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Greetings, I hope you can join us in Portland Thursday February 9, 7:00 p.m. to learn about this major emerging environmental threat to the greater Portland area. Please do let me know if you think you may be there to report on this, and if you have questions or need more information. Thank you. Best wishes, Judy
Free public talk in Portland Thursday February 9, 7:00 p.m.
The Maine Coastal Program at the State Planning Office announces the award of $291,000 in grants for eight projects along the Maine coast. The grants will help enhance public access to the shore, reduce clam flat closures, and improve water quality. The grants are made possible from Maine’s federal coastal management award from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). All of the projects include collaboration among partnerships and each grantee will provide a minimum of 25% in matching funds or services.
The Maine Forest Service, under the Maine Department of Conservation, this week finished up its bark-peeling project to look for evidence of the highly dangerous invasive insect, emerald ash borer (EAB). The results were just what MFS entomologists were hoping for. After participating in two workshops on Jan. 17 and Jan. 24 and peeling 52 logs down to the cambium, or living layer, the volunteers found no tell-tale signs of the harmful EAB that is threatening Maine’s forests, MFS officials said.
Welcome to Hirundo Wildlife Refuge. Hirundo is a 2,400 acre nature preserve, spanning Pushaw and Dead Streams, Lac D’Or (lake), vast wetlands, including domed bog and maple and juniper swamps, and mixed hardwood and evergreen forests. Only 10 miles from the University of Maine, Orono Campus, visitors paddle canoes free of charge and watch playful river otters, breeding Wood Ducks, Bald Eagles, and Osprey in the tranquil beauty. While hiking, snowshoeing, and cross country skiing, one might encounter moose, deer, red and gray fox, muskrat, beaver, otter, black bear, bobcat, fisher, and ermine.
Among other shortcomings in the legislation, FMM sees its passage as a de facto mandate for an unsustainable buildup of wind turbines and costly transmission systems on Maine’s mountains. O’Neil asserted that “markets would not support any wind power at all if not for a complicated brew of incentives, grants, mandates, tax breaks, surcharges, and other government created gimmicks. This is just one more gimmick, and it’s a huge one.”
Ash-tree owners from central Maine, who earlier this year created tree traps to look for emerald ash borer (EAB), will bring wood samples to the workshops to be peeled by volunteers and examined for signs of the dangerous insect, said Colleen Teerling, Maine Forest Service entomologist. “We’re going to work with them to peel the tree bolts,” Teerling said. “We’ll teach them to do it properly and how to search for emerald ash borer.”
More than two million dollars will help public and non-profit groups restore and protect high priority wetlands and other natural resources across Maine.The Maine Natural Resource Conservation Program – which is administered by The Nature Conservancy in collaboration with the Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers – announced awards totaling $2.4 million to help restore, enhance or preserve wetlands and other important habitats at 17 project sites.
Today, Governor Paul LePage nominated Patrick C. Keliher to serve as Commissioner of the Department of Marine Resources (DMR). Keliher, of South Gardiner, has served as Deputy Commissioner and Director, Bureau of Sea Run Fisheries and Habitat within DMR since 2007. He has served, most recently as Acting Commissioner, and has been serving in this capacity since July.
The annual awards program from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection will honor entities whose innovation has resulted in measurable environmental and economic benefits.
Howdy, I am Sharon Wilson but most people know me as TXsharon, author of the blog, Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS that focuses on drilling issues locally, statewide, nationally and even globally. My involvement started when I noticed alarming things happening to the countryside near my property in Wise County, Texas—a smelly pit here, a smoking rig there, and leaky pipes and hoses that ended up in flowing creeks. I wrote letters to the paper, talked to neighbors and blogged as a guest until I finally started my own blog.
Dow Chemical is seeking USDA approval for a genetically engineered (GE) version of corn that is resistant to 2,4-D, a herbicide that was used in the formulation of the highly toxic defoliant Agent Orange. Agent Orange (half 2,4-D by composition) was extensively used in Vietnam by the military to destroy forests and crops.
In the first eight years of mining, over two hundred pockets (essential for the formation of exceptional mineral specimens and gem-quality rough) have been discovered, yielding spectacular specimens of gemmy green, blue-green, pink, and multicolored tourmaline and other pegmatite minerals that rival the best material that Mount Mica has produced in its 190-year history.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection is recommending the Legislature reevaluate product stewardship in the state after calculations concluded it has cost more than $2.5 million in the last decade to remove just over 400 pounds of mercury from the environment.
REMINDER: "Trouble Is my Business" on Stage at Portland Stage Company January 24th to February 19th
Jazz Pianist Robert Glasper to Perform at Bates College on February 9, 2012
Weekly Message from Governor Paul LePage for February 4th, 2012
Local Love Muscle Valentines Day Film Festival At Geno’s 2/14/12
The Bill Thibodeau Band at Next Generation Theatre Feb. 11, 2012
George Lopez, Classical Pianist to Perform at Jewett Hall Auditorium, Sunday, February 12, 2012.
February 2012 Deals, Events, News and all things Gritty!
Stop Dirty Tar Sands Oil from Coming Through Maine: Public Meeting Feb. 9, 2012
