Combined News

UMaine opens new campus composting facility

A joint collaboration between the University of Maine Dining Services and University of Maine Cooperative Extension will establish the first facility for advanced composting of food waste in Maine.

The effort involves the purchase of a 10-foot by 40-foot enclosed, automated composting unit called the EarthFlow 40, manufactured by Green Mountain Technologies, based in Washington state. This unique facility, along with the expertise of  UMaine Extension Professor Mark Hutchinson, has the potential to convert more than 1 ton of organic waste per day from campus dining facilities — from potato peels and lettuce leaves to meat scraps — into a rich soil amendment that will be used in UMaine landscaping and on university crop fields.

The composting facility, located off Rangeley Road on campus, also promises to save money and will continue the institutional advancement toward sustainability, while serving as a demonstration site for students, individuals and potential commercial users.

During the academic year, nearly 1 ton of organic waste is generated daily in UMaine’s three dining commons and the Marketplace, the largest retail dining facility on campus. UMaine Auxiliary Services, which oversees on-campus dining and other student services-related departments, has been composting organic waste for nearly 14 years in an effort to be as environmentally responsible and cost effective as possible by keeping the weighty discards out of the waste stream. Most recently, UMaine has contracted with a private composting firm at a cost of $65,000 annually.

The UMaine compost facility is expected to cost $25,000 a year to staff and maintain using Facilities Management personnel. The resulting compost will be used campuswide as a soil amendment that benefits soil structure.

The compost is a soil enhancer, not a fertilizer. The biggest benefit of compost is its ability to hold plant nutrients in place in the soil, says Hutchinson, a University of Maine Cooperative Extension professor who directs the award-winning Maine Compost School, based at Highmoor Farm, a Maine Agricultural and Forest Experiment Station in Monmouth, Maine.

Hutchinson, who has 10 years of research in composting, developed the “recipe” for the UMaine composting facility. Ingredients will include the pre- and postconsumer waste from the dining commons and the Marketplace, as well as used horse bedding — primarily wood shavings and sawdust — from UMaine’s J.F. Witter Teaching and Research Center.

Compost directly from the facility can be used on farm fields. For use in landscaping, including ornamental gardens, the compost will be aged in an open-air shed for several months before it is used in ornamental gardens.

In addition, the compost will supply the new greenhouse located next to the compost facility, where students in the UMaine Department of Plant, Soil, and Environmental Sciences are growing edible greens to supply the dining commons.

The student-run greenhouse and compost facility are expected to be an educational resource, not just for UMaine students, but also school and community groups.

“This will allow us to close the loop, not only composting on campus, but producing a product that is used on campus,” says Dan Sturrup, executive director of Auxiliary Services. “At UMaine, we’ll go from plate to plant. And, with the help of the greenhouse, back to the plate again.”

According to Misa Saros, UMaine’s conservation and energy compliance specialist, the composting system is in keeping with UMaine leadership and commitment to sustainability — from its sustainable agriculture minor to its campuswide green initiatives, all of which have earned the university a citation in Princeton Review’s Guide to 322 Green Colleges for four consecutive years.

“We are very excited to be implementing a system that makes productive use of a valuable resource that is too often discarded in landfills or incinerators,” says Saros.

A video related to the composting facility is available online.

UMaine study Assesses Bangor concerts’ economic impact.

Bangor’s Waterfront Concerts have had an economic impact of more than $30 million over the last three years, according to a new study by a University of Maine economist.

The impact was about $18.6 million in local spending by concertgoers, with an additional $11.8 million in indirect spending since 2010, according to Todd Gabe, UMaine professor of economics. The concerts attracted more than 200,000 people to the Bangor Waterfront Pavilion and supported an average of 160 local jobs per year — with an employment high of 252 jobs in 2012. Gabe’s study shows that the economic impact increased substantially in each of the last three years that Waterfront Concerts has staged outdoor performances.

Gabe estimates the direct economic infusion was almost $3 million in 2010, $5.8 million in 2011 and $9.8 million in 2012. Direct spending and indirect expenditures combined for each of the three years amounted to $4.9 million, $9.6 million and almost $16 million, respectively.

“The number of shows has increased since 2010, and people seem to be coming from greater distances,” Gabe said. “This explains the large increase in economic impact.”

