The new conditions, which would require legislative approval, would double the number of test borings required to prove the area is safe for open-air mining and cut the maximum size of the pit in half.
Penelope Overton
Staff Writer
Penny Overton is excited to be the Portland Press Herald’s first climate reporter. Since joining the paper in 2016, she has written about Maine’s lobster and cannabis industries, covered state politics and spent a fellowship year exploring the impact of climate change on the lobster fishery with the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team. Before moving to Maine, she has covered politics, environment, casino gambling and tribal issues in Florida, Connecticut, and Arizona. Her favorite assignments allow her to introduce readers to unusual people, cultures, or subjects. When off the clock, Penny is usually getting lost in a new book at a local coffeehouse, watching foreign crime shows or planning her family’s next adventure.
Posted inBusiness, Maine, News
Mild winter takes a toll on Maine’s outdoor sports, seasonal economy
The 2023-24 winter was devastating for the snowmobile industry and the communities that rely on visitors coming to enjoy Maine’s trails.
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Posted inMaine, News
The winter that wasn’t: Climate change is transforming Maine’s coldest season
Unusually warm and mostly snow-free, the past few months have continued a long-term trend consistent with a warming planet.
Posted inBusiness, Maine, Politics
State lawmakers consider new mining rules that could open door to lithium mining
Some environmental groups say the rules that would allow for open pit mineral mining provide ample safeguards, but others demand more preliminary testing, smaller pit size limits, stronger reclamation standards and dark skies protections.
Posted inMaine
Portland officials say increased shelter use led to decline in fatal overdoses
The city’s new interim health and human services director noted the correlation between overdose deaths and naloxone administrations when talking about findings of the city’s annual report on homeless services, which was released Friday.
Posted inMaine
Leader of Maine’s youth prison steps down
Long Creek Youth Development Center Superintendent Lynne Allen resigned for undisclosed personal reasons, according to the Maine Department of Corrections.
Posted inMaine, News
Lawmakers want to rewrite timeline for Maine’s PFAS product sales ban
The Environment and Natural Resources Committee votes 6-5 to push back the state’s ban on the sale of most products that contain forever chemicals to 2032, 2 years later than the current deadline.
Posted inBusiness, Maine
Maine gets first application from a farmer who wants to sell contaminated farmland
The request was received on Monday, the first day the state began accepting applications for the $70 million Fund to Address PFAS Contamination.
Posted inMaine
Casco Bay island park honoring North Pole explorer closed for season due to storm damage
Back-to-back storms in January washed away the only pier at Eagle Island, where Adm. Robert Peary built a summer home.
Posted inMaine, Politics
Biden’s idea for temporary port in Gaza had been suggested by Sens. King, Reed
Maine’s independent U.S. senator joined with Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, to pen a Feb. 28 letter to Biden on the subject.