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The price of PFAS: ‘Forever chemicals’ generate boundless costs

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The price of PFAS: ‘Forever chemicals’ generate boundless costs


Widespread contamination from per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) “has the potential to impose an unsustainable burden on state and personal sources,” the Maine PFAS Job Pressure wrote three years in the past. The burden of that burden from extensively dispersed poisonous chemical substances is now turning into clear in multiplying bills and prices that defy calculation.

Governmental and utility funds dedicated up to now for early-stage PFAS analysis and remediation in Maine are estimated to exceed $200 million, in line with paperwork reviewed and inquiries made by The Maine Monitor. These expenditures characterize a small portion of the complete financial, ecological and societal impacts (together with medical bills, given the numerous dangerous well being results linked to those industrial chemical substances).

Maine has not undertaken a statewide evaluation of PFAS prices incurred up to now or anticipated. A full accounting throughout all ranges of presidency and financial sectors may illuminate what long-term impacts PFAS may have on authorities budgets and taxpayers, and may assist authorized efforts to get better damages.

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Whereas just a few different states have detailed PFAS plans, none seems to have finished a complete accounting of associated bills, a number of consultants confirmed. Water therapy prices alone are proving difficult to forecast in settings like Michigan, the place by 2020 potential prices totaled almost $1.5 billion, and Minnesota, which was awarded an $850 million settlement for water remediation within the Twin Cities space that could price as much as $1.2 billion. 

Quickly evolving PFAS analysis complicates cost-forecasting for water testing, therapy applied sciences and healthcare. Shifting state and federal laws generate unanticipated bills in consuming water sampling and filtration, product testing, and therapy of wastewater and landfill leachate. 

An $800,000 analysis pilot program aimed toward getting wastewater on the Anson-Madison Sanitary District to fulfill the state’s consuming water commonplace confronted further design challenges when that commonplace shifted markedly decrease. “We’re nonetheless dedicated and assured in creating a system” to fulfill the brand new commonplace, district superintendent Dale Clark famous, including that it’s too early to say whether or not the $8.5 million in grants and $1.5 million in loans raised up to now will cowl the full-scale system.

Value estimates for eradicating PFAS from leachate at Maine’s two state-owned landfills are usually not as a result of Legislature till January, however a consulting examine at Vermont’s solely working landfill, owned by Casella Waste Techniques, Inc., estimated PFAS therapy prices over 20 years within the vary of $32 million to $394 million. 

Unexpected and unpredictable prices

A new regulation that requires group water programs, faculties and day care facilities to report PFAS water-testing outcomes to the state has prompted expenditures for follow-up testing and filtration at quite a few websites. Lots of these prices have been reimbursed by the Maine Ingesting Water Program.

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Prices to put in smaller filtration programs usually run lower than $40,000, however there are notable exceptions. Following excessive PFAS ranges in properly water, the Houlton Cellular Dwelling Park is working to determine a public water connection reported to price greater than $4 million.

A number of bigger water districts anticipate PFAS therapy prices on the order of $5-10 million, with analysis nonetheless underway. “Forecasting pricing now’s unimaginable, not troublesome,” mentioned Brian Tarbuck, normal supervisor of the Larger Augusta Utility District, provided that therapy strategies are quickly evolving and demand for filtration programs is skyrocketing, driving up prices and inflicting delays on prime of current supply-chain challenges. 

Nor can districts finances for the operations and upkeep of the brand new programs, Tarbuck added, given uncertainty about how lengthy filters will carry out and what their disposal prices could also be. (Analysis is underway on the College of Maine on means to destroy PFAS in used filters, however within the quick time period most filters will go to landfills, contributing to PFAS contamination issues and prices for leachate therapy there.)

Techniques that discover PFAS throughout sampling should check water extra ceaselessly, an ongoing expense that drives up working prices. One district anticipates spending $36,000 yearly simply on routine water testing for PFAS. 

“For the state of Maine, Bluefield (a Boston-based market analysis agency) forecasts $42.5 million in PFAS consuming water remediation to be spent over the 2022-2030 forecast interval,” famous Lauren Balsamo, an analyst on the firm, reflecting the truth that Maine is “probably the most pro-active states by way of testing and implementing regulatory insurance policies. By getting out forward of impending federal PFAS laws, states like Maine can keep away from fines and penalties afterward, which might result in general price financial savings.”

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By way of the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs ActMaine is receiving $7.5 million that can be utilized for PFAS therapy of consuming water within the first 12 months of a $4 billion multi-year dedication to help communities with chemical contamination. 1 / 4 of that federal dedication is devoted to assist small and deprived communities, which may benefit Maine’s smaller public water programs.

