June 1, 2010 - Update: news roundup

Baxter State Park: An Ohio hiker was rescued after being missing for two days in the Park. Michael Hays of Stow, Ohio, was spotted by helicopter. He had been immobilized by a crushed kneecap and was covered in insect bites. (No joke: this time of year, the bugs in Baxter are fierce. As is the fishing, thanks to those bugs.) After Mr. Hays failed to sign out on a trail register and his rental car was found in a parking lot, the search began. Hays had a cell phone with him, but had no reception. This was Baxter State Park's largest missing person search since the 1970s involving about 40 people, six dogs as well as Maine Forest Service aircraft. Park Director Jensen Bissell warns hikers not to rely on cell phones, and to stay on trail.

Forest fires in Quebec are affecting northern New England. More than 50 fires are burning about 100,000 acres of forest, mostly started by a May 25 thunderstorm and the dry conditions. The U.S. National Weather Service has issued an air quality alert for northern Vermont and New Hampshire and all but extreme eastern Maine.

The Atlantic hurricane season has begun. NOAA predicts 23 tropical storms, 8 to 14 of which may form into hurricanes.

Site restoration for the former Cascade Woolen Mill in Oakland has been complicated by the discovery of asbestos in the ruins.

Maine moves to ban the importation of out-of-state firewood for use in campfires, due to the threat of non-native invasive insect species moving into Maine through the firewood.

More residential weatherization money! Rep. Chellie Pingree held a workshop yesterday with Efficiency Maine and Maine State Housing Authority to -- yet again -- publicize weatherization programs. MSHA has about $34 million for low-income weatherization projects, and Efficiency Maine has $9 million in federal stimulus funds for all income levels.

An editorial in the Toledo Blade calls for Ohio to do more to attract solar energy manufacturers, noting that since 2000 Ohio has slipped from "global leader in solar energy" to 14th out of the United States in number of solar manufacturers.

Remember the huge underground coal mine fire that destroyed the town of Centralia, Pennsylvania? It's back in the news today. The state is moving to take the property within the town by eminent domain, apparently so it can sell the mineral (coal) rights to a mining company. Meanwhile, the few remaining residents are claiming fraud, namely that the underground fire isn't so dangerous and that their property should remain theirs.

International energy news: Senegal and Syria both want civilian nuclear power.

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Fire struck a house in Gardiner, Maine today. An unattended wood stove appears likely to be implicated...

Portland Press Herald reports that The Friends of Highland Mountain held a press conference in opposition to former Maine Governor Angus King's Highland Wind LLC 48-turbine wind development near the Bigelow Range public reserve land.

Maine's Office of Energy Independence and Security reports average oil prices of $2.69 per gallon, ranging from $2.36/gal in southwestern Maine to $2.90/gal in eastern Maine.