Lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on the first of multiple bills this session taking aim at the class of chemicals known as PFAS, which are the focus of growing health concerns nationwide.
Proposed U.S Department of Agriculture rules that would limit the size of private forest land qualifying for certain federal programs would devastate the state s forest, recreation and conservation economy, Maine s congressional delegation says.
The USDA in December proposed a 45,000-acre threshold for private nonindustrial forest land eligible for Natural Resources Conservation Service programs, including grants and loans. That threshold would exclude a variety of Maine landowners that contribute to the economy and provide logging jobs, the delegation said in a letter this week to the USDA.
NRCS programs offer financial assistance for things like constructing water management or irrigation, improving resource conditions and implementing conservation practices. Limiting financial and other assistance to owners of 45,000 acres or fewer would not only hurt the state s conservation efforts, but also logging, forest products and recreation industries, costing jobs and hurting loca
Governor s Forest Carbon Task Force
Forests cover 89 percent of Maine and are the foundation for Maine’s forest products industry and the state’s overall natural resource-based economy. Each year, Maine s forests sequester an amount of carbon equal to at least 60 percent of the state s annual carbon emissions, a figure that rises to 75 percent when durable forest products are included. The Forest Carbon Task Force work seeks to build upon this effort.
Created by Executive Order of Governor Janet Mills, the Forest Carbon Task Force was recommended by the state’s new four-year climate action plan,
Maine Won’t Wait, and aims to develop a voluntary program for small-to-medium size woodland owners in Maine who want to utilize their land for long-term storage of carbon emissions, a process known as carbon sequestration.
February 3, 2021
For more information contact: Jim Britt at:
jim.britt@maine.gov
Task force will consider forest carbon storage incentives for small-to-medium size woodland owners to help protect their property while fighting climate change
AUGUSTA, Maine - As part of Maine s ambitious effort to fight climate change by reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions, Governor Janet Mills has signed an Executive Order to create the Maine Forest Carbon Task Force.
The Task Force is a recommendation from the state s new four-year climate action plan,
Maine Won t Wait, and aims to develop a voluntary program for small-to-medium size woodland owners in Maine of who want to utilize their land for long-term storage of carbon emissions, a process known as carbon sequestration. Forest carbon programs provide financial incentives to preserve forests, thereby storing carbon emissions. However, today, most existing programs are not accessible or economically feasible for smaller woodland owne
Opinions differ on potential impact as Waterville rail yard is sold to CSX
CSX Corp., the freight rail system whose tracks cross nearly every state east of the Mississippi River, is buying Pan Am Railways, extending its network into northern New England.
Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel
Change could be coming to the sprawling yard, however, given the impending purchase of its parent company.
Pan Am, formerly known as Guilford Transportation Industries, bought Maine Central Railroad in 1983. Pan Am’s sale to CSX has statewide implications.
“The Waterville shops have a very strong reputation, and I think it would certainly be very positive for Waterville, and I think for the state of Maine, if they remained open,” said George O’Keefe, economic development director for the town of Rumford and a longtime follower of the locomotive industry. “We’re not in a place where we have too much of that. There’s enough and we can make it work.”