Maine Public

10/29/2026

Your Vote 2026 Maine First Congressional District Debate

10/29/2026

Central Maine Power is pushing the need for a proposed half-billion dollar transmission upgrade around Portland amid growing opposition to the construction plan from some local residents.

CMP's Senior Director of Integrated Systems Planning Chris Morin said the proposal is aimed at upgrading power lines and substations in northern Portland suburbs. Some of that equipment is at least 70 years old, Morin said in a briefing to reporters this week.

A recent equipment failure at a Yarmouth substation led to an outage for 28,000 customers, Morin said. There are further reliability concerns in equipment across the region, he added.

"There are several single points of failure in this area that could result in big impacts to many communities and customers," Morin said.

CMP is already straining to meet growing demand from new commercial and housing development in Portland, Morin added. Those limits will start constraining new additions, including the city's electrification push or ambition to provide shore power to cruise ships and other large vessels to cut back on emissions.

"In Portland in particular there is very limited additional capacity available, we are already seeing problems with larger requests coming through and trying to shift load from neighboring substations, just kind of piecemeal things in, band-aid fix to get customers in. It is a challenge for us right now accommodating any additional capacity in the Portland peninsula," Morin said.

The utility also believes it is more efficient to pursue the upgrades as a single major project, rather than take on smaller jobs over time, Morin said. Differing investment now will make repairs more expensive in the future, Morin added.

CMP filed with the Maine Public Utilities Commission last year to get approval for its construction proposal. The $547 million development would include updating transmission lines and electric substations through Westbrook, Cumberland, Yarmouth, Falmouth and Portland.

But in recent months some local residents have begun voicing concerns that the project will impact the character of their neighborhoods, damage the environment and degrade their property values. Some have said they were never informed about the proposal and feel CMP is failing to pursue the project with transparency.

Other parties including the Maine Office of Public Advocate question whether CMP really needs to spend so much — a bill that would be paid for by its customers across Maine — in order to achieve capacity and reliability aims.

In response to rising concerns, CMP has organized another series of town hall-style open houses so residents can learn more about the proposal and ask the utility direct questions. And Morin added that CMP has also started door-to-door outreach to talk with people about the project.

"We recognize the need for more direct engagement with affected communities, and we are expanding community engagement as we speak," Morin said.

Upcoming open house meetings include:

Falmouth, 11/5/26 7-9 p.m. Falmouth Elementary School

Westbrook, 11/9/26 6-8 p.m. Westbrook Community College

Portland, 11/10/26 6-8 p.m. Presumpscot Elementary School

Cumberland 6-8 p.m. Cumberland Town Hall

✍️: Peter McGuire/Maine Public
📸: Esta Pratt-Kielley/Maine Public

10/29/2026

Democrat Troy Jackson, the candidate hastily drafted by Democrats in late July, has spent the past 90 days trying to nationalize the contest by framing Republican Susan Collins as an enabler of Trump’s unrestrained second term. Collins, meanwhile, has sought to rekindle the election magic that lifted her to a resounding victory six years ago, running a hyperlocal race that focuses on her seniority and ability to direct federal dollars to Maine.

Collins’ central argument for why she deserves a historic sixth term is that as chair of the Senate appropriations committee, she brings home federal money that might otherwise go to other states. Jackson makes a different case: that Collins has refused to leverage her influence in Congress to stop President Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, Maine voters will decide whether Collins, the only Republican member of Congress in New England, should return to Washington or be replaced by Jackson, a former logger and longtime state legislator and former Maine Senate president who has firmly aligned himself with organized labor and the wing of the Democratic Party led by independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders.

For more on the race, visit the link in comments.

✍️ Steve Mistler/Maine Public

10/29/2026

Maine's Senate race could turn on a simple question: Are Maine voters angry enough at President Donald Trump that they’ll part with Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the state’s longest serving senator in more than a century?

Maine's Senate race could turn on a simple question: Are Maine voters angry enough at President Donald Trump that they’ll part with Republican Sen. Susan Collins, the state’s longest serving senator i...

10/29/2026

The U.S. Department of Justice will send federal monitors to observe polling in South Portland during Tuesday's midterm election, in addition to Portland and Lewiston.

Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said a total of three municipalities have been notified by the DOJ about their plans to send federal election observers next week.

The monitors are expected to rotate at each of the municipality's polling places throughout the day.

Bellows said the department has been sending election monitors for decades, and federal observers were in Maine for the 2024 congressional races.

"Any monitors are subject to the same laws and rules as any other observer at the poll, they can observe what’s taking place, but they may not interact with voters, handle ballots or equipment or disrupt voting in any way," Bellows said in a statement. "We will monitor their activities to ensure that they follow state and federal law and that every voter is able to cast their ballot free from interference or intimidation."

