion: 'Takings' bill would reward big landowners at taxpayers' expense
Portland Press Herald - Wednesday, February 22, 2012
The timber companies and paper mills dominated the Kennebec and other public waters of Maine for more than a century with their log drives and dams without compensating taxpayers. When Maine's rivers were cleaned of industry pollutants, taxpayers bore the expense. Now, the large private timberland owners are seeking financial compensation from the public for environmental regulations. The public already subsidizes forest landowners with Tree Growth Tax laws, Forest Legacy dollars, North American Wetland Conservation Act funds, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grants, forest fire protection, forest insect control and many other state and federal publicly funded programs. L.D. 1810 may appear to be designed to help the "little guy," but the biggest beneficiaries will be real estate developers and large timberland owners who, if the Land Use Regulation Commission is weakened with passage of another bill, L.D. 1798, will be able to subdivide and sell their lands. Or, if they choose to keep their lands, L.D. 1810 will provide taxpayer dollars as compensation for timber-harvesting restrictions. ~ Ron Joseph, Camden

Vermont leaders back away from renewable energy goals
Associated Press - Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Two key state lawmakers said Tuesday that Vermont won't meet its goal of getting 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2017, and they're withdrawing their support for setting a new goal of 30 percent renewable power by 2025.

Shifting politics imperil regional push for low-carbon fuel standard
Other - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The 2010 Republican landslide that swept Democrats out of office in 2010 may soon claim another victim. On the ropes: Northeastern states' push to promote gasoline, diesel and biofuels with low emissions of greenhouse gases. Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management's low-carbon fuel standard was approved by 11 governors in 2009. But seven of the 11 governors are now gone -- including three Democrats who have been replaced by Republicans -- and with them could have gone the enthusiasm for the clean fuel standard. Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R), for example, announced in December that his state program would not be moving forward on the fuel initiative.

Hours of testimony heard on both sides of controversial takings law
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Lawmakers on the Judiciary Committee heard hours of passionate testimony Tuesday both in favor of and against LD 1810, a bill that would allow landowners recourse when their property value has been harmed by environmental or other regulations. Over the last 17 years, state lawmakers several times have rejected similar bills. Those opposed argued that the bill lacks transparency and would weaken Maine’s environmental protections, create a confusing regulatory system that would take a toll on business development and open up the state to the possibility of expensive lawsuits. But those in favor of the legislation said that overzealous state regulations have harmed their property values and their lives.

Maine Landowner Compensation Bill Sparks Heated Debate
Maine Public Broadcasting Network - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Legislature is debating a measure that would allow some property owners to seek either compensation or a waiver from the state if regulations reduce the value of their property by 50 percent. Opponents claim the so-called "takings" bill will trigger a rash of lawsuits, grant entitlements to landowners and create a patchwork of land use protection laws. But supporters argue that Mainers should be compensated for their losses when state land use regulations restrict their ability to develop or utilize their property to its full potential.

EXCLUSIVE: Snowmobilers make new push for trail grooming in Baxter State Park
Maine Environmental News - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Gov. Percival Baxter wanted Baxter State Park to be managed primarily for wildlife and primitive recreation. While he agreed to allow limited snowmobile use for administrative purposes, he did not favor public snowmobiling. Snowmobiles "should be prohibited in the Park," except for administrative use, Baxter wrote as early as 1965. "I feel strongly about this for they will frighten away the wild animals." Despite this, for decades there has been pressure by snowmobilers to be able to use the park. In the 1980s, a compromise was struck to allow public snowmobiling on the Perimeter Road with the understanding that it would not become a groomed trail to discourage speeding. With a governor and legislators who are hostile to wilderness in control of the executive and legislative branches for the first time in decades, the snowmobile lobby is again pushing for grooming of the Tote Road in Baxter State Park.

OSI Completes Saving New England's Wildlife Capital Grants
Other - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Launched in 2009 with the generous support of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Saving New England’s Wildlife, a $5 million capital fund administered by the Open Space Institute, has regranted all $5 million to land conservation projects that protect over 20,000 acres of critical wildlife habitat in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Land trusts used the grants to generate support for projects of high ecological significance, drawing $45 million in public and private funds to the topmost priority transactions protecting habitat. The 30 land conservation projects, valued at over $50 million, speak to the tremendous richness and biological diversity of this region.

