Acadia visits up

Final 2007 numbers released on Monday by Acadia National Park indicate that visitation was up for a second straight year.

According to Acadia officials, an estimated 2.2 million visitors came to Acadia last year, a 5.7 percent increase from 2006. That represents 120,000 more visitors, with the largest increases coming in June, August and September; estimated visitation actually declined in July, however. Park officials noted that visits to Acadia fell from 1995-2005, but that this year’s gain brought numbers back up to 2004 levels.

- BarHarborTimes

Pittsfield to lose 150 jobs, but gain 200

A shoemaker is closing its factory, while a call center is opening a new center in Pittsfield.  The shoe company is moving the work to its Texas factory.

Nearly 150 people will lose their jobs when a shoe factory in Pittsfield closes.

SAS Shoemakers blames a reduced demand for penny loafers and other styles produced in the central Maine plant for the closing, which is scheduled to be complete by the end of the summer.

The San Antonio-based company says it makes sense to move the Maine production to  its expanded facilities in Texas.

- A.P.

Global Contact Services will open a new contact center in Pittsfield. The company provides telephone communications services to major national corporations in insurance, financial, telecom and political fields. The center’s target opening date is April 1.

“This is welcome news in a community that is going through unanticipated job losses with the announced closure of the SAS shoe manufacturing facility,” said Senator Collins (R-Maine). “I assured Mr. Alcorn that his company will find
terrific, hard-working employees in the area who are eager to help his business deliver the very best customer service.”

- WCSH6

Blueberries bringing in the green

Wild blueberry growers last summer harvested 76.9 million pounds worth an estimated $71.5 million, the New England office of the National Agricultural Statistics Service reported Friday.The crop is the fourth-largest on record and state’s biggest since growers harvested 80.4 million pounds in 2003. The preliminary value is 20 percent higher than 2006 and nearly double the 2005 value of $38.9 million.

- MaineToday

Donating to New Hampshire

I wonder how much people pay in gas to save some money in N.H. I can understand wanting to save money, but like shopping at Wal-Mart, there is more to it than saving a few bucks.

A pair of researchers from a conservative think tank say Maine’s high taxes are sending shoppers across the border to New Hampshire.

The researchers from the Maine Heritage Policy Center determined that at least 10,000 cars crossed the border by counting license plates in the parking lots of several New Hampshire stores including Wal-Mart and Home Depot on a single Saturday last month.

Based on that, they say Mainers are saving $15 million in sales, cigarette and gasoline taxes each year on Saturdays alone at the seven stores included in the survey.

J. Scott Moody, one of the researchers, says Maine’s chief economic competitor is New Hampshire and that lowering taxes would make Maine retailers more competitive.

- WLBZ2

Methane from landfill

Maybe not the solution to our energy problems, but it helps.

That’s exactly what a new electrical generating facility at Pine Tree Landfill does. It captures methane gas from the decomposing trash.

“Just like a compost pile in your backyard, that waste decomposes,” Meagher said. “The landfill it’s decomposing without oxygen so a product of that is methane.”

Currently, most of the methane from the landfill is being burned off. But the new generator will put the gases to work, creating renewable energy.

“The methane is very much like natural gas in terms of a fuel,” Meagher told NEWS CENTER. “It goes to the engine, the engine runs, it turns a generator, and that generator produces electricity. And then it goes out onto the grid and into homes and businesses.”

- WLBZ2

R&D grants paying off

This bodes well for the recently passed bond measure.

Maine companies receiving state R&D grants have grown at five times the average business in the Pine Tree State during the last five years, according to a report to be released next week by the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development.

… The 800 companies that received grants from bond programs also paid 15 percent higher wages and grew by an average of 9 percent last year — higher than the Maine average, Renault said. DECD research also found that since 2000, every dollar invested in R&D in Maine has generated a $10 return, said Renault.

- MassHighTech

More here.

Tourism numbers

 The State Planning Office has stopped counting in-state tourism dollars.

In 2004, tourism generated $13.6 billion in sales, 176,600 jobs and $531 million in state and local taxes, according to previous State Planning Office estimates. Such numbers are frequently held up to underscore the importance of tourism to the state’s economy.

Now, the Planning Office says those figures were inflated, in part by including spending by Maine residents who took day trips around the state. The office has lowered the estimates to $8.9 billion in sales, 132,000 jobs and $376 million in taxes.