Water sampling finished up to now has discovered PFAS in some settings with no recognized sources. The persistent poisonous chemical substances can journey by way of groundwater a minimum of a mile or two so it’s unclear what number of water sources could have elevated PFAS. 

That’s a significant concern in a state with roughly 300,000 personal wells statewide. About half of Maine households drink water from personal wells, which don’t qualify for the Infrastructure Act {dollars} focused to assist small and deprived communities reply to threats like PFAS. Solely public-water programs are eligible for these federal funds, in line with Jackie Farwell, communications director for the Division of Well being and Human Providers. 

PFAS properly water testing and therapy — for individuals who can afford it

As a result of it previously promoted sludge spreading, the state is spending substantial sources over 4 years testing wells close to traditionally licensed sludge or septage websites. As of Nov. 14, the state had examined 1,185 wells, primarily in areas deemed to be on the highest threat. Amongst these, 27 % exceeded the state’s interim consuming water commonplace of 20 elements per trillion (ppt) for the sum of the six PFAS compounds.

Set to be finalized by June 2024, the state commonplace could drop. Final June the U.S. Environmental Safety Company set a lifetime well being advisory degree close to zero for two PFAS compounds, and later this month the company is anticipated to suggest a nationwide consuming water commonplace for these compounds. 

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Given the state’s tiered system for testing websites and its capability limitations, even individuals dwelling close to sludge-spreading websites have been advised they’re not eligible at no cost PFAS water testing, mentioned Dana Colihan, a co-founder of the group motion nonprofit Slingshot. Effectively house owners involved about different potential PFAS contamination sources, corresponding to navy websites, fireplace stations and coaching websites, textile producers, tanneries, airports, and settings that will have relied on pesticides or sludge-based compost, are left largely on their very own to evaluate and doubtlessly remediate consuming water. 

State-accredited water exams for PFAS sometimes price $400 or extra. If elevated ranges are discovered, a state tip sheet advises residents to purchase and drink bottled water, which might price $700 or extra yearly (and bottling firms are not but mandated to check for PFAS). If properly house owners resolve they want a whole-house filtration system, prices can attain $5,000 (or extra if a shed is required to deal with the filtration system, corresponding to with manufactured properties).

The excessive bills concerned in PFAS testing and therapy create “an fairness problem in entry to scrub consuming water,” mentioned Sarah Woodbury, director of advocacy for the nonprofit Defend Our Well being. “If you’d like a check, it’s best to be capable of get one. Clear water is a proper, not a privilege.” 

The state ought to “take a look at the obstacles to entry” for properly house owners, Woodbury mentioned, together with the excessive monetary prices and a testing course of that’s removed from user-friendly, involving value inquiries to a number of labs and analysis reliant on broadband entry. Data on PFAS and testing ought to be distributed by way of libraries and medical places of work, she added, since some Maine residents, together with docs, are nonetheless unaware of the well being threats PFAS pose. 

A College of Maine survey accomplished final spring of 432 residents statewide, a part of analysis to be revealed in Maine Coverage Evaluate, discovered that almost one in 5 respondents nonetheless had not heard of PFAS. Given the variety of Mainers who “don’t know they need to get their wells examined,” Colihan mentioned, the state must do intensive outreach and take into account tips on how to help low-income and environmental justice communities. Whereas states like New Hampshire have established a rebate system, a direct-pay method is perhaps higher, she mentioned, understanding “some individuals can’t pay out of pocket even when cash is out there down the road.” 

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A case examine within the excessive prices of PFAS

Fairness issues additionally floor in firefighting. First responders have unwittingly been steeped in PFAS, with the chemical substances utilized in aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) and protecting (turnout) gear, and sometimes current within the smoke from construction fires. Medical therapy prices attributable to PFAS publicity amongst Maine firefighters are unknown, however the prices of eliminating PFAS from firefighting have gotten clear. 

In March, the Maine Division of Environmental Safety supplied a tough estimate for a state AFFF takeback program of $2.5 million for assortment and disposal, with additional sources required for non-fluorinated alternative foam. 

Cleanup of Maine navy websites that used AFFF has already price the Division of Protection roughly $18 million, and new bills maintain rising, corresponding to  a PFAS plume from the previous Brunswick Naval Air Station that contaminated a properly subject of the native water district. 

AFFF was additionally used at municipal fire-training areas, doubtlessly reaching close by wells. The price to evaluate such websites for contamination, in line with one fireplace division endeavor this work, may be $50,000, a major expense for smaller municipalities. If even a 3rd of Maine’s 433 departments must undertake such web site investigations, the collective prices may prime $7 million, not counting funds wanted to deal with contaminated consuming water sources.