The findings from Gabe’s study were presented to the Bangor City Council on Jan. 14. The analysis is based on taxable lodging and restaurant spending figures from Maine Revenue Services, ticket sales information provided by Waterfront Concerts, and data on overnight visitor spending from the Maine Office of Tourism.

Zip codes associated with ticket sales indicate that a quarter of concertgoers — an estimated 50,000 people — live within 30 minutes of the waterfront pavilion. About 15 percent of them traveled more than three hours to attend a concert, and as many as 27 percent of the longer-distance travelers probably were overnight visitors to the area, according to Gabe.

His analysis also estimates that Bangor-area residents who attended Waterfront Concerts reaped an additional benefit of $16.7 million by not having to pay travel costs.

“Not having to spend the money to attend shows in Boston or Portland is a benefit to locals, which goes beyond the impact to local restaurants and hotels,” Gabe says.

The concert series has featured 41 concerts since 2010 with such international performers as Toby Keith, Journey, Lynard Skynard and Bob Dylan.

Gabe’s research interests include the knowledge and creative economies, local industry clusters, and state and local economic development. Gabe also has conducted numerous economic impact studies.

Environmental attorney says regulatory reform needed in the quest for renewable energy alternatives

Amid the economic and environmental realities of fossil fuel dependence in the United States, regulatory processes need immediate reform to allow renewable energy initiatives such as offshore wind to provide alternatives, according to the University of Maine’s first School of Economics Visiting Professor of Energy Law and Policy.

Indeed, argues Jeffrey Thaler, a nationally known environmental attorney, writing in the current edition of the journal Environmental Law, existing environmental laws and regulations actually tend to support increasing greenhouse gas emissions.

“We have little time left to create a practical path to achieving an 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gases by 2050” (the deadline set by the National Research Council and other agencies to begin to stabilize atmospheric carbon concentrations), Thaler writes.

Failing to reduce fossil fuel reliance, he says, will result in average global temperatures rising more than the internationally agreed targeted ceiling of 2 degrees C.

In his article, “Fiddling as the World Floods and Burns: How Climate Change Urgently Requires a Paradigm Shift in the Permitting of Renewable Energy Projects,” Thaler for the first time integrates the ongoing and predicted effects of climate change — increased weather extremes, glacial melting, sea temperatures and drought conditions — with a “detailed roadmap” for reforming environmental processes used in reviewing proposed renewable energy projects.

Using offshore wind power as a case study, Thaler examines the obstacles confronting a potential developer and showed that in an increasingly carbon-constrained world, existing environmental laws and regulatory processes no longer achieve the long-term goal of ecosystem conservation.

“The existing regulatory process should be quickly reformed so that offshore wind and other clean, renewable energy sources can help us escape the escalating consequences of our carbon-intensive economic system,” writes Thaler.

Thaler traces the “byzantine labyrinth of laws and regulations” to the 1970s when “some of the nation’s fundamental environmental laws were enacted — before we were aware of climate change threats — so as to slow down the review of proposed projects by requiring more studies of potential project impacts before approval.”

Today, the outdated and often “self-defeating maze” of regulatory requirements poses significant barriers to domestic and international interest of increasing viable carbon emission-free renewable energy sources to decrease use of fossil fuel energy, Thaler says.

Regulation of renewable energy initiatives remains “unduly burdensome, slow and expensive,” and results in a chilling effect on investment and substantial growth in renewable energy initiatives.

That’s particularly unfortunate for a renewable energy initiative such as offshore wind projects, Thaler says, which “have the potential to generate large quantities of pollutant-free electricity near many of the world’s major population centers, and thus to help reduce the ongoing and projected economic, health, and environmental damages from climate change.”

Thaler’s article provides perspective on the primary federal permitting and licensing that typically affects offshore wind development: the Energy Policy Act; regulations of the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement; the National Environmental Policy Act; Endangered Species Act; Marine Mammal Protection Act; and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

For offshore wind developers, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is “the most onerous statute,” Thaler says, because its broad scope has the potential to spark litigation. The lengthy NEPA process requires those not exempted to conduct an environmental assessment, which usually requires a year or more to complete.

Thaler calls for a paradigm shift in order to create new, targeted policy efforts to accelerate the implementation of clean, renewable energy sources. Such reform in licensing and permitting would make it possible for the U.S. to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent in 2050 by increasing electricity production from renewable sources from the current 13 percent to 80 percent, he says.

