The Fox Island Wind turbines, located on Vinalhaven, appear closer to the shore than they actually are in this image, shot with a telephoto lens. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

Island wind power succeeded on cost

Fifteen years after its spinning blades began generating electricity, the Fox Islands Wind project succeeded in saving islanders money. In fact, customers on the islands it serves—Vinalhaven and North Haven—have paid less for electricity than their mainland counterparts in the first decade of operation. But challenges loom, including the aging… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Offshore wind threatens centuries of fishing

The New England electric grid—ISO New England—has a website that includes a display featuring two pie charts that show where our electricity is coming from, updated in real time. Right now, “renewables” are at 7% of our total energy mix. Wind is 28% of that 7%, solar is 10% of… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Maine—our next big moves

I have a sharp memory of Angus King’s inauguration as governor in January of 1995. I was editor of the Republican Journal weekly newspaper in Belfast then, and we had endorsed him for the office. As an independent candidate, his thinking on the issues of the day were refreshing to… SEE MORE

Mack Point as seen from the western shore of Sears Island. FILE PHOTO: TOM GROENING

Working Waterfront

State selects Sears Island for wind port

After years of deliberating on the best site to establish a port to service a planned offshore wind turbine array, Gov. Janet Mills announced Feb. 20 that the facility would be built on Sears Island in Searsport. Port facilities in Portland and Eastport were under consideration, as was Mack Point… SEE MORE

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Working on the railroad

Back in my weekly newspaper days, I worked with an old-timer who, in those years, was responsible for settling up with the stores that carried our paper. Now that I think about it, he was probably the age I am now, so strike the “old-timer” crack. Bob grew up in… SEE MORE

The dam on the St. Croix River. PHOTO: JACK SULLIVAN

Working Waterfront

Indigenous, U.S., Canadian efforts restoring fish run

Ten years ago, the run of alewives in the Skutik (St. Croix) River hovered around 16,000. Though that’s more than the 900 fish from a decade earlier, it was not a great total for a river that once held millions of fish. It was, however, the beginning of what many… SEE MORE

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Navigating 2024

What challenges will 2024 bring to the Maine coast, and how will leaders respond? SEE MORE

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Maine islands are the frontier

For those of you who track island life, you’ll likely know there are 15 year-round, unbridged islands along the Maine coast. Distinguished by their differences more than their commonalities, these islands span the coast from Cliff Island, the smallest of the Casco Bay islands, to Matinicus, the most distant island… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Power play: To Pine Tree or not

QUESTION 3: An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company, a Nonprofit, Customer-owned Utility. Do you want to create a new power company governed by an elected board to acquire and operate existing for-profit electricity transmission and distribution facilities in Maine? There wasn’t much the proponents and opponents agreed… SEE MORE

Working Waterfront

Getting serious about the heat

The Heat Will Kill You First: Life and Death on a Scorched Planet By Jeff Goodell, Little, Brown and Company (2023) Spare me, you're thinking. Please, not another book on climate change. Greenland’s last iceberg hasn't even calved, and already we're awash in Doomsday books about climate. Not one more.… SEE MORE