There was plenty of big environmental news this year: new clean energy legislation, an extreme drought that led to Maine’s worst August for wildfires in 20 years, federal funding cuts and more.
Here’s a look back at some of our coverage:
Federal policy shifts, funding cuts
One big focus of our reporting this year — in the environmental sphere and elsewhere — was on abrupt pauses and cuts to federal grants for ongoing work in Maine. The scaling back interrupted climate data collection, dealt blows to renewable energy projects and halted climate resilience and emergency preparedness efforts.
Researchers told us how they rewrote grants to try and align with the administration’s new priorities and searched for new revenue sources.
We also looked at how Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill would restrict local clean energy projects, and what Superfund cuts and PFAS cleanup delays could mean for Maine.
New clean energy goals and rising electricity prices
A Maine Monitor analysis by contributor Tux Turkel found that Maine’s electricity prices grew at the third fastest rate in the country between 2014 and 2024, a rate that was more than twice the national average. Energy experts said this was because of three major factors: natural gas availability and price, a generous solar incentive program and recovery costs from violent storms.
In another piece, Turkel explained how Mainers can expect to see electricity prices keep rising next year, in part because more natural gas is being sold overseas.
We also looked at how the political climate has dimmed Maine’s offshore wind development plans; described the debate over scaling back the state’s community solar incentives program; examined how Maine’s updated energy code for new construction could increase both energy efficiency and costs; and wrote about how homeowners may see heat pump costs go up as federal tax credits expire.
Maine’s changing forests, challenges for loggers and paper mills
In a three-part series, Monitor contributor Jan DeBlieu explored how Maine’s forests will fare as the climate changes. She wrote stories examining the spruce budworm outbreak, ecological forest management and the ways landowners are shaping forests for maximum carbon storage.
Our environment reporter, Emmett Gartner, took us inside Maine’s logging industry, and described the challenges it is facing as tariffs change timber values and loggers’ access to machinery.
We also published several stories on Maine’s paper mills, including a look at their emissions, and the pause and reopening at Woodland Pulp in Baileyville.
Dam safety reforms and fish passage changes
After decades of understaffing in Maine’s dam safety agency, and following a three-part series published by The Monitor that explored the dangers posed by the state’s deteriorating infrastructure, lawmakers put forward legislation to revamp the office that oversees Maine’s dams. Both bipartisan bills passed but were carried over to the upcoming legislative session to see if they garner funding.
We also reported on a debate over dams being forfeited by their owner in Hancock County, and the ensuing legislation aimed at allowing towns to come together and take over abandoned dams, which was enacted in June.
In September, Gartner broke the news of a historic sale of four dams on the lower Kennebec River to The Nature Conservancy that will allow endangered Atlantic salmon and other seagoing fish from the Gulf of Maine to return to their historic spawning grounds for the first time in more than a century.
There’s plenty more to look at in 2026. We’ll start next week, on Jan. 2, when Gartner will bring us a preview of the environmental bills on deck for the Maine Legislature. Let us know if there are particular issues you’d like us to dig into. We’re always open to your questions and ideas.
