A coalition of business and labor groups has come out in support of a controversial proposed 145-mile transmission line through Western Maine.
The group, calling itself Mainers for Clean Energy Jobs, includes the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, labor unions and the construction firm Cianbro. The group is receiving funding from the Maine Chamber of Commerce. The proposed line would deliver electricity from a Hydro Quebec dam system through Maine to customers in Canada.
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Source: Maine Public
The company building multiple massive solar arrays throughout the state has received environmental approval for its project in Fairfield.
NextEra Energy Resources received approval April 11 from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to move forward with the Fairfield project and is awaiting approval for a similar project in Clinton, two towns just outside of Waterville. The permit, under the Site Location of Development law, requires review of developments that may have a substantial effect upon the environment.
Source: CentralMaine.com
Isle au Haut residents plan to install a sophisticated microgrid this spring that could eventually end their reliance on expensive power and heating fuel from the mainland.As on many of the other 14 Maine islands inhabited year-round, Isle au Haut residents pay at least double the amount a Portland or Bangor resident would for their electricity, kerosene and oil. Compounding matters, an aging undersea electric cable between Stonington and the island could fail any day, according to Jim Wilson, president of Isle au Haut Electric Power Co.
Source: BDN Maine
RUMFORD — The Board of Selectmen voted 4-0 Thursday evening to approve an application for a permit for large-scale water extraction.The Rumford Water District will be allowed to draw up to 650,000 gallons per day, instead of up to 588,700 gallons per day, from two district wells.“The project will be owned and operated by the Rumford Water District, and it will be sold to Poland Spring (Water Co.) under a contract signed last August, district Superintendent Brian Gagnon said.
Source: Lewiston Sun Journal
Beech trees are dominating the woodlands of the northeastern United States as the climate changes, and that could be bad news for the forests and people who work in them, according to a group of scientists. The scientists say the move toward beech-heavy forests is associated with higher temperatures and precipitation. They say their 30-year study, published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Applied Ecology, is one of the first to look at such broad changes over a long time period in the northeastern U.S. and
Source: BDN Maine
“A Belfast seafood products company that was working on an expansion at a vacant warehouse will have to wait a little longer after a fire sparked at the warehouse Thursday morning. Ducktrap River of Maine, based in the city’s business park, purchased a former apparel manufacturing facility across the street last summer. The company then launched a $5 million push to convert the building to produce cold-smoked salmon.”
Source: BDN Maine
A Portland Press Herald article published late in the evening of July 24, 2017, inaccurately cited the Maine Department of Labor’s guidance to employers regarding the state’s new marijuana legalization law as related to employment. This article was later corrected, but before that correction was published, the story was picked up by national media and circulated throughout social media, including blogs written by attorneys to provide guidance to clients.
Source: State of Maine (via Public)
State lawmakers are debating how much they can tax recreational marijuana without driving consumers back to the black market.On Wednesday, the lawmakers charged with crafting Maine’s marijuana regulatory system struggled to find that “sweet spot” of taxing enough to pay for the cost of enforcing the law and some drug prevention, and hopefully making the state at least some money, but not taxing it so much that consumers will still buy their marijuana from a street dealer.
Source: Portland Press Herald
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says it will buy up to $10 million in surplus frozen Maine wild blueberries.
Source: Maine Public
A new report focusing on rural roadways finds almost one 1 of 5 in Maine in poor condition and around 1 in 6 rural bridges to be structurally deficient. The report was prepared by the Washington-based group TRIP, which represents insurers, road builders, transport companies and workers.“Worn out pavements, oftentimes cracking or rutting of those pavements, there can be potholes, but as a motorist, what you’re feeling is a rough ride and certainly that’s beating up your vehicle,” says TRIP’s Rocky Moretti, asked what they categorize as a road in “poor” condition.
Source: Maine Public