Lori Valigra

Cambridge

Economy and Business Reporter at Bangor Daily News

Journalist, writer, traveler

Articles

The secret tunnels keeping Mainers safe from dangerous animal crashes

1 month ago | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

Eric Ham knows firsthand the consequences for wildlife when existing roads get congested and new roads are built. Raised near Caribou, Ham often had to swerve from animals in the road that had no way to escape oncoming traffic. “People truly adjust their lives around not driving in the morning or at dusk because of the larger animals,” said Ham, a senior environmental manager at the Maine Department of Transportation.
Promising Maine PFAS removal project is on hold

1 month ago | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

A wastewater treatment project in central Maine that has piloted a cutting-edge system to remove forever chemicals is on hold as it seeks more money to get up and running. The Anson-Madison Sanitary District has been working for several years with engineers to develop a centralized facility to treat waste containing forever chemicals, potentially from across Maine. The system can remove toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, from wastewater.
Trump administration says it will combat forever chemicals. Maine scientists are skeptical.

1 month ago | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently released its much-anticipated steps to fight contamination by forever chemicals, but the scant information it provided raised more questions than answers among scientists and environment experts.
Maine considers shifting disposal costs of e-cigarettes to producers

2 months ago | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

Lawmakers plan to tackle a widespread hazardous waste problem in Maine on Wednesday in a proposed bill that would require electronic-cigarette makers to establish a plan to get rid of used products at their own expense. E-cigarettes, also known as vapes, are difficult to dispose of in Maine, where they pose fire hazards at waste treatment sites and pollute public areas.
Maine lawmakers pitch a new way around forever chemicals

2 months ago | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

Kevin Kitchin returned to his hometown of Fairfield in 2018 after 30 years in the U.S. Navy and bought his dream home on 40 acres. Two years later, high levels of forever chemicals were discovered in several areas of the town, including on his property. “Shortly after that the state warned us to not eat deer. That’s why I bought this house, so I can hunt on my own land and do the things I like to do as a Mainer,” he said.
$300M data center at former Millinocket paper mill is canceled

2 months ago | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

A $300 million data center project expected to boost economic development at the former Great Northern Paper Co. mill in Millinocket has been canceled, the site’s redevelopment manager said on Wednesday. Nautilus Data Technologies introduced the planned 60-megawatt data center with great fanfare in 2021, but it did not announce that it had abandoned the effort. The Millinocket data center had been slated to be up and running by the end of 2022, bringing up to 30 jobs to the area.
Maine dairy farm says tariffs will increase its grain costs $12,000 per month

2 months ago | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

Maine farmers and brewers want to hold off raising prices for consumers even though they expect the widesweeping tariffs the Trump administration plans to introduce tomorrow to raise their costs of doing business, representatives from those two industries said in a press briefing Tuesday.
Maine climate programs proceed amid federal funding freezes and uncertainty

Mar 28, 2025 | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

Some state agencies are still receiving promised federal funding for climate initiatives in Maine, although others are not, creating an atmosphere of anxiety and uncertainty about what the future will bring, members of the Maine Climate Council said in a quarterly update meeting Friday. The Trump administration has put on hold many federal grants awarded to Maine and other states under the Biden administration.
How forever chemicals are flowing into one of Maine’s largest rivers

Mar 28, 2025 | bangordailynews.com | Lori Valigra

Water runoff from contaminated farmlands in central Maine is spreading forever chemicals into rivers and streams whose waters flow into the Kennebec River, new research by Colby College published on Monday found. Because surface waters interconnect and mix, forever chemical pollution may spread far from sites of sludge spreading, according to the paper, published in the March 24 edition of the journal Environmental Research.
Maine lawmaker wants a better system for throwing out explodable propane canisters

Mar 23, 2025 | observer-me.com | Lori Valigra

By Lori Valigra, Bangor Daily News StaffSome Mainers may have to drive an hour or more to dispose of the propane canister they used when camping or at a cookout, which is why the small containers often end up in household trash or tossed into the woods. That’s a problem lawmakers aim to solve with a new bill to study the safe disposal of single-use propane canisters, which often still contain enough propane to cause an explosion if punctured.