NRCM Blog

Independent Report: Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative a Major Boon for Maine

Very exciting news today on the clean energy front! Many of you are familiar with "RGGI"  (the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative). NRCM played a leading role in helping Maine join this innovative 10-state program to reduce climate changing emissions from power plants. Since then,  several studies  have documented RGGI’s results. (You can see a fact sheet and case study on the benefits of RGGI in Maine on our webpage.)

Today, one of the most comprehensive studies of RGGI was released. It found that RGGI has yielded $1.6 billion in net benefits to the region’s economy. The biggest benefit was from reduced energy costs and associated economic benefits—keeping that money circulating in the Maine economy instead of being sent out of state for imported fossil fuels. Here are some the highlights from the report, which focused on the first three years of RGGI (2009-2011):

• RGGI led to a net increase in Maine’s economy of approximately $92 million.
• RGGI reduced the flow of money out of New England for imported fossil fuels by $210 million.
• Maine’s participation resulted in an increase of 918 “job-years,” a mix of permanent and temporary jobs.
• Electricity bill reductions from RGGI-funded energy efficiency investments totaled $120 million in Maine. These savings far outweighed the incredibly small price increase that comes from requiring power plants to pay a small cost for carbon pollution.
• The report found energy efficiency was the most beneficial use of RGGI dollars—something we know because Maine has invested a relatively high percentage (84 percent) of RGGI dollars in energy efficiency, through new and existing Efficiency Maine programs.

Efficiency Maine used a portion of initial RGGI dollars to support a grant program for large energy consumers in Maine. (RGGI money also boosted efficiency programs for residential and smaller business consumers.) The new report included a success story from Maine: a multi-million dollar set of energy efficiency improvements at Twin Rivers Paper in Madawaska that will save 6 million kwh/year—as much as used by 1000 homes.  “We are reinventing ourselves as a low-cost specialty papers manufacturer,” said Phil Nadeau, their engineering manager. “Being a sustainable company means saving money on every front. We are a new company and these projects would not have happened without support from these grants.” (You can read another case study from Maine’s industrial sector—Madison Paper—on our website.)

Part of why RGGI has been so beneficial is because it is supporting energy efficiency investments and programs. One of the best ways to further reduce fossil fuel pollution and reduce energy bills is with more energy efficiency. That’s one reason we are so excited about a new clean energy ballot initiative that would significantly increase energy efficiency investments in Maine.

A legislative proposal to withdraw Maine from RGGI failed in the 2011 session, and just last month, the bipartisan Legislative Council rejected a similar bill from being considered in 2012. Today’s report is yet another indication that RGGI is working and providing significant benefits to Maine, in terms of our economy, environment, and energy independence.

- Dylan Voorhees, NRCM Clean Energy Director

Marching for the Mountain

“Retirement” – to me, that word means having no schedule, no plans, and spending a lot of time relaxing and doing all the things one never had time to do while they were working. Over the past few years, I have seen my mother “retire” – and now work more hours at her “part-time job” and be more involved in activities than she was while working. And now…Brownie Carson retired after 27 years as NRCM’s executive director, and what is HE doing? He’s still working hard to protect the environment. 

I talk to Brownie weekly, it seems, to catch up and see what he is up to during his first months of retirement. After being his assistant at NRCM for 12 years, I had gotten used to seeing him and talking to him every day. So, it’s nice to still be in touch as frequently as we are. He tells me of trips to visit his best friend. He talks of time spent with his granddaughter. And occasionally, he still calls to ask for my “assistance” on one project or another. 

Last week’s request came in the form of a phone call early on Saturday morning. He was looking for a place to park his car in West Virginia. Yes…West Virginia. I told him of a friend who used to live down there and after contacting her via Facebook, we found him a place to park his car for a week. “And what will you be doing in West Virginia for a week?” I asked. 

Brownie said he would be marching 50 miles in five days to (according to the March’s website) “commemorate the 90th anniversary of the Battle of Blair Mountain in 1921, when 10,000 coal miners rose against the rule of the coal operators and fought for the basic right to live and work in decent conditions.” This peaceful march is also to raise awareness of the threats to Blair Mountain from mountain top removal mining. 

The day Brownie, a Virginia native, decided to participate, he had gone to the Brunswick Farmer’s Market and run into an NRCM board member, originally from Kentucky. They started talking and decided they would both go to West Virginia and do this march together. So, off they went, not expecting the extreme heat, but knowing that they had to be a part of this event, which ends this weekend on Blair Mountain. Brownie’s last email from the trip to me is that it is “hotter than hell,” but onward he marches….continuing to do what he and NRCM have done for years – speaking up and speaking out about protecting our natural places. Speaking up for clean energy and for clean air. And doing so even when the conditions are tough. NRCM members, staff, and supporters are always willing to go that extra mile (or 50) to raise awareness of the importance of a clean and healthy environment. 

