DEER ISLE — For Maine lobstermen, 2019 is likely to bring a summer of discontent. Fuel prices are high. Cuts in herring fishing quotas — with further cuts likely — mean that bait is likely to be extremely scarce, and whatever’s available extremely expensive as the season develops. And that’s the good news. What really …
BUCKSPORT — It’s official: Whole Oceans now owns a piece of the former Verso mill site, where it plans to raise salmon. Whole Oceans, which intends to use a state-of-the-art recirculating aquaculture system to raise Atlantic salmon, announced Tuesday the completion of a purchase and sale agreement with AIM (American Iron and Metal) for a …
ELLSWORTH—Frenchman Bay Conservancy (FBC) has been awarded $15,000 to create a parking area and improve a public trail on the Jordan Homestead Preserve in Ellsworth. The city of Ellsworth will match the grant with a $2,500 contribution. “This grant money will allow FBC to create a great asset for the Ellsworth community. We plan to …
ELLSWORTH — Maine became the first state to ban Styrofoam food and beverage containers last month, but, at least in Ellsworth, many restaurants and coffee shops have already transitioned away from them. “Really the only Styrofoam we use is our cups and that’s a corporate thing,” said Sonny Whittaker, deli manager at Freshies. Dunkin’ (formerly …
BLUE HILL — Blue Hill Heritage Trust celebrated the purchase of another large block of forestland with its acquisition of Meadowbrook Forest on April 26. The 2,031-acre Meadowbrook Forest property, which straddles the line between Surry and Ellsworth, is the second largest parcel of land on the Blue Hill Peninsula. The trust’s Surry Forest is …
ELLSWORTH — A bed of ice. A slice of lemon. A dozen gleaming oyster shells. And … thousands of fragments of plastic? No thank you, state Rep. Nicole Grohoski (D-Ellsworth) told the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources at a hearing on April 24. “I generally don’t eat plastic if I can help it,” said …
ELLSWORTH — It may be a year behind schedule, but recycling at the Fiberight facility in Hampden could happen “any day,” a company spokeswoman said Monday. “I’m literally waiting on a phone call,” said Shelby Wright, who is Fiberight’s director of community services. “It could be tomorrow, it could be today. Most likely it’s looking …
ELLSWORTH — In December 2015 Black Bear Hydro Partners LLC filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to renew its license to operate its hydroelectric station at the Union River dam in Ellsworth. Since then, the company argued it could not change the way it managed fluctuations in the level of the …
WINTER HARBOR — If you want to know when maple sugaring season begins, look out the window. The calendar no longer accurately predicts the best time to start tapping maple trees, according to Kathryn Hopkins of the Maine Cooperative Extension Service. Hopkins spoke to 15 people about climate change and the maple industry during a …
ELLSWORTH — A proposal for a large solar power project in Hancock County was approved last week by Maine state utilities officials. The proposal, by Three Rivers Solar Power, LLC, a subsidiary of Boston-based company Swift Current, is free to move forward with further development after a Feb. 26 approval from the Maine Public Utilities …
LAMOINE — The Lamoine Conservation Commission is hosting a talk titled “Microplastics in the Gulf of Maine” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 13, at the Lamoine Consolidated School. Madelyn Woods, coordinator of marine research at the Shaw Institute’s Blue Hill Research Center, will be the guest speaker. Woods will talk about the hazards of …
ELLSWORTH — The Hancock County Commissioners dipped a toe in the waters of land use protection for the unorganized territories and took it back out. But not before rehashing at a Feb. 22 board meeting what transpired at a Feb. 7 public hearing for the proposed water protection ordinance for the unorganized territories. Hancock County …