According to Thaler, who has been involved in energy and environmental policy, law and ethics for almost 30 years, concrete steps to streamline regulatory and permitting processes and requirements to benefit renewable energy project would include prioritizing the regulatory review of renewable energy projects in new and existing laws; establishing expedited timelines for agency reviews and decisions; and amending the National Environmental Policy Act to expand the types of projects excluded — especially small-scale pilots — and to require that the “hidden” costs of energy from fossil fuel be taken into account.

“We must first understand where our carbon-driven energy and electricity technologies are taking us, and learn from the experiences and lessons climate change scientists are trying to teach us, because we are on the verge of losing — for the next thousand or more years — the environmental and economic quality of life that we inherited,” Thaler concludes.

“Second, we must understand, in an increasingly carbon-constrained world, how our existing environmental laws and regulatory processes no longer achieve their underlying goals of long-term ecosystem conservation,” he says. Third, we must “significantly revamp the legal process in order to greatly accelerate the development of renewable energy projects like offshore wind power.”

Thaler’s paper is available online. He can be reached at jeffrey.thaler@maine.edu.

Posted January 14, 2013

Four History doctoral students have recently published in major journals. Joesph Miller and Robert Gee are current students, while Katherine O’Flaherty and Stefano Tijerina are recent graduates.

Joseph Miller’s paper “General William Hull’s Trials: Was This Early PTSD? One Possible Explanation for the Unprecedented Surrender of Detroit, 1812” was recently published in the Canadian Military Journal. Miller is a new doctoral student in history who defended his Master of Arts thesis in December. His paper explores Posttraumatic Stress Disorder as one compelling explanation for the stark differences between General Hull’s utter failure at the Battle of Detroit and his earlier exceptional service in the Revolutionary War. Miller, a former U.S. Army infantry officer, served in various capacities and completed three deployments to Iraq. He received several awards for his service including the Bronze Start medal, the Combat Infantryman’s Badge, the Iraqi Campaign medal (three service stars), the Senior Parachutist Badge, and the Ranger Tab. To read Miller’s article in the Canadian Military Journal, please go here.

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In her Bangor Daily News blog, Pollways, University of Maine political science professor Amy Fried discussed the Obama administration’s opposition to an expensive “Death Star” proposal, and noted that the United States spent in 2011 more on national defense spending than the next 13 nations combined.

In a recent Bangor Daily News blog, Education: Future Imperfect, University of Maine professor of history Howard Segal discussed compensation for presidents of colleges and universities and some of the responsibilities of top leadership positions.

The Kennebec Journal posted online a photograph of a central Maine woman receiving a free hearing checkup at the Maine Agricultural Trades Show by a technician participating in the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s Maine AgrAbility program, which assists farmers with chronic health issues and disabilities across the state.

The Bangor Daily News carried a Las Vegas Sun article that noted a new potato variety developed at the University of Maine specifically for potato chips was among the new or novel exhibits at the Potato Expo at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.

As many as 1,000 University of Maine students and more than 103 businesses, firms and organizations are preparing for the 2013 Career Fair from 10 a.m.–3 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 30 at the New Balance Student Recreation Center. Coordinated this year by the UMaine Career Center and the School of Forest Resources, the annual event connects employers with students, who often find seasonal, part-time or permanent jobs, in addition to internships, through career fair introductions.

The number of registered companies is up from 87 participating businesses last year, according to Career Center Director Patty Counihan. The fair is attracting more Maine businesses looking to expand as the economy improves, and also businesses in need of science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills, she says. This year’s fair also incorporates the career fair previously held separately by the UMaine School of Forestry.

The Career Center website has details, including a list of registered businesses and tips for students. For more information, or to request disability accommodations, call the Career Center, 207.581.1359.

A Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention statewide health alert notes that flu activity is widespread with more reported cases this year than last, and more expected in the next few weeks. University of Maine Cooperative Extension experts are available to provide advice for avoiding the virus and coping with it. They also can offer considerations for parents of children who have to be out of school because of a flu outbreak.

Jason Bolton, a UMaine Extension food safety specialist, can be reached in his Bangor office at 207.942.7396 to discuss sanitization to reduce the spread of or contact with germs, including washing hands and using hand sanitizers.

