Environment
Why A Commercial Fisherman Turned To Restorative Ocean Farming
Bren Smith began his career as a commercial fisherman, but now is the owner of Thimble Island Oyster Farm, a 3D restorative ocean farm in Connecticut. He’s also the author of the new book, Eat Like a Fish: My Adventures as a Fisherman Turned Restorative Ocean Farmer.
Read MoreNew Butterfly Research Takes Wing In Concord’s Karner Blue Pine Barrens
It’s been about two decades since the government project began to preserve New Hampshire’s state butterfly, the Karner blue. Since then, the Karners have rebounded in their specially-conserved pine barrens near the Concord Municipal Airport.
Read MorePilgrim Is Closing. So Then What Happens To The Radioactive Waste?
This week, Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station will power down for the last time. Over the next few years, workers will move the radioactive fuel into storage, dismantle the plant, and clean up the site. The process is called decommissioning, and a lot of people are worried about safety, cost and where the nuclear waste will finally end up.
Read MoreRhode Island’s Approval Of A Second Offshore Wind Farm Reflects A Growing East Coast Trend. Here’s Why Some Are Concerned
Rhode Island regulators unanimously approved a contract to build the state’s second offshore wind farm. The Revolution Wind project will generate enough energy to power more than 270,000 Rhode Island homes a year. It’s just one of over a dozen offshore wind farms popping up across the Mid-Atlantic in what’s now been dubbed “The Saudi Arabia of Wind.” But some scientists and fishermen say the growth is too much too fast.
Read MoreTimeline: The 52-Year History Of The Pilgrim Nuclear Plant
For more than five decades, the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth has been a controversial fixture in Massachusetts. Love it or hate it, by May 31, the plant will produce its last watt and shut down for good.
Read MoreFrom Carp to Pig-Hide: Bait Shortage Means Change for Lobsters’ Diet
Gulf of Maine lobstermen are casting around far and wide for new kinds of bait, now that federal regulators have cut herring quotas by 70 percent. Possible solutions range from the mass importation of a nuisance fish from the Midwest, to manufactured baits to pig hides.
Read MoreInnovations In Fishing Gear Could Change The Lobster Industry To Help Endangered Right Whale
This week a high-stakes conference in Providence is considering new measures that could help endangered North Atlantic right whales avoid life-threatening entanglements in fishing gear. These measures could also challenge Maine’s lobster industry, though.
Read MoreFor 46 Years, Pilgrim Nuclear Plant Has Used Water From Cape Cod Bay. How Has It Impacted The Ecosystem?
The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth pumps about a half-billion gallons of water from Cape Cod Bay into the plant every day. The water cycles continuously, passing through the plant’s condenser, and returning to the bay about 10 minutes later — and 30 degrees warmer.
Read MoreSnapshots Of A Controlled Burn On Connecticut’s Coast
Recently, part of Harkness Memorial State Park in Waterford caught fire. But this shoreline blaze wasn’t a disaster. It was actually a carefully-planned “burn” aimed at preserving what’s been called the “last remnant” of eastern prairie in Connecticut.
Read More‘It Has Not Been Fun’ — CMP Transmission Project Divides Western Maine Communities
To get to the backwoods homestead where Duane Hanson started his family four decades ago — deep timber territory, 16 miles from the Canadian border — you have to snowmobile sometimes more than 8 miles in from Spencer Road in Jackman. Eagles and other raptors patrol the air above.
Read More