Maine is home to the highest number of loons in the region and it is nesting season.
The Maine Loon Restoration Project is a five-year effort to limit threats to the breeding chances and survival of loons. They place loon nesting rafts on Maine lakes where breeding pairs haven’t hatched chicks in three years. The goal is to place 100 rafts by 2026.
Earl Johnson, loon restoration biologist for Maine Audubon, said loons are sensitive to disturbance, especially during nesting season.
“It can be a really, really stressful time in a loon’s life, and getting close to them on a boat or in the water doesn’t help the loons at all,” Johnson explained. “They are sensitive to disturbance and truly amazing to observe, but from a safe distance is better for everyone.”
He added that they are starting a “Loon Rangers” program to educate and raise awareness about loon nesting grounds, so people can avoid these areas by boat or personal watercraft. The project also includes Fish Lead Free programs to reduce the use of lead tackle, a common cause of death among loons.
In 2003, a spill leaked 98,000 gallons of oil into Buzzards Bay, killing hundreds of loons over the next few years.
Jill Marianacci, another loon restoration biologist for Maine Audubon, said Mainers love loons and communities enthusiastically got involved in the project, funded by the 2017 settlement following the spill.
“It’s nesting season right now,” Marianacci pointed out. “All the lakes and ponds that we’ve put rafts on, we’re starting to see what pairs are going to those rafts, and hopefully in a couple of weeks we’ll see if they’re successful in hatching chicks, which is very exciting.”
Maine Audubon leads the Loon Restoration Project in partnership with the Penobscot Nation, Maine Lakes and Lakes Environmental Association.
They are looking for volunteers to help with outreach, education and statewide management. Bird watchers can take part in the annual loon count on Saturday, July 16.
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Illinois has enacted a new law prohibiting the incineration of certain PFAS substances.
Man-made chemical compounds are most often associated with groundwater pollution.
But Sonya Lunder – senior toxics policy adviser at the Sierra Club – said per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances may even be able to withstand high-powered incinerators, which have been used to dispose of materials at PFAS basis.
She explained that extreme heat can even cause chemical reactions in compounds.
“If they partially react, they form a variety of noxious breakdown products,” Lunder said, “and/or the PFAS would literally go up the pile and drop into the nearby community.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that scientists are still learning about the exact health effects that PFAS might have. But high levels of PFAS contamination can lead to, among other problems, lower birth weight, increased risk of cancer and decreased vaccine response in children.
The National Institutes of Health reports that there are approximately 5,000 distinct members of the PFAS family. Lunder explained that the bill had been reduced to cover about 170 older PFAS compounds still found in some stockpiled but unusable firefighting foams.
She said that as new PFAS are developed and implemented, more extensive policies may be needed.
“We are concerned,” Lunder said, “because the chemical industry is innovating and turning to new, closely related chemicals so quickly that the narrowing of the bill will mean that over time there will be other types of waste that could be burned.”
While the Illinois ban may be relatively limited in scope, Nicole Saulsberry — Illinois state government representative to the Sierra Club — says it is one of the policies of incineration of the strongest PFAS in the country.
She explained that the measure was based on similar policies in New York, but that these only cover specific communities.
“But with Illinois, it’s a statewide ban,” Saulsberry said. “So this bill that has been passed in Illinois is historic in that we are the only state to ban the incineration of PFAS statewide.”
PFAS are also known as “eternal chemicals” because they almost never break down under normal environmental conditions.
But Lunder explained that the Environmental Protection Agency is studying a potential solution – using heat and pressure to destroy the compounds through a process known as supercritical water oxidation.
Disclosure: The Sierra Club contributes to our fund for climate change/air quality, energy policy, environment and environmental justice reporting. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.
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The summer heat in Arizona is downright miserable for most people, but for some it can be deadly as temperatures often reach 110 degrees or more.
To help Arizonans keep their cool, The Nature Conservancy sponsors its second annual Urban Heat Leadership Academy.
The goal is to train volunteers to develop greener, healthier and cooler communities.
Anna Bettis, Arizona Healthy Cities program manager for the Nature Conservancy, said the academy will equip community leaders with the knowledge and skills to advocate for more heat mitigation resources.
“The academy is a one-of-a-kind virtual program that aims to build the capacity of people who live in the hottest neighborhoods to advocate for and implement solutions to mitigate urban heat,” Bettis explained.
Bettis pointed out that urban heat impacts people’s health, safety and comfort, and disproportionately affects Black and Indigenous residents. More than 330 people have died from heat-related illnesses in the Phoenix metro area alone in 2021. Academy classes begin June 18. The deadline for registration is June 14.
Bettis noted that summer temperatures can vary widely between neighborhoods, making those that lack vegetation such as shade trees and grassy parks vulnerable.
“It’s really shocking,” Bettis remarked. “Some research has shown that there can be neighborhoods as little as two miles apart that can have up to 13 degrees of air temperature difference.”
In addition to teaching volunteers how to tone down the heat in their neighborhoods, Bettis added that he teaches them presentation skills to help them advocate in public places.
“Maybe it’s about going to a city council meeting and talking about why resources for trees and shade are really critical to include in the budget,” Bettis suggested. “They’re actually getting training in storytelling and practicing the three minutes you have in a public meeting to ‘speak your mind’.”
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New court documents in Michigan show that closing the Line 5 pipelines, which run under the Strait of Mackinac, would have a negligible impact on the cost of gasoline.
The state of Michigan ordered the pipelines shut more than a year ago, but Canadian gas company Enbridge Energy says it would lead to major energy disruptions in the region.
A court document from Neil K. Earnest, an energy industry consultant hired by Enbridge, reveals an estimate that gasoline prices would increase by half of 1 cent per gallon.
Debbie Chizewer, chief counsel at Earthjustice, represents the Bay Mills Indian community – which she says has depended on the Straits of Mackinac for centuries.
“Closing Line 5 will have almost no impact on gas prices,” Chizewer said. “But it will accelerate the inevitable transition to clean energy and protect communities like Bay Mills from the disastrous consequences of climate change.”
Enbridge spokesman Ryan Duffy said the half-penny increase does not include the cost of job losses to Michigan’s economy if Line 5 is closed – and he notes that the estimate is valid after the installation of the replacement infrastructure.
He adds that the war in Ukraine makes it difficult to consider the closure of pipelines.
Douglas Jester, managing partner of 5 Lakes Energy, said the document shows the cost of propane will increase by about 9 cents per gallon, but he pointed out that Canada has also developed pipelines to ship propane to world markets. .
He said it would have a bigger impact on prices than closing Line 5.
“Because of reductions in gasoline demand,” Jester said, “due to the adoption of electric vehicles and the smart switch from propane to heat pumps, this will more than offset the price increases resulting from the shutdown of line 5”.
Great Lakes advocates are urging President Joe Biden to stand with Governor Gretchen Whitmer to activate an orderly shutdown of pipelines.
They say a Line 5 spill would cost billions of dollars in damage to the Great Lakes, threaten thousands of wildlife and put drinking water at risk.
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