Maine has largely banned AFFF use, however firefighters face ongoing PFAS publicity in a number of layers of their turnout gear, which might price about $6,000 per set. With an estimated 10,000 firefighters within the state, in line with the Maine State Federation of Firefighters, alternative PFAS-free gear may exceed $60 million, not counting disposal prices for the previous gear. 

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In line with a report issued in July from the Nationwide Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medication, firefighters ought to check their blood for PFAS attributable to their excessive occupational publicity. Maine state toxicologist Andrew Smith lately famous {that a} new blood check masking a broader vary of PFAS will quickly be obtainable for $490 (not counting the price of a blood draw, which may enhance the whole to $600 or extra). 

Insurance coverage suppliers in Maine are usually not required to cowl PFAS blood exams and, even after they do, excessive deductibles can put the associated fee out of attain for many individuals. Funding to make the exams accessible to Maine’s present firefighters, not together with the unknown quantity who’ve retired, may run over $6 million.

Whole bills for firefighting-related PFAS remediation may exceed $75 million with out factoring in additional water therapy from AFFF contamination or federal protection expenditures. Earlier this month, Congress handed the Defending Firefighters from Antagonistic Substances (PFAS) Act, which is able to assist assist coaching steering, however absent additional federal or state assist, the prices for changing firefighting foam and turnout gear, and for investigating fire-training areas, may fall on Maine municipalities. 

Prices to agriculture and extra

Maine farmers have been on the forefront of responding to PFAS contamination, attributable to historic spreading of wastewater and industrial sludge onto agricultural fields. The Legislature and Gov. Janet Mills authorised a $60 million PFAS Fund this 12 months to assist farm households affected by PFAS, doubtlessly offering medical monitoring and medical care, short-term earnings alternative, assist in reconfiguring farm operations to soundly produce meals the place potential, and property buyouts the place wanted. Further makes use of of the fund, outlined in Chapter 10-D of LD 1995, embody evaluating the state’s capability for PFAS testing and knowledge administration, conducting associated agricultural analysis, and long-term monitoring of PFAS-contaminated websites. The PFAS Fund Advisory Committee met Dec. 12 for the second time.

To help farmers earlier than they’ll entry state assist, Maine Farmland Belief and the Maine Natural Farmers and Gardeners Affiliation collectively administer a PFAS Emergency Aid Fund to assist cowl the prices of testing and infrastructure variations, in addition to earnings alternative and wellness companies. As of Oct. 1, roughly $1.5 million had been raised for the fund and roughly $641,000 had been distributed in grants.

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There are nonetheless total sectors the place the financial impacts of PFAS have obtained little examine, corresponding to looking, fishing and tourism, actual property values and insurance coverage. Consumption advisories, for instance, can cut back earnings in rural communities and have disproportionate impacts on households reliant on subsistence looking and fishing. 

PFAS-contaminated properties are prone to lose worth, however analysis as to impacts is barely starting. A Michigan examine assessing property worth impacts of dioxin, one other persistent poisonous chemical, discovered a small however vital discount in worth that remained even when the positioning was remediated. 

Companies could begin to expertise monetary results from altering insurance coverage practices regarding PFAS. Lately, in line with the Maine Bureau of Insurance coverage’s Property and Casualty Division, exclusions for protection of PFAS inside industrial strains have turn into extra frequent. 

Prices that resist quantification

Past bills that may theoretically be estimated, there are such a lot of elements of PFAS contamination that “we don’t know tips on how to quantify and even start to completely quantify,” noticed Alissa Cordner, an environmental sociologist at Whitman Faculty in Washington state and co-author of a 2021 scientific commentary entitled “The True Value of PFAS and the Advantages of Performing Now.” 

Impressed by a European report on the societal, environmental and well being impacts from PFAS publicity, Cordner and her colleagues are working to assemble a extra full image within the U.S. of the “bigger prices externalized onto the general public” by chemical producers. One longtime PFAS producer, 3M, acknowledged in 2021 that it had paid out “greater than $1.2 billion” to deal with PFAS air pollution. That 12 months, 3M’s annual gross sales have been $35.4 billion, up almost 10 % over the earlier 12 months.

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The best price that producers have handed on to the general public, the researchers concluded, is the increasing variety of human well being results. Nearly each American has PFAS of their blood serum and toxicological analysis now means that for some compounds, nearly no publicity is protected. “In a extra equitable world,” Cordner and her colleagues wrote, “this analysis can be carried out by the producer earlier than the chemical got here onto the market.”