- PressHerald

Lobstermen to report catch

About 850 lobstermen, representing 10 percent of those licensed in Maine, will have to turn in logbook reports of how many times they went out on the water, how many traps they set or hauled each time, and how many lobsters they caught.

The purpose of the reports is to give Department of Marine Resources officials and scientists a better idea of how many traps are being used and how long they are in the water. more

- A.P.

Camden approves cell tower

Voters approved leasing town-owned land for a proposed Verizon Wireless’ cellular communications tower at a special town meeting Jan. 17.The vote was 16 to 0 in favor of leasing town land to Verizon Wireless for 25 years, at an initial rent of $14,440 annually. The lease increases 15 percent every five years.

The proposed tower is to be located on town owned land, off of Sagamore Hill Road and Route 1, behind Laite Construction, and is zoned for cellular communications towers. This area is just below the boundaries of Camden Hills State Park. – more

- MaineCoastNow

Kennebunk school goes solar

A $35,000 grant from the Maine Public Utilities Commission and $10,000 in local investments add up to a solar energy project at the Middle School of the Kennebunks.

The school installed 33 photovoltaic panels, which produce electricity. Students can monitor how much electricity is being generated, as well as other benefits from the project, on line. – more

- WLBZ2

Bath Iron Works to lay off 73

Bath Iron Works is laying off 73 workers due to a workload gap as the Arleigh Burke program wraps up and production of the next-generation Zumwalt destroyer ramps up over the next two years.
Local S6 President Mike Keenan says the shipyard has come to the period where it’s imperative to get more work. – more

- A.P.

Land Preserved in Warren

The Georges River Land Trust has announced the protection of a historically significant 72-acre parcel of land.

The Robinson Farm, important as both open, working farmland and riverfront wildlife habitat, is bordered by Route 1 and the St. George River in Warren.

- VillagSoup

Center for Rural Sustainable Development

This looks promising.

Northern Maine soon will have a center to provide local communities and businesses with information they need to make better decisions about the future of the region.

The Center for Rural Sustainable Development in Fort Kent was approved Monday by the University of Maine System board of trustees. The center is a collaborative effort among university campuses at Fort Kent, Machias and Presque Isle.

>The common thread among the three is a rural environment and a strong commitment to their local regions.

“It’s an opportunity for students and faculty to be more directly engaged in collecting data that communities need to make decisions and local businesses need to make decisions,” UMFK President Richard Cost said at Monday’s trustees meeting.

- BangorNews

Make that three

Irving Forest Products is a Canadian company; their website lists information about their environment and social responsibility efforts.

U.S. Rep. Michael Michaud of Maine says Irving Forest Products is shutting down its Pinkham Saw Mill, putting 73 people out of work.

The announcement comes a day after Fraser Papers Inc. announced the temporary shutdown of its Ashland sawmill. About 70 Fraser workers will be without a job for about four months. Also Wednesday, NewPage Corp. said a paper machine shutdown in Rumford will put 60 people out of work.

Like Fraser, Irving cited low lumber prices caused by a weak U.S. housing market.

- AP

Two Papermills shutting

Two paper mills in the State are closing – one hopes to reopen in a few months. NewPage Corp. is owned by Cerberus Capital (the company that now owns Chrysler); Fraser Papers is based in Toronto, and has other operations in Maine.

Fraser Papers Inc. is shutting down its Ashland sawmill temporarily because of low lumber prices caused by a weak U.S. housing market.

The company says about 70 workers will be without a job for approximately four months, depending on market conditions. The mill will close once current log supplies are processed. - A.P.
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A company that supplies paper to catalog and magazine publishers said Wednesday it will shut down a paper machine and cut 60 jobs in Rumford.

NewPage Corp. said a total of 660 jobs will be cut nationwide as it integrates the North American operations of Finland-based Stora Enso Oyj that it bought for about $2.1 billion last September. NewPage acquired eight factories in the deal. – A.P.

NewPage has a sustainability section, and they appear to be making an decent effort to address their environmental impact:

We conduct business in a responsible manner by minimizing our impact on the environment and ensuring the sustainability of our manufacturing operations. We are proud of the fact that each step in the production of our paper is environmentally friendly.

UPDATE: a third closes.