Kathryn Yerxa, UMaine Extension’s statewide educator for nutrition and physical activity, can suggest healthy foods and nutritional advice to combat the flu. She can be reached in her Orono office at 207.581.3109.

Leslie Forstadt, a UMaine Extension child and family development specialist in Orono, can be reached at 207.581.3487 to discuss steps parents can take if children will be out of school for a long period of time. They include staying in touch with teachers to discuss making up schoolwork.

Contact George Manlove at 207.581.3756 for assistance reaching Bolton, Yerxa or Forstadt.

George Jacobson, University of Maine botany and Climate Chance Institute professor, was interviewed for a Channel 7 (WVII) report on warming temperatures in the United States. Jacobson, who also is the state climatologist, said the phenomenon could mean shorter winters and longer growing seasons in Maine.

The Bangor Daily News, Channel 6 (WCSH) and the Portland Press Herald covered a talk at a Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce Eggs & Issues breakfast by University of Maine President Paul Ferguson, who outlined the university’s Blue Sky Project, the mission of the university, and how it supports and strengthens the Maine economy.

Comments from George Kinghorn, executive director and curator of the University of Maine Museum of Art (UMMA), were included in news reports by the Bangor Daily News, Portland Press Herald and Channel 7 (WVII) about Bethel, Maine resident and longtime Kinghorn friend Richard Blanco, who has been selected to be the featured poet at President Barack Obama’s 2013 inauguration Jan. 21. In 2009, Kinghorn brought Blanco to UMaine, where the poet gave readings on campus and at UMMA in Bangor. It was at the museum that Blanco read “Looking for The Gulf Motel,” which was published in 2012 and was the title of his third book of poetry.

The agricultural website The Grower carried a news report on the University of Maine Cooperative Extension’s introduction of a Beginning Farmer Resource Network, a free online resource for new farmers with questions about starting a farming business.

More than 130 Maine high school students will be on campus Jan. 9 for the spring orientation of Academ-e, the University of Maine’s for-credit distance education program for high school juniors and seniors administered by the Division of Lifelong Learning.

High school principals, guidance counselors and teachers nominate students to participate in Academ-e. The students take online courses in mathematics, natural sciences, arts and humanities, and social sciences.

Academ-e was launched in fall 2006. Since then, almost 1,500 high school students have taken Academ-e courses online, establishing a UMaine transcript that enables them to apply their credit hours to a degree program at the University of Maine or elsewhere.

This semester’s Academ-e cohort is nearly 36 percent larger than last spring’s.  Students are enrolled from 59 high schools throughout Maine, including those as far away as Calais, Caribou, Jackman and Biddeford.

Beginning at 8:45 a.m., the students will have a full morning of orientation activities, including an introduction to the Academ-e faculty and sessions on UMaine’s intranet and electronic library.

Contact: Margaret Nagle, 207.581.3745

University of Maine geologist and research professor Ed Grew was interviewed by Channel 7 (WVII) for a 10 p.m. news report about two newly discovered minerals, edgrewite and hydroxledgrewite, named for him by two Russian geologists.

An article in the Bangor Daily News about the rising cost of milk production in Maine cited information from a University of Maine Cooperative Extension report that estimated the average cost to produce 100 pounds of milk is about $30, which is considered high according to Julie-Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry, who was interviewed for the report.

The Bangor Daily News carried a feature article on the UMaine Greens Project, a student run, year-round greenhouse operation supervised by Eric Gallandt, associate professor of weed ecology and chair of the UMaine Department of Plant, Soil and Environmental Sciences, which supplies the university dining commons with fresh salad greens. The project supplements the university’s Sustainable Agriculture Program.

The Bangor Daily News reported on the Maine Beginning Farmer Resource Network being introduced by the University of Maine Cooperative Extension this week at the Maine Agricultural Trade Show in Augusta to provide basic information and support services for beginning farmers in Maine.

Beach Night Money Madness will be the theme at the Harold Alfond Sports Arena Tuesday, Jan. 22, when the UMaine men’s basketball team takes on Vermont at 7 p.m. A $500 prize will be awarded to the best-dressed beach-attired fan, in addition to other runners-up awards. The first 500 UMaine students will receive free Black Bear-branded sunglasses. The Black Bears want to fill the sports arena for this America East-sponsored event, being broadcast nationally on ESPN3.