Maine bill removes union rights for egg workers
Associated Press - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Maine's House of Representatives has passed a bill that eliminates the right of workers at the former DeCoster egg farms to unionize. The bill passed 73-69 along party lines Tuesday, with Republicans in support and Democrats opposed. It still faces more votes in the House and Senate. The bill eliminates collective bargaining rights for workers at the farms formerly operated by DeCoster Egg Farms. A division of Minnesota-based Lake O'Lakes Inc. has taken over the farms under a lease-purchase agreement.

Maine's Chickadee Checkoff May Fly Away
George Smith Maine Nature Blog - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Maine’s chickadee checkoff may fly away if the legislature’s Taxation Committee flushes it off the roost in the state income tax form where it’s rested since 1984. A bill ordered up by the Taxation Committee was printed on February 16, with the support of most committee members. It repeals the chickadee and all other voluntary donations now on the Maine income tax form. The donations made through the chickadee checkoff are dedicated to Maine’s Endangered Species and Nongame Wildlife Fund. Not only is the legislature unwilling to provide the public funding that DIF&W desperately needs, apparently it doesn’t want you to be able to donate to this beleaguered agency either.

Opinion: DCP propane terminal serious environmental threat
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Six-hundred-one acres of Sears Island have been designated by the state of Maine as a conservation area with an easement held by Maine Coast Heritage Trust. With its five miles of undeveloped shoreline, its inland trails and fields, Sears Island’s popularity grows each year. Many come to observe the rich biological diversity and use the surrounding waters. Sears Island is a place of respite for those with busy lives. We believe that the construction, including the clear-cutting of 22-plus acres, and the operation of the proposed DCP LPG terminal at Mack Point in Searsport are capable of causing irreparable damage. ~ Janet Flint, Friends of Sears Island

Mild winter concerns some maple syrup producers
Associated Press - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
A mild winter across the Northeast is injecting extra uncertainty into maple syrup season, but many producers say they'll just go with the flow, whenever it starts. Temperatures have been up and snowfall totals have been down throughout the region this winter, raising some concern for the maple syrup crop. But syrup producers say the weather during the six-week season when sap flows matters more than the weather leading up to it.

Energy independence for U.S., Maine comes at a price
Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
For both America and Maine, complete freedom from dependence on others for energy fuels is impossible. The United States, with about five percent of the world’s population, consumes about 25 percent of the world’s energy supply. The country does not have energy resources readily available to meet that level of demand. Maine’s oil reduction target probably can be achieved. But in turning away from imported oil, it is inevitable that the alternatives will impose higher costs, either financial or environmental or both. ~ Gordon L. Weil

Maine lawmakers set to hear 'radical' takings bill
Sun Journal - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
More than 17 years ago the Legislature resoundingly rejected a bill that would have forced the state to compensate landowners or waive regulations that diminished more than half the market value of their property. After several extensive public hearings in front of a legislative-commissioned study group, the so-called regulatory takings bill was upended over widespread concerns about its impact, including a deluge of lawsuits, a freeze of land-use regulations and a payday for a handful of developers and landowners at the expense of taxpayers. Lawmakers on Tuesday will begin reviewing a new takings bill, LD 1810. It's different from the one the Legislature considered in 1995, yet opponents believe the results will be much the same if it's enacted. Two Pierce Atwood attorneys are lobbying the takings bill. Committee documents show that the law firm wrote the legislation.

Waterford land placed in conservation
Sun Journal - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
A desire to protect a historic property has led Bart and Mary Ann Hague to place 88 acres of agricultural fields and forest lands under a conservation easement, Lee Dassler of the Western Foothills Land Trust said. The easement protects the fields and working woods surrounding the 1790s McWain farmhouse, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The protected property is primarily forested, but includes 18 acres of working fields and grassland habitat that may house rare or declining species of grassland birds, such as the Bobolink and Eastern meadowlark. This was the fourth conservation easement that the Hagues have donated to the trust since 1999. Their contributions total 460 acres in the Crooked River watershed.

