Maine
Maine companies look to biochar as a climate solution, to capture carbon and improve soil health
In a former biomass plant in Greenville, wood chips are flowing from hoppers into long tubes about three feet in diameter.
Pat Jones is the president of Clean Maine Carbon, which burns wood in high-temperature, low-oxygen conditions known as pyrolysis.
“It starts out as wood” he said. “And as you can see when we come over here what comes out the other end is biochar.”
In the quest for climate solutions, Jones is among the Maine entrepreneurs banking on this charcoal-like substance. They say it can bind up carbon for decades, and improve agricultural soils at the same time.
The end product has high carbon density, and is very stable, so less of the carbon will be released into the atmosphere than if it were left to decompose. So while Jones is making biochar, his business plan is focused on selling carbon credits to corporations.
“So somebody will say, ‘Would you like to sell credits to XYZ company?’ And we’ll say, ‘Yeah, what’s the price?’ They will pay on a per-ton basis, whatever the agreed value, based on carbon content and everything else,” Jones said. “And that’s the end of it, they never get the biochar and they don’t do anything. They get to use those credits to help reduce their footprint, their carbon footprint.”
Most of the biochar Jones has sold from the Greenville plant has been for agricultural applications. And he’s not yet certified to sell carbon credits, but pending the completion of an audit, he said he’ll be able to sell credits even on the biochar he’s already shipped.
Scientists and advocates debate the true value of carbon sequestration as a response to climate change. Jonathan Foley is executive director of Project Drawdown, a nonprofit that focuses on science-based climate solutions.
Foley says 95% of climate solutions should focus on reducing emissions by driving more efficient cars, for example, or insulating houses. But he said there’s also value in removing carbon from the atmosphere. And while there’s no silver bullet, biochar could be seen as a piece of silver buckshot.
“And we can put that in farm fields, we can bury it in old mines, we can bury it in the ground, and it should last for hundreds, if not thousand of years under the right circumstances,” Foley said. “So it’s a pretty clever kind of hybrid of nature and some engineering that might be a pretty good little piece of silver buckshot.”
And researchers are looking for ways to put biochar to use. As a soil additive, for example. University of Maine associate professor YongJiang “John” Zhang said the physical structure of biochar allows it to hold water like a sponge during periods of heavy precipitation, and release it slowly. It can also hold nutrients, and Zhang said these qualities can be beneficial when applied to the sandy soils of blueberry barrens.
“But if you have the biochar, it can hold more water, and hold the nutrients to increase the water use efficiency, and nutrient use efficiency,” he said.
Zhang said other research is looking at biochar’s benefits to potato crops, and its ability to lock up particles of PFAS in contaminated fields and prevent them from being taken up by plants.
Jones said he plans to produce about 1,200 tons of biochar annually with the current setup. But he’d like to scale up, using more and bigger equipment, to create more biochar and also put the excess heat from the process to work.
“So that it becomes more economical and practical to extract hot air and hot gasses for lumber drying for power generation, any number of things that could be done with this very clean, high-temperature gas,” he said.
Meanwhile, a second biochar facility, Standard Biocarbon in Enfield, hopes to start production in the next few months, and aims to produce about 1,200 tons annually.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
PORTLAND (WGME) — The third annual Celebration of America 300 is set for Thursday night at Oxford Plains Speedway.
This race was a favorite of NASCAR star Kyle Busch, who tragically passed away back in May. He was just 41.
Now, a Maine-born driver who worked on Busch’s team is ready to take the 8 car into victory lane.
For the past five years, Windham native Derek Kneeland was Busch’s eye in the sky, working as a spotter for the cup star. Kneeland says his relationship with Busch was like a brotherhood.
“I was fortunate enough where I got to have a personal relationship with him,” Kneeland said. “He came up, and he ran several races with me in late models and stuff at Oxford and Lee Speedway, and we got to do a lot of cool things together.”
Kneeland says dealing with the sudden loss has been both painful and difficult.
“It’s still hard,” Kneeland said. “I’m having a hard time with it. The weekdays are the hardest. At the track is where I’m most comfortable.”
Kneeland will be at the track and behind the wheel Thursday night, competing in the Celebration of America 300, driving the number 8 car.
“You know, a few days after everything went down, his dad called me, and his dad is a man of very few words, and I said, ‘You know, I’m thinking about running the 8 or 51 as long as I have your guys’ blessing, I would like to do that.’ And he said, ‘Short track world knows him as 51, but the world knows him as 8,’” Kneeland said.
Kneeland says it will be an emotional race, but he’s confident he’ll have a special co-pilot leading the way.
“Hoping he’s going to be on my shoulder and give me the guiding way and but to win it for Kyle, I think that would put the stamp on it,” Kneeland said.
FRIENDSHIP, Maine — A federal judge has ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement not to relocate a Friendship man who ICE agents arrested Saturday.
Dhavalkumar Kalidas Patel was seized by four ICE agents at Wallace’s Market, which Patel and his wife operate on Harbor Road in Friendship.
His wife said the agents did not say why he was being taken away in handcuffs.
Attorney Audrey Richardson of Greater Boston Legal Services filed a motion for habeas corpus, meaning he is to be brought to a court in person.
U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani of Massachusetts issued an emergency order hours after Patel was seized that prohibits him from being moved elsewhere.
“To provide a fair opportunity for the judge who will be randomly assigned to this case to review the merits of the petition and to rule on any contested issues of jurisdiction, unless otherwise ordered by the assigned judge, respondents will not remove the petitioner from the jurisdiction of the United States or transfer petitioner to a judicial district outside that of Massachusetts for a period of at least 72 hours from the time this Order is docketed,” Talwani wrote.
Patel is being held at the Plymouth County Correctional Facility in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
The petition filed by the attorney representing Patel argues that he is being held unlawfully.
No further hearing dates have been scheduled, but the federal government has until July 6 to file a response.
Richardson issued a statement on the arrest.
“This is another example of ICE illegally and illegitimately taking someone who is working hard to support their family,” she said, including a child born in the United States. “The family is a critical part of the fabric of a small community.”
The Patels have operated the store since 2024. The attorney said ICE agents initially did not even identify themselves. They did not say where he was being taken but he was allowed to make a call when they stopped in Scarborough.
Rob Sample, a customer of the store, said he could not understand why such an action was taken.
“We appreciate them,” he said of the Patel family, adding that they work hard to provide a community service by operating the store.
Knox County Sheriff Patrick Polky said ICE notified his department after its action. He noted the agency is not required to notify the department.
Patel is a native of India.
This story appears through a media partnership with Midcoast Villager.
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