April 22, 2022

The author's garden.

A new environmental newsletter for Maine

By Kate Cough

Happy Earth Day! Welcome to the very first edition of our new climate newsletter. We're excited you're here. Today I'm writing about PFAS and salmon farms, and I'll include a round up of other stories, too.

A few years ago, when my partner and I had just moved into our house and didn't know any better, we added municipal compost to our raised garden beds. It was a move to save money: we were mired in renovation costs from rebuilding the upstairs bedroom, and it just didn't make sense to spend a whole lot of cash on dirt. Plus, we figured it had been tested and was safe: farmers used it, after all, and it was approved by the DEP for spreading.

We weren't alone. Hundreds of farmers, municipalities and homeowners have spread compost derived from municipal sludge on their land over the past few decades (you can see where using the DEP's sludge and septage mapper), decisions that have contributed to the "slow-motion disaster" of PFAS contamination all over the state.

Although researchers identified risks to humans from the chemicals as early as 1950, it is only in recent years that regulators have attempted to rein in the problem. Maine is at the forefront of this nationwide effort, and this week lawmakers sent a bill to Governor Janet Mills' desk that would prohibit sludge from being spread on land in the state.

The chemicals, developed in the 1930s, are used in just about everything. They take years to break down (researchers estimate that it takes between four and 15 years for levels to be halved in the blood, assuming no additional exposure), and can persist in the environment for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, earning them the nickname "forever chemicals."

But the new rules are not going to solve the problem of PFAS-contaminated sludge, and will almost certainly increase the amount that's disposed of in Maine landfills, several of which are already at risk of filling up. (There's also growing concern around the greenhouse gases released when PFAS-laden products are combusted, but testing methods remain scarce.)

In testimony to the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, Jeff McBurnie of Casella estimated that the ban would increase the amount of wet sludge needing to be landfilled between 80,000 and 100,000 tons, putting "immediate and significant pressure on the State's existing - and increasingly limited - landfill capacity."

Advocates for the bill argue that landfilling the sludge is still better than spreading it on Maine farms, at least 12 of which have been forced to stop selling their products due to serious PFAS contamination.

“My family’s land and well are irrevocably contaminated with forever chemicals. Our bodies are contaminated at industrial levels. And yet, our land was spread only four times. The last spreading occurred almost thirty years ago,” Adam Nordell, who owns Songbird Farm with his wife Johanna Davis, recently told the state's organic farmers group.

There may be some relief on the way for farmers like Nordell and Davis, after lawmakers passed a $1.2 billion supplemental budget this week that includes $60 million toward an aid fund aimed at addressing PFAS contamination. The money could be used by farmers to replace lost income, support new infrastructure or remediation, cover health monitoring or buy or sell land.

^{The sun sets over Stave Island in Frenchman Bay.}

State terminates controversial fish farm application

The Department of Marine Resources put the kibosh on an application from American Aquafarms to raise 66 million pounds of salmon in pens in Frenchman Bay, near Acadia National Park, citing issues with the company's planned source for fish eggs and genetic requirements at the hatchery.

The proposal had come under fire from fishermen, boaters and Acadia National Park officials, who called the scale of the project "incongruous" with the surrounding area.

American Aquafarms can still reapply for a lease, but they would have to start from scratch, a process that could take 2 to 3 years, DMR spokesman Jeff Nichols told the Portland Press Herald.

Over in the midcoast, Whole Oceans began site preparation work on its Atlantic salmon farming operation at the former Verso paper mill in Bucksport. The project, a land-based recirculating aquaculture system (basically big tanks with water pumped in), is expected to eventually grow 44 million pounds of salmon annually.

Whole Oceans has been spared the controversy of some of the other aquaculture plans in the region. A court recently ruled in favor of a project in nearby Belfast, while another land-based operation in Jonesport faces mounting opposition.

In other Maine news:

Trash:

Governor Mills signed a bill that closes a loophole in Maine law allowing out-of-state construction demolition debris to be brought to state-owned landfills. Most of the debris is from Massachusetts, which in recent years has also enacted landfill bans on certain types of debris. Impacts of the new law will be most strongly felt by ReSource Waste Services in Lewiston, which picks through the debris, recycling what it can and landfilling the rest.

Wind:

We're reading about why Maine has yet to meet its ambitious wind energy goals. If you want to give the state your opinion, the Maine Offshore Wind Initiative is looking for feedback. There are four working groups; you can read their reports and tell them what you think of the recommendations here. A federal task force on Gulf of Maine wind energy will reconvene in May.

Energy:

Hard-to-trace social media accounts are stirring debate about Maine's utility companies as advocacy groups try to bring the companies under consumer control, and, after some disagreement, lawmakers passed a bill that would increase oversight of the state's major electric utilities.

Water:

Red tide closures are now common enough that the state keeps a growing list of them. That wasn't always the case. The first massive red tide that washed ashore after Tropical Storm Carrie in 1972 killed more than a hundred sea birds and sickened dozens of people, wreaking havoc on the state's shellfish industry.

From The Monitor:

In this week's Sea Change column, Marina Schauffler makes the case for a concerted movement to expand the local food production essential to weather climate upheaval and supply chain disruptions.

And energy expert Gordon L. Weil explores what Maine should do when energy costs soar, from quick fixes to structural change.

Check in with us on Sunday to read about a Maine company's plan to bring tidal energy back to the state.

Thanks for reading. See you next week.

Kate Cough covers energy and the environment for The Maine Monitor. She's a graduate of Columbia University and an 8th generation Mainer born in Portland who's now decamped Downeast. You can reach her at kate@themainemonitor.org or @kaitlincough.

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