Opinion: As climate changes, so does what grows atop mountain in Maine
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
One of the difficulties in trying to figure out how much we should be worrying about climate change is that the effects either seem so far in the future or they seem small. The average temperature is going to rise a couple of degrees by the end of the century: Is that a big deal? In our study of the plants in the alpine area atop Bigelow Mountain we found that the trees occur in places now where they didn't occur 33 years ago. At least one of the herbaceous plants in the alpine community is less widespread than it used to be. Declines in alpine plants are just one kind of change. But they are one of many, and that is what's important. We may not know yet exactly what those changes will be, but they're coming. Some are occurring already. And those many little changes will transform the world into a place that could be quite unlike anything we have ever seen before. ~ Robert S. Capers

Portland forum to seek readiness for higher seas
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Property owners, city officials, architects and researchers will gather Friday to discuss ways to save Bayside from rising sea levels, such as erecting a hurricane barrier under Tukey's Bridge to shield Back Cove from storm surges. But despite dire predictions of flood waters swamping Marginal Way, there won't be discussions about what is causing the world's oceans to rise. "We don't want to talk about global warming," said Sam Merrill, of the Muskie School of Public Service and a speaker at Friday's community conversation. Rather then get stuck in a political debate about whether nature or man is causing climate change, he said, it's more productive to focus on how to prepare for the future if current patterns continue.

Letter: No upside to Keystone XL pipeline
Portland Press Herald - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
The Keystone XL pipeline is a monumentally bad idea on virtually all fronts. We need to focus on conservation and alternative sources of energy -- but mostly conservation -- or else we are doomed. ~ John S. Wood, Hollis Center

Letter: Tank supports Maine’s future
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
DCP Midstream proposes to expand the industrial port at Mack Point, Searsport. It is difficult to understand the opponents’ real motivations. It’s a good thing the opponents were not around when Bath Iron Works, Bangor International Airport and Eastern Maine Medical Center were constructed and expanded. Everything now said in opposition to DCP’s plan for Mack Point could easily have been used to oppose them. ~ John Worth, Belfast

Letter: No handout for Vigue
Bangor Daily News - Tuesday, February 21, 2012
In a time of government austerity, why are taxpayers being asked to pay for private projects? This should have been the question that legislators on the Transportation Committee asked before they approved a resolution that would fund a new feasibility study for the fabled east-west highway with $300,000 from the state’s highway fund. There is no evidence that the road will result in sustainable economic growth for our state, so why are we already being asked to pay into it? If Peter Vigue, the mastermind behind the newest east-west highway plan, wants to make his investors feel more comfortable, he should pay for the study himself, not ask for a government handout. ~ Peter McGuire, Farmington

Sides line up in renewables debate
Mainebiz - Monday, February 20, 2012
A referendum to double Maine's standard for new renewable electricity generation will not be on the ballot in 2012 — but the battle lines are already forming for its likely appearance next year.

Waterville company hopes its corn protein patents will create products and jobs in the potato industry
Mainebiz - Monday, February 20, 2012
Those seeking locally grown advances in agriculture haven't "zein" anything yet. That's the hope of Bob Cyr, CEO of Waterville-based Global Protein Products, who is already seeing his patented corn protein formulas make potato growers around the world more efficient, and who may soon be helping processors develop new and better spud products, like low-fat french fries and peeled potatoes, without dangerous preservatives. All from a corn protein called zein.

Column: Fader in the middle
Daily Bulldog (Franklin County) - Monday, February 20, 2012
Q. In 2007, which Maine politician called for fast action to combat global warming, saying, “Time is not on our side,” but in 2011, opposed allowing the federal Environmental Protection Agency to regulate greenhouse gases? a. Republican State Treasurer Bruce Poliquin b. Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree c. GOP U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe (The answer is Snowe, who’s up for re-election, which probably has nothing to do with her pulling a one-eighty.) ~ Al Diamon

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