A current examine revealed within the journal Publicity and Well being estimated that elevated medical payments and decreased employee productiveness from 13 medical situations related to simply two PFAS compounds may cost the U.S. between $5.52 billion and $62.6 billion. “Based mostly on our estimates, the price of eradicating contamination and changing this class of chemical with safer options is in the end justified when contemplating the large financial and medical dangers of permitting them to persist within the atmosphere,” report creator and pediatrician Leonardo Trasande wrote.

Even rain now incorporates PFAS at ranges that might show problematic, not just for human well being however for ecosystems. Preliminary scientific analysis is discovering PFAS in nearly all wildlife species examined. Whereas work has been finished in current many years to quantify the financial worth of the “companies” that ecosystems present, like purifying water and absorbing carbon, the diminishment of that worth attributable to widespread PFAS contamination has but to be tabulated. 

In undermining the well being of Maine’s ecosystems, PFAS have finished incalculable harm to cultural and religious practices. Poisonous contamination from industrial chemical substances reduces looking, fishing and gathering alternatives, and undermines the traditions of Maine’s indigenous tribes, inflicting generational hurt. 

For a lot of residents in Maine and past, the insidious presence of PFAS has diminished high quality of life, and elevated stress, anxiousness and despair. It’s onerous to assign numbers, Cordner famous, to the influence on a mother or father “understanding that your child has been consuming contaminated water or the loss felt by a farmer pressured to put down livestock.”

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Residents, legislators, company workers, college college, Cooperative Extension workers, advocates and others have expended immense effort to handle PFAS contamination, dedicating untold hours which may have gone to different urgent challenges the state faces. Nobody seems to be tallying that increasing alternative price. 

“Maine is taking the accountable route, looking for cash to repair what it will possibly,” mentioned Sharon Deal with, a former Maine legislator and coverage marketing consultant. Whereas the state has crammed roughly 30 new positions to deal with PFAS impacts, she mentioned, few if any workers members have been added for important roles regulating PFAS in merchandise, packaging and pesticides. To forestall future contamination and publicity, she famous, the state wants to speculate extra sources there. 

Maine is paying the value for a “damaged nationwide system that continues to permit these untested chemical substances to be put within the market,” Deal with added. “It’s dramatically costlier from a monetary and well being and environmental perspective than if these substances had been caught on the entrance finish.”



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Maine

Beloved Maine restaurant engulfed by fire will do ‘whatever it takes’ to reopen

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Beloved Maine restaurant engulfed by fire will do ‘whatever it takes’ to reopen


A mainstay on Ogunquit, Maine’s Marginal Way since 1963, the Oarweed Restaurant says it will do “whatever it takes” to reopen for the 2025 season after a blaze destroyed much of the building Saturday night.

“Even though there is devastation and sadness, there is hope… rainbows, rum punches, stuffed potatoes, and more hope, for 2025 opening day!” the restaurant posted on Facebook Sunday.

Firefighters were called to Perkins Cove, a historic fishing cove and top tourist destination, at 7:17 p.m. Saturday for a reported structure fire on Perkins Cove Road, according to Seacoastonline.

When they arrived, they discovered heavy fire in Uniques and Antiques, the business that abuts the Oarweed, and the restaurant.

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Amid freezing temperatures, a second alarm fire was declared and several surrounding fire departments in southern Maine responded.

Uniques and Antiques, known for its sale of Christmas heirlooms, posted on Facebook Saturday night: “This is a heartbreaking shock and we appreciate everyone who has reached out. We ask for continued prayers for all, including our neighbors at Oarweed Restaurant and our other friends in the Cove. Thank you to first responders. We will update more when we can.”

The Oarweed, a classic Maine seafood restaurant that first opened in the summer of 1963, was closed for the season when the fire struck.

In a hopeful Facebook post Sunday, just a mere hours after the blaze was put out, the restaurant said employees will be “working hard” for the 2025 season. They cited cubing potatoes for chowder, prepping the “blueberry splash” and loading up the bar, despite the devastation caused by the fire.

“Everyone is safe and ready to do whatever it takes to make our beloved Oarweed ready to go on!” the Oarweed wrote. “Thank you to all for your support and love.”

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In March, Real Simple magazine named the town of Ogunquit the No. 1 vacation destination of 2024.



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Ace Flagg is ready to be a star again in Maine

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Ace Flagg is ready to be a star again in Maine


Ace Flagg is ready to be a star again in Maine

Ace Flagg is a power forward on the Greensboro Day School boys basketball team. Flagg will attend the University of Maine next year. Auden Forsberg/Greensboro Day School

It was a hard decision to make. For a while, at least.

The summer before Ace Flagg’s senior year was nearing its end, as was the time to make a decision on his college basketball future. He had plenty of options to choose from — Division I colleges from across the country had made their pitches.

One, though, always stood out.