✍️: Nicole Ogrysko/Maine Public
📸: Ari Snider/Maine Public

10/28/2026

South Portland is the latest Maine city to bar city employees from cooperating with or assisting federal immigration agents.

City councilors last night unanimously passed an emergency ordinance prohibiting city staff from sharing information with ICE or Border Patrol for the purposes of immigration enforcement, unless required to do so by law.

The ordinance also bars the police department from transferring someone into ICE custody without a court order or judicial warrant.

Biddeford, Portland, Lewiston and other municipalities have passed similar measures, mirroring statewide limits on ICE cooperation approved by the legislature earlier this year.

✍️: Ari Snider/Maine Public
📸: Courtesy of Immigration and Customs Enforcement

10/28/2026

On a recent evening in Waldoboro, comedian Forrest Shaw is alone on stage at the Waldo Theater, doing a stand-up routine that he’s been developing for the past year or so.

"I would love to have an electric car. I can't afford one. I DM'd Elon Musk to ask him if he'd give me a Cybertruck. He got back to me. He asked me if I knew anywhere to get ketamine," he joked. "So, we have started the conversation. We're on our way.”

The classic advice for a budding comedian is "write what you know." And for Shaw, that would be science. While he's been in the comedy biz for 15 years now, he's only recently tapped into his climate background for material.

“I was a marine biologist for almost a decade and a half, and I saw firsthand how difficult it was to get people to be emotionally connected to subjects like habitat destruction or climate change or plastic pollution, things like that," he said. "So I wrote this show."

Peppered throughout the show are trivia questions for the audience and each winner gets a prize:

“Branded Swedish fish in an individual single-use plastic. Got a very good deal from a company in China, advertises having very low lead levels. So, I was pretty excited about that.”

“Unfortunately, on the way over, the shipping container fell into the Pacific.”

The show titled, "The Ocean Hates You," walks a fine line. Shaw said the goal is to help the audience face the enormity of the crisis but come away feeling a little less anxious.

“You know, people get discouraged. They feel overwhelmed, and they kind of just check out,” he said. “So I wanted to find a way to talk about these subjects that was engaging and not exhausting.”

Climate comedy isn’t a new idea. Over the last decade, training courses and programs have popped up for comedians and writers to incorporate climate themes or content into their work.

Among them is "Sustainable Standup," a program for people with no comedy background at all, who work in climate non-profits, or as advocates or therapists, and are trying to communicate more effectively about the crisis.

“Not in a way like, 'Oh, you'll feel better' or like it'll solve your feelings, but, how do we reframe these scary things in these scary times and touch them with loving humor? And I was intrigued."

Emily Strasser, a professor of writing and English at Tufts University, co-teaches a class called "Writing the Climate Crisis."

Strasser was brand new to stand up. She said at first, writing jokes about climate change made her even angrier. But she discovered something more.

“Over the course of those weeks, I was surprised that I started to come up with jokes, you know, that were cracking me up at least," she said.

Strasser said the process of trying to write jokes about these weighty issues was almost like changing a camera's focus: the overall picture wasn't any different.

"But there was also part of my brain that was like, ‘What's the joke here? You know. What's the angle on this that is humorous or could be humorous?’ And it did bring me a bit of buoyancy,” she said.

Shaw said there was a point where he felt the planet was doomed. He was surprised to find that writing and performing this show has changed his mind.

“It's crazy to think that in making this show that I thought would be depressing, I would have more hope in making it," he said. "So I'm excited to tell people that."

It's hard to say how the audience felt as they filed out of the Waldo Theater, but there were smiles and laughs all around.

✍️📸: Molly Enking/Maine Public

10/28/2026

Representatives from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Maine CDC met with South Portland residents Tuesday night to discuss findings from a six-year air monitoring study prompted by concerns about dozens of oil tanks.

The DEP study follows years of complaints from residents over strong smells, nose and throat irritation and other health concerns for those living near the oil tank facilities.

The results show slightly elevated levels of benzene, a known human carcinogen, near at least two of the monitoring sites in the city. Other sites showed levels below the state-recommended thresholds. The World Health Organization states there is no safe level of benzene exposure.

State officials said they plan to undertake another yearlong air monitoring study to zero in on some of the results.

But many residents have lost patience with state officials, with oil companies that own the tanks, and for some, even with the city council.

Pamela Cragin is a member of the group Protect South Portland.

"The solution is always the same. The solution is we need more testing... We need more testing. We're seven years into more testing, and we still have bad air," she said at the meeting.

The Maine CDC said that based on the monitoring data, cancer risk for residents is low: between one and two and a half people in 100,000.