To learn about the March on Blair Mountain, see videos and photos of the week’s events, and more, visit http://marchonblairmountain.org/.

- Beth Dimond, NRCM Public Affairs Coordinator

New Web Feature: Updates from the State House

With so much happening at the Legislature on bills that will affect Maine’s environment, we know that it’s hard to keep track of important developments. That’s why NRCM has   launched a new feature on our website that provides fresh updates and news. We encourage you to check out this new feature, which will report both the good news and bad news on our efforts to stop rollbacks of laws that protect Maine’s land, air, and water. 

Just yesterday, for example, the DEP Commissioner Darryl Brown testified in strong support of a bill that would dramatically weaken regulation of development. The bill was developed by the Maine Realtors and Developers Association (MEREDA), which gave an award last year to Darryl Brown. Also up yesterday was a bill that would undermine DEP’s regulation of “overboard discharge systems,” which pose a threat to coastal water quality and clam flats. The Maine Clammers Association slammed the bill as a threat to their ability to provide a living for their families. Further information like this is featured in the updates posted from yesterday.

This new State House Updates feature is a companion to our legislative tracking page, which provides a list of bills were working on, along with position memos describing NRCM’s views and links to testimony delivered by NRCM staff.

Together, these web features should help you stay up-to-date on the latest developments from Augusta – where the pace of activity is intense, and NRCM staff are at work every day trying to stop the rollbacks of Maine’s environmental laws.

Pete Didisheim
Advocacy Director 

 

Join Us February 14 in Augusta: Notes from the Auburn Hearing

The Regulatory Fairness hearings being held around the state by the Legislative Regulatory Reform Committee are bringing out large numbers of Maine citizens and business owners who want to see Maine’s environmental standards strengthened, not weakened. During the hearings there have been specific suggestions to improve the implementation of particular laws, but generally, little to no call for complete repeal of any laws. 

I attended the Auburn hearing on February 3 that was covered by the Lewiston Sun http://www.sunjournal.com/city/story/981130. During the time I was there, most people spoke about the importance of protecting Maine’s natural resources and the quality of life they provide. Buzz Lamb, a retired computer industry businessman from New Gloucester and NRCM board member, spoke from more than 40 years experience working with industries throughout Maine, including forest products, wholesale, retail, manufacturing, transportation, and health care industries. He challenged the premise put forward by the LePage Administration that regulation was killing jobs, noting instead that the real causes of job loss in Maine have been the rise of big box stores that eliminated healthy downtown retail districts; consolidations in wholesale distribution, banking, insurance and other industries that moved headquarters and jobs out-of-state; global labor rates that drew shoe and textile manufacturing jobs overseas, and the resulting decline of many other supporting jobs in the community. He said, “I find blaming Maine’s business environment on environmental regulation to be very misguided. In fact, it makes me question whether or not the governor’s team has done an adequate job in problem determination.” 

Buzz argued against the environmental rollbacks proposed by the LePage administration and some current legislators, saying that they will increase long-term costs to both business and government due to the rise in cost associated with toxics clean up, public health, and sprawl. He specifically discussed the legislative proposal to weaken shoreland zoning laws. As the owner of approximately 3000 feet of farm and woodland affected by shoreland zoning, he said the proposal of a 75 foot setback (instead of the present 250 feet) could not be proposed “with a straight face.” He said that 75 feet does not even begin to address the run off issues facing our lakes and streams during spring run off and heavy rains. “Once eutrophication (the introduction of artificial substances to a fresh water system) begins, it is difficult to stop and eventually feeds itself. The long term costs of watershed deterioration will be very high, including clean up costs, land value decline, expensive filtration equipment for public water supplies, and flood damage from faster run off.” He does not find being a good shoreland steward “onerous or difficult.” See Buzz’s full testimony here. 

Comments like these from Buzz Lamb about actual experience with our environmental standards in Maine have been delivered by hundreds of people throughout the hearing process. We hope the Legislature will listen and submit real solutions to real problems, rather than gut environmental laws that continue to serve Maine citizens well. 

If you have not contacted your legislator yet to express your concerns about the proposed environmental rollbacks, I encourage you to do so today. You can learn more at our website, where you can also find contact information for your legislator, at http://www.nrcm.org/stop_environmental_rollbacks.asp.