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“When I started weighing all the options and everything that it meant to me, I think it became pretty obvious, pretty quickly,” he said. “I knew I wanted to come home.”

It’s been nearly two months since the Newport native announced his commitment to the University of Maine men’s basketball team.

It made news around the country, and fans celebrated when Flagg made his homecoming official. After all, Ace and his twin brother, Cooper — a freshman star at Duke — have captivated the state since their high school debuts at Nokomis Regional High three years ago.

“I liked everything about it. It was great to see the attention it got, and all the support and love from all the Mainers,” he said. “It was amazing. It helped me so much. It made the whole thing a lot easier. I’ve been blessed to be able to play in Maine and have the support of everyone there.”

Flagg feels fortunate, as does his future team.

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“I just love what he brings to the table, in terms of his toughness, his basketball IQ, his inside-out skill set,” Maine coach Chris Markwood said. “He’s our type of guy. He’s a Maine guy, hard-working, tough, hard-nosed and a great feel for the game.”

The announcement, though, was only part of what’s been an eventful season for Flagg. He’s also at his third school in four years, playing his senior year for Greensboro Day School in Greensboro, North Carolina. He’s adjusting to life without Cooper, on the court without his brother for the first time.

Ace Flagg averaged 12.7 points and 7.2 rebounds through his first 15 games for Greensboro Day School. Auden Forsberg/Greensboro Day School

Everything has been new: the environment, teammates, coaches and friends. He’s had to learn a new game, one that’s going to better prepare him for the college level that awaits him, and embrace a new role as a team leader.

“So far, so good,” Flagg said in a phone interview this week. “I wouldn’t say I was anxious. More just interested … to see what it would be like.

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“It’s been a smooth transition, and I honestly feel like I’ve been here longer than I have.”

‘He’s unique’

Flagg said Greensboro reminds him more of the schools he grew up attending than Montverde Academy in Florida did.

“It feels a lot more like a public school, almost,” he said. “Greensboro has a more open kind of feel to it. … (There are) a lot of local kids, and not a lot of kids from all over the country.”

The kid from Maine, however, can only blend in so much.

“They do like to call me a Yankee, that is true,” he said. “They like to try to be country boys, but I tell them north is country, south isn’t. Which they don’t like.”

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Flagg has made it a point to ingratiate himself with not just the team, but the community. Several of his closest friends aren’t basketball players. When Greensboro coach Freddy Johnson hosted a rec league with teams of third-, fourth- and fifth-graders, he asked Ace to work with a couple of the teams. Flagg instead spent hours working with all six.

“He’s unique,” Johnson said. “I like being around him, because he’s just such a good kid.”

Cooper Flagg, left, and his brother, Ace, share a laugh during a youth basketball camp on Aug. 10 in Orono. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

He’s also had to adjust to not sharing the court with Cooper for the first time since middle school. Flagg said there’s now more on his shoulders, which can help him as he prepares for college.

“Playing with Cooper makes the game easier,” Flagg said. “After playing with him for so long, not having him just makes everything tougher. You have to do a lot more on your own when you don’t have a player like him with you. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. It’s going to push me to be even better than I would have been before.”

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Being Cooper’s brother, let alone twin, creates a shadow that is tough to escape, given Cooper’s status as the country’s most coveted college prospect. Ace, however, said there were “no hard feelings at all” on his part as he watches the buzz around Cooper soar.

“I’m super proud of him and everything he’s doing. He deserves everything that he’s got, he’s worked so hard. Seeing all this attention for him is just amazing,” he said. “I want him to succeed more than maybe he does. I have nothing but love for him and hope nothing but the best for him.”

Growing his game

Johnson didn’t have much of a scouting report on Flagg when he came aboard in July.

“I really didn’t know much about him, other than he was a good basketball player,” said Johnson, who earlier this month became the sixth high school coach to reach 1,200 career wins. “He has a lot of respect from a lot of different people.”

Johnson quickly saw the tools Flagg had, and the set of abilities that have helped him average 12.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game (as of Tuesday) while leading the 13-2 Bengals in minutes.

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“His feet are unbelievable,” he said. “He has such good movement, he knows how to fake and get guys up. He can go around a 6-9 guy. … He passes like a point guard.”

It’s been a season of adjustment and acclimation, however. A pure forward who played as a big man with Nokomis and Montverde Academy in Florida, the 6-foot-7 Flagg has been playing more on the perimeter for a Greensboro team that likes to run and has four players around the center playing positions based on matchups.

“I’ve started to play out further, closer maybe to a 3 (small forward) than a 4 (power forward), and playing a lot out on the wing,” he said. “It’s one of the things that I needed. Playing that 4, 5 role at 6-(foot-)7, it doesn’t usually work out. I knew I needed to start transitioning outside and sharpen up my skills there.”

