ELLSWORTH — As local communities look to the sun to save on electricity bills and be more environment-friendly — Ellsworth is actively exploring solar for its electricity needs — one business owner decided to power his shop through solar, too. Richard Newman, owner of Superior Docks at 420 Christian Ridge Road, will appear before the …
ELLSWORTH — It was almost exactly 400 years ago that the poet and Church of England cleric John Donne told congregants and other readers to “send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee,” but he might well have been addressing Maine’s 6,200 licensed lobstermen. Last July, in a case filed …
HANCOCK — Frenchman Bay Conservancy (FBC) is hoping to raise a total of $900,000 to preserve 1,400 acres in Hancock as part of a larger 4,500-acre conservation project. “To find a larger, intact property like this is becoming less and less frequent,” said FBC Land Protection Manager Kat Deely. “The fact that that land is …
OSBORN — A 22-turbine wind project known as Weaver Wind should be online by the end of the year at the latest, said Chief Development Officer Matt Kearns of Longroad Energy Partners, the company behind the project. “All of the towers are up,” said Kearns. “By the end of November, we will be electrically connected …
PENOBSCOT — The sheep at Horsepower Farm will soon be eating hay that farmer Andrew Birdsall had bought to feed them over the winter. “The pastures are dry,” Birdsall said. “The gardens are dry. We watered what we could and we did alright.” But, the sheep rely on grazing in the pastures, where nothing is …
ELLSWORTH — Nearly five years into the process of renewing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission license for its Graham Lake and Leonard Lake dams, Black Bear Hydro seems no closer to solving the issue of fluctuating water levels in Graham Lake than when the process began. Earlier this month, shoreland owners reported that the water …
BROOKLIN — A Brooksville native has started a composting business and intends to compost commercially on two acres of a 51-acre parcel off the Hales Woods Road. Kate Tompkins of Sargentville is applying for a Maine Department of Environmental Protection permit. Once that is in hand, she will appear before the Brooklin Planning Board. “Chickadee …
ELLSWORTH — An 11,000-panel solar project planned for two sites on the Mariaville Road can move forward after Planning Board members approved a decommissioning plan for the panels earlier this month. Board members had rejected a draft version of the decommissioning plan at first, said City Planner Theresa Oleksiw, worrying that it might leave taxpayers …
CUTLER — The Navy is seeking to sample private drinking water wells near the Naval Support Activity Cutler Fire Station. These free tests are to determine whether certain chemicals (commonly and collectively referred to as PFAS) used by the Navy in its activities at the station may have migrated through groundwater to wells at levels …
ELLSWORTH — Hancock County and two of its businesses have been awarded federal funding through the Rural Energy for America Program. The county of Hancock has been awarded a $95,000 grant. The money will be used to conduct approximately 15 energy audits for rural small businesses and agricultural producers. These audits will provide analysis to …
HANCOCK — Frenchman Bay Conservancy is launching a capital campaign to fund the purchase of 1,400 acres in Hancock for the Frenchman Bay Community Forest project. The community forest will be accessible from the Downeast Sunrise Trail, minutes from downtown Ellsworth. Free and open to the public, the Frenchman Bay Community Forest will provide opportunities …
ELLSWORTH — The city’s annual “Card Brook Cleanup” event, held in partnership with Frenchman Bay Conservancy, is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 12, from 9:30 a.m. to noon. “Card Brook is one of those beautiful treasures in the city of Ellsworth, a little gem that connects the upstream waters, largely undeveloped, valuable wetlands for wildlife, for …
