In The News

A bipartisan measure to help protect working waterfronts against climate change and incompatible development pressures passed the U.S. House Tuesday by a vote of 262-151, with 34 Republicans voting in support. The measure, introduced by Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine, D-1st District, would provide $24 million in federal grants and loans to states, which could allocate funding to municipalities, nonprofits and fishing co-ops for projects that preserve or improve working waterfront infrastructure.

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine)’s bipartisan bill, H.R. 3596, the Keep America’s Waterfronts Working Act, today passed the House of Representatives on a 262-151 vote. “More than 30,000 Mainers rely on marine-related industries for their livelihoods. Yet out of five thousand miles of coastline, just 20 miles of workable waterfront remains in the state,” said Pingree. 

The Town of South Thomaston is pleased to announce that they were recently awarded a $10,000 ShoreUp Maine grant from the Island Institute. The grant will assist in the engineering of the Town’s Spruce Head Island Causeway road project. The project is intended to improve the road in ways that mitigate potential wash out during heavy weather events, effectively shutting down the island and our working waterfront.

More than 90 people filled boats on Wednesday to go to Islesford to celebrate the installation of new solar panels at the Cranberry Isles Fishermen’s Co-op. The new panels on top of the fishermen co-op’s buildings provide 100-percent of the power. Between grants from the Island Institute and the USDA, Nighman says 60% of the cost was covered.

The Island Institute, announced July 1 the launch of the Tom Glenn Community Impact Fund, a new catalyst fund that seeks to build a more diverse coastal economy by providing grants, loans and equity investments for small businesses and municipalities. The fund was made possible through a grant from The Wilbur and Hilda Glenn Family Foundation to honor Tom Glenn II and his lifelong commitment to Maine’s island and coastal communities.

People who work the sea say Maine’s climate is changing, and the evidence is all around them. Mid-Atlantic species in Maine coastal waters is just one piece of the evidence that a changing climate, with warmer ocean waters, is already having an impact here. Cousens, the former president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, says he has been tracking sea surface temperatures in the waters of Penobscot Bay, just off his home in South Thomaston, for the past 40 years.

Governor Janet Mills announced today that she has introduced bipartisan legislation to create the Maine Climate Council. The Climate Council will develop the action plan and timetable to meet the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals, to promote jobs and economic benefits for Maine people in the transition to a lower carbon economy, and to support the climate resiliency of Maine’s communities.

It was a sharp, windy March day, but the gray water of Casco Bay glimmered green in the sun. On his lobster boat, the Pull N’ Pray, Justin Papkee scanned the surface of the ocean, searching for his buoys. But he wasn’t looking for lobster traps. Mr. Papkee was farming, not fishing: His crop, clinging to ropes beneath the cold waves, was seaweed, thousands of pounds of brownish kelp undulating under the surface. Growing at a rate of 4 to 6 inches per day for the past six months, it was nearly ready to be harvested and sent to restaurants like Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Estela, Houseman, Saint Julivert Fisherie and Luke’s Lobster in New York, and Honey Paw, Chaval and the Purple House here in Maine.

Downtown Vinalhaven sits on a mix of quarried rocks subject to erosion and vulnerable to inundation. When a selectman raised concerns in 2015 about “the inevitability of sea-level rise,” the board acknowledged, “We have to start talking about this; we have to form a committee,” recalls Vinalhaven Town Manager Andrew Dorr. Dorr turned for help to the school, where students working on a climate curriculum began preliminary research and modeled inundation using a gingerbread town. After they presented findings to the board of selectmen, the town sought a grant to obtain an engineering assessment of its harbor area.

From shellfish growers and farmers to doctors and home-grown clean energy businesses, a wide range of Mainers testified today in support of a bipartisan bill to spark action on climate change. "An Act to Limit Greenhouse Gas Pollution and Effectively Use Maine’s Natural Resources" (LD 797) would set Maine on a clear path forward for tackling climate change by reducing carbon pollution and growing local economies, while protecting families and businesses from the worst effects of the changing climate. Read more in this news release from the Natural Resources Council of Maine.