But some residents said they doubt the study's methodology. Many, such as Julia Dawson, said they still feel unsafe living near the oil tanks.

"I would invite anyone doing testing on the fence line to actually come to my home, and try and sit outside," Dawson said at the meeting. "We all get headaches. We all feel nauseous, dizziness, you name it, we've got it."

Nearly half the residents of the city of South Portland live within one mile of oil storage tanks, which are scattered throughout the city.

Cragin and others are asking for improved safety measures at the facilities.

Several city counselors said they believe the study results and the current data available is enough to start looking at regulatory changes or other measures to improve air quality.

"We clearly have two terminals where we have significant benzene problems. We need to face up to that. We need to do something about it," said City Councilman Misha Pride. "I think that we should figure out some strategy, which could possibly be legislation, that if a terminal is within so many feet of homes...That terminals have got to use either best available technology or lowest achievable admission rate."

Near midnight, the South Portland City Council ended the session, opting to continue the discussion at a future workshop.

Following the meeting, CITGO has announced a plan to accelerate tank upgrades aimed at reducing emissions at its South Portland Terminal.

“We hear the community’s concerns about the study findings, and we take those concerns seriously,” said Karl Schmidt, vice president of supply and marketing at CITGO, in a statement. “We are not waiting for additional monitoring to take action. We are moving forward with emissions-reduction measures, investing in expanded community monitoring and working with the City and Maine DEP as this effort progresses.”

There are over 100 petroleum storage tanks in eleven facilities throughout South Portland. Other owners of the facilities include Sprague, Buckseye Partners, Suncor, and Global Partners.

✍️📸: Molly Enking/Maine Public

10/28/2026

A ban on freely transporting wood from areas of Maine infested by emerald ash borer will remain in effect after tribal governments and conservation groups protested a state plan to ease restrictions.

State Horticulturist Gary Fish said a proposal to end a quarantine aimed at slowing spread of the invasive insect attracted more than 80 public comments. Nearly all urged the state to keep the quarantine.

"So it was an easy decision for the [Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry] commissioner to just decide that we would keep the quarantine going," Fish said.

Emerald ash borer was first discovered in Maine in 2018, and the quarantine has extended to every county except for Washington County. The insect tunnels into native ash trees, cuts off water and nutrients and can kill a host within five years, according to the forest service.

This summer, after ash borer was discovered in the Aroostook County town of Benedicta, the state said ash borer populations in northern and southern Maine had merged, and the quarantine was no longer effective.

But the move met with pushback from conservation groups, land trusts and Wabanaki Nations that rely on ash wood for traditional basketmaking.

Under the rules, it's against the law to transport hardwood firewood from quarantine zones into areas that are not infested. Lumber companies and finished wood manufacturers also need state certification to move products between infested areas.

Fish said the forest service will continue enforcing the ban, although it will remain a challenge to stop ash borer from spreading further in the state.

"Basically, what keeps moving emerald ash borer are people moving firewood, and we have so many visitors to Maine that don't understand that their firewood is potentially infested and spreading emerald ash borer and maybe some other forest killing pests," Fish added.

10/28/2026

The federal government is granting $8 million to the Portland Water District in the second phase of an effort to sustain water quality and improve aquatic habitat in the Sebago Lake watershed.

The USDA funding will combine conservation easements on 2,000 acres and manage 4,000 acres of forests that filter water before it reaches the watershed.

According to Sebago Clean Waters, half of the award will be used for reconnecting streams and rivers for organism and fish passage. The remainder will fund forest management and conserve acreage.

Sebago Clean Waters is a coalition of nearly a dozen organizations dedicated to the health of the watershed.

Paul Hunt, environmental manager for the Portland Water District, said there are so many landowners around Sebago Lake that want to do the right thing with their property but need guidance.

"All the partners are committed to meeting landowners where they are and helping them manage their land," Hunt said.

Phase one of the watershed investment program began in 2020. The USDA provided an $8 million grant to conserve 12,000 acres, manage 6,000 acres of forest, and reconnect 42 miles of rivers and streams.

Forest management involved is removing diseased trees to help forests thrive.

"Forest management plans are focused on sustainable and healthy forests," said Karen Young, Sebago Clean Waters partnership director.

Sebago Lake provides drinking water to 200,000 residents, about 1/6 of Maine's population.

Hunt said Sebago is one of the cleanest lakes in the country and the EPA and Maine Drinking Water Program exempt Sebago Lake from filtration because of its good water quality.

The water district has to maintain that water quality and provide the strategy that keep it at a high-quality level, according to Hunt. He said it's a sound financial incentive, as putting a filtration plant in would cost the Portland Water District, and to some extent its ratepayers, $400 million.

✍️: Carol Bousquet/Maine Public
📸: Portland Water District