Ace Flagg looks for an open teammate while playing for Montverde Academy during a game in Portland on Jan. 6. Ben McCanna/Staff Photographer

It didn’t click right away. Flagg was unselfish to a fault while playing with his new teammates, and Johnson spoke to him about taking over with the ball.

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“Around game 5, 6, I reminded him that he needed to be more assertive,” he said. “He wanted to keep all his teammates happy by sharing the ball, and I explained to him that we’re not running five plays for him to catch the ball and throw it to somebody else. We want him to take it and score.”

The chat worked.

“If you saw him play the first three games and you saw him play the last three games, he’s a totally different player,” Johnson said.

A home state spotlight

It’s not as if Ace doesn’t generate his own hype and attention. Johnson said attendance at Greensboro games, both home and away, has climbed, and that the opportunity to cheer or jeer the player they’ve seen in stories and video clips online is likely what’s brought the fans out.

“He has his fan section that comes to cheer against him,” Johnson said. “We draw more on the road than we ever have.”

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When he committed to Maine on Oct. 30, the news stretched beyond the state and even landed as a headline on ESPN’s homepage. He’s been in the spotlight for a while, but Flagg said those moments don’t get old.

“It’s definitely a little weird,” he said. “Growing up, you’re always watching games on ESPN. Seeing yourself on there is definitely a strange feeling.”

Flagg announced his Maine commitment on Instagram, sharing a SportsCenter post, and the post has garnered 215,000 likes and 710 comments. News quickly reverberated around the state and zipped through the Orono campus.

“When the news hit, that was the big talk around the rec (center). ‘Ace is coming, Ace is coming,’” said Landen Chase, 19, a UMaine sophomore. “I had a friend who texted me, he doesn’t know a lot about basketball, but he texted me and his whole family was curious about why Ace was coming and what happened. It was cool. It was all around campus, everyone was talking about it.”

It’s buzz that hasn’t been there for a program that went 28-105 between the 2017-18 and 2021-22 seasons.

Ace Flagg drives to the basket while playing for the Greensboro Day School boys basketball team. Flagg will attend the University of Maine next year. Auden Forsberg/Greensboro Day School

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“They want to win (at Maine). It’s a winning mentality there,” Chase said. “People feel like, with Ace, this is going to step up our program and make games more enjoyable, and give us a better chance to win.”

That’s Markwood’s interest as he continues to try to build Maine into a contender in America East. Sure, having more eyeballs on the program is nice, and Markwood knows the Black Bears’ profile got a boost when Flagg signed.

“There’s obviously a major buzz behind him and obviously his brother, Coop. In Maine, those two guys, everybody’s watching them grow and evolve in the highest level,” he said. “I think everybody’s excited for Ace and for us, that we’re able to get a player of Ace’s caliber to come back home and represent our state.”

What Markwood is most interested in is what Flagg can do on the court, and how he can help continue the upward trend of a team that’s gone 36-39 since Markwood took over in 2022.

“He’s got a really good knack inside, he grew up as a big man, so he’s got great touch around the rim from 15 feet and in, and now he’s really added and developed his game around the perimeter,” Markwood said. “You’ve seen the evolution, and he’s still only scratching the surface.”

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That’s Flagg’s focus as well.

“I’ve never played basketball in my life with the intention of not winning,” he said. “I’m trying to bring everything I can to win. That’s what I want to do.”

The pressure’s already there. Markwood said he won’t want to add to it.

“I want Ace to enjoy the process on his own journey, at his own speed,” he said. “I don’t want him to feel like he’s got to come in right away and be Michael Jordan. He’s got to come in and be himself.”

Whatever expectations await him, Flagg knows he’s ready for them.

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“I look at it as a positive,” he said. “Being able to be recognized by anyone is a blessing. … I would never take it for granted. I think every day that I’m blessed for everything I have.”





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What did Hallowell learn from the December 2023 flood?

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What did Hallowell learn from the December 2023 flood?


Sam Joyall, co-owner of Rusticators Emporium on Water Street in downtown Hallowell, points out Thursday the high-water mark of last year’s December flood, the fifth-highest in the city’s history. Joyall says he noticed the water rising fast on the morning of Dec. 19, 2023, and he quickly called his wife. “I did a quick U-turn around, she booked it up there, and then we spent the rest of the day watching as that graph kept projecting it to go higher and higher for flooding.” Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

7:30 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023

Kennebec River at 17.3 feet: moderate flood stage

HALLOWELL — Power was out on Water Street, and Sam Joyall knew there was a cold spell coming. He drove from his home in Richmond to insulate his storefront, The Rusticators Emporium, from the dropping temperatures early Tuesday morning.

Joyall passed the boat launch on the southern end of downtown. It hadn’t rained for almost a day, but water encroached on the launch parking lot. Noted.

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He continued on to his store, two blocks north of the launch, insulating supplies in hand.

“By the time I had stuffed the doors and was like, ‘OK, this is all I came here for,’ and was leaving, I noticed how — in that brief period — substantially higher the water was at the boat landing area,” he said.

A slow-moving storm had dropped 4-8 inches of rain across much of Maine over the previous two days, melting snowpack and quickly increasing river levels.

Joyall was seeing the beginning of what would become a historic flood. A year ago this week, riverside communities across central Maine suffered damage they will remember for decades — and as the climate changes, the storms that led to the flooding are expected to only increase in intensity.

It’s a time the communities can’t afford to forget. That December morning, experts say, will be repeated more frequently in the years ahead.

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Front Street, which borders the river and lies much lower than the rest of downtown, had flooded the evening before. Hallowell’s bulkhead — where the famous colorful Adirondack chairs sit for much of the year — was already covered by several feet of water. The Kennebec River was rising by nearly a foot every hour.

Joyall called his wife, Lexi, who checked on the river’s flood gage predictions — and it did not look pretty. The duo, who co-own the store, scrambled to take action.

“I did a quick U-turn around, she booked it up there, and then we spent the rest of the day watching as that graph kept projecting it to go higher and higher for flooding,” Joyall said. “We were just in the shop, doing whatever it was we could — we took out some of our most expensive items, fearing that we were probably going to see some water come into the shop by that point.”

Floodwater soon lapped at the doorsteps of Water Street storefronts and completely inundated Front Street basement spaces.

And the river was still rising.

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The town center of Hallowell was unreachable on the afternoon of Dec. 19, 2023, with both sides of Route 201 closed and cars coming from Gardiner being directed to turn around. Emily Duggan/Kennebec Journal file

10:30 a.m., Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023

Kennebec River at 19.27 feet: major flood stage

Joyall spent the rest of the morning moving merchandise and watching the flood gage read higher and higher. Business owners up and down Water Street had the same idea — many scrambled to get their belongings to higher ground. Upstairs, up the hill — anything would do.

Down the street, Joyall saw volunteers, including Mayor George Lapointe, moving stock out of Vignettes of Maine — a gift shop near the corner of Water and Wharf streets — as the business took on water.

Chiseled into the building across Wharf Street, notches marking Hallowell’s biggest floods from the past 200 years loomed over Lapointe’s parked pickup truck. Nine months later, this flood’s high-water point would be marked on that building — the fifth-highest ever recorded in Hallowell and the highest since 1987.

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Joyall called across Water Street to make sure Michel-Paul Cyr, who owns Michel Paul Artist Studio, had all the help he needed while water crept up to his gallery’s back deck. Lapointe jumped from business to business, asking owners how he could help.

On Front Street, the Quarry Tap Room’s back patio was submerged in 8 feet of water. Easy Street Lounge was filled with water “to the rafters,” and it took months for owner Bruce Mayo to rebuild and restock, Lapointe said.

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Joyall said he stayed at The Rusticators Emporium for several more hours, watching the water slowly rise outside. He said the store’s lights and heat, which had been out since the day before, flickered back on, even before the water stopped climbing.

“Oh, this is a reverse Titanic situation here,” Joyall said to himself.

9:30 a.m., Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023

Kennebec River at 17.97 feet: moderate flood stage

With power back on the western side of Water Street, City Manager Gary Lamb powered up the city’s computers and opened City Hall doors for business for the first time in two days.

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The river had already noticeably dropped from its peak of 22.49 feet around 9 p.m. Tuesday, but roads were still impassable on the southern side of downtown until about midday, according to a memo Lamb wrote recapping the flood. Public works employees removed barricades and began cleanup, using the city’s snowblower’s power broom.

A swollen Kennebec River floods buildings on the back side of Water Street in Augusta after a severe rainstorm in December 2023. File photo courtesy of Dave Dostie

Much of downtown was covered in inches-thick silt that was “greasy as heck,” Lapointe said. Granite City Park, which had been underwater for about 36 hours, was caked in sediment. The building housing Vignettes of Maine and what was then Traverse Coffee Co. was lifted slightly off its foundation and required substantial structural work. The Quarry Tap Room’s outdoor stage had floated over a railing and onto Front Street. Several buildings in the southern part of downtown were evacuated due to a propane tank leak near Café de Bangkok. Floats from the boat launch had traveled downstream, despite being stored across the Water Street, away from the river. Merrill’s Bookshop lost eight tons of books.

Buildings on the western side of Water Street were mostly spared from the worst of the flooding, including Berry & Berry Floral, where Lapointe said he saw a “small puddle” inside during the worst of the flooding. The Rusticators Emporium, on the western side of the street, was kept mostly dry, too.

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But on the eastern side of Water Street, closer to the river, flood waters were slow to recede, and power was still out through Wednesday night.

Lamb contacted Central Maine Power early Thursday morning, wondering when electricity would be restored and hoping businesses wouldn’t freeze up during the impending cold snap. He was told by customer service representatives that building owners and tenants would need to sign CMP’s post-flood power restoration form, signaling they understood the risks associated with turning power back on.

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“Because so many of the services were inundated, they required this form to be filled out and signed by a master electrician who’d actually done an inspection,” Lamb said. “For obvious reasons, safety reasons; it could start a fire or hurt somebody.”

Lamb said he didn’t know about the form before the flood — buildings downtown hadn’t flooded this badly since he became city manager — but that city staff and other volunteers jumped in to contact relevant people as quickly as possible. Power was back on by Saturday morning.

“The critical part was people were going to have to drain their buildings,” Lamb said. “It was getting much colder after the waters receded and buildings were going to freeze up because they had gone for four or five days without power, and most of those places are relatively uninsulated. We were ecstatic that, right before Christmas, we got the power back on that Saturday.”

11 a.m., Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024

Kennebec River at 6.55 feet: well below flood stage

Almost exactly a year later, city officials’ fears about another river flood were growing. Conditions were similar to the December 2023 event: A powerful storm capable of dropping several inches of rain, rising temperatures, high winds that knocked out power to thousands and the potential for substantial snowmelt.

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Lamb watched the flood gage predictions closely, and Lapointe mentioned in a City Council meeting earlier in the week that the city may have to deal with significant flooding again.

No such flood came.

But Maine State Climatologist Sean Birkel said events like last December’s will only get more severe with climate change.

“We’re much more uncertain about the frequency part,” Birkel, also a research assistant professor at UMaine’s Climate Change Institute, said. “However, as climate warms, we have seen an increase in the intensity of storms, and in particular with the amount of precipitation that these storms are producing.”

The Dec. 17-18, 2023, storm produced more than 3 inches of rain in most of the Kennebec River watershed. Warm, strong winds from the southeast created an “atmospheric river” event, which ushered massive amounts of rainfall, especially in central and western Maine.

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When added to snowmelt, Birkel said, the conditions for widespread river flooding downstream were ideal.

“We have seen that a cold-season cyclone can produce this much flooding and damage, and in a warming world, there’s increased risk,” he said. “And so as we prepare in the future, we have to bear that in mind and incorporate that into our planning, especially at the state and municipal level.”

Lapointe said, while Hallowell does not plan on building a seawall to keep floodwaters out, city officials can take some steps to improve emergency response and prepare for future flooding events.

He said he and other city leaders should lean on the U.S. Geological Survey’s river gage — which Joyall watched intently during the flood and which Lamb said was “worth its weight in gold” — as a useful resource during floods. He said he would also like to standardize the city’s automatic emergency notification system for downtown businesses and residents and learn more about flood prediction, so the city is not scrambling to respond.

The water level from last year’s December flood is carved in a granite corner piece of the building at the intersection of Water and Central streets in downtown Hallowell. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

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Lapointe said it took two to three months for downtown Hallowell to feel normal after the December flood. Several businesses were closed for extended periods of time, and others never came back.

Some received aid from a City Council-approved relief fund, which directed $50,000 to businesses, with a cap of $2,000 per business. Others got help from private fundraising: One Quarry Tap Room employee’s husband raised more than $10,000 for the staff’s lost wages.

Vision Hallowell — a downtown support organization of which Joyall was recently appointed president — distributed more than $17,000 to downtown businesses following a monthslong fundraising campaign with other Hallowell community groups. The city matched that fundraising with another $17,000, which also went out to businesses impacted by the storm.

Lapointe said it would be easy for the city to beat itself up over its response to the flood. Not all business owners and tenants on Water and Front streets were on the city’s emergency contact list. Power restoration took longer than hoped. Lamb faced criticism for not invoking the city’s emergency management ordinance — which would have convened an eight-person committee of city leaders to coordinate response to the flood — but Lamb said the committee had never met, was not trained in emergency response and likely would not have been any more effective.

But above all the controversy and frustration, Lapointe said Hallowell should be proud of how it responded: The community came together to support its downtown, he said, in a relatively short amount of time.

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“When there’s only so much you can do, people help out,” he said.



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