You can also join us for the final hearing in Augusta in Room 208, Cross State Office Building, Capitol Street, on Monday, February 14 between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. to say a few words to the committee. Join us at noon for a rally to protect Maine’s environment in the Hall of Flags at the State House. Hope to see you there!

-Lisa Pohlmann, NRCM Executive Director

The Joys of a Maine Winter!

These cold January days have not deterred me from enjoying Maine’s outdoors. Those of us who love to fish in Maine can’t stay idle waiting for spring to wet our fly lines. Instead, we bundle up and explore Maine’s lakes and rivers—through the ice.

Last weekend, I finally got a chance to get out on the ice with my dad and some friends. Out on Cobbossee, we drilled our holes and baited our traps and hunkered down on the ice to enjoy the crisp, clear morning. With little action, we decided to fire up the grill for some lunch (the flags are sure to fly up once the grill is on). Sure enough, FLAG!! Eagerly, I looked up to see whose trap was the lucky one, and it was mine. Racing out to the trap, with my gang in tow, I got to the hole and saw the reel spinning fast. Fish on! Anxiously, I pulled the trap out of the water and set the hook. Hand over hand, I pulled in my fish. As its head filled the hole, I saw it was a pike. My disappointment that it wasn’t a trout was muted by the fact that it was my first fish of the year. Although the rest of the day was slow, being out on the ice with good company, and the excitement of the first catch of the year, tickled my fishing itch, which I hadn’t felt since I put away my fly rod in the fall. I just had to get out for more.

The following Friday night, with NRCM co-workers Steve Tatko and Nick Bennett, I made my way down to the Kennebec for some smelting. Feeling confident, I brought along some cornmeal and a frying pan to enjoy our catch for dinner on the frozen river. And I wasn’t disappointed. We barely had all our lines baited and we were catching smelts! As you may know, smelt fishing is a very social affair—and not just because you are in a six by eight foot shack with four other people for six hours. It is also an opportunity to listen to the chatter coming from your neighboring shacks. We had a great time (and the smelts were delicious!).

The following morning, I drove over to Livermore for more action. Once again, I happily settled in for a day of ice fishing with friends. Just as we were sitting down for some brunch on the ice (including the freshly caught smelts from the night before), I had a flag. Racing out to my trap, I was eager to meet my fish. As I set the hook, I had no idea that I would soon be pulling out a beautiful 20” brown trout!! Although I usually stick with catch and release, this was a fish worth keeping. While I enjoyed it for supper on Sunday with my parents, I couldn’t help but worry about the mercury content in the fish, which was being passed on to me. It is a shame that Maine sportsmen need to think twice about eating the fish coming from our own waters. It made me appreciate all the work NRCM has done to reduce air pollution and it made me eager to get back to work on Monday morning cleaning up Maine’s energy mix.

-Emmie Theberge, NRCM Clean Energy Outreach Coordinator

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Maine People and the Environment: Report from the Roundtable

More than 500 citizens from across the state poured into the Augusta Civic Center on January 20th to participate in the first public meeting with Governor LePage about the importance of environmental protection to Maine's economic and public health. A panel of 28 businesses, sportsmen, health professionals, religious leaders, and youth discussed how the laws that have cleaned up once heavily polluted rivers, have kept Maine's woods and fish stocks intact, have kept our landscapes protected and relatively pristine, and have cleaned up our air - and saved us money -- by conserving energy, are necessary and welcome to those who have chosen to set up businesses in Maine, have worked the land for generations, or visit here to enjoy our quality of life.

NRCM is proud to have sponsored this event with numerous partner organizations and to have seen so many members from the NRCM family across the state in attendance. We have shown once again that the people of Maine are deeply committed to environmental protections and are willing to stand up and fight for them. Please see the extensive news coverage here: http://www.nrcm.org/news.asp

We will soon be posting the remarks of the panelists, as well as video of the event, but today's snow slowed us down a bit. Check our website next week (www.nrcm.org) for more from the Roundtable.

Here are some of the remarks from the panelists, who we thank so much for participating in this event:

William Bennett, Pres. & CEO, of Oakhurst: "After all the cows that produce Oakhurst milk literally eat drink and breathe the Maine environment so it's in everyone's best interest to keep Maine's environment clean, safe and healthy."

Unity College student Deirdre Birbeck also had a chance to speak directly to the Governor. "It seems to me that my generation's future jobs will depend on careful stewarding of our natural resources."
 
“If our coastal waters are not clean, it is impossible for all commercial fishermen, not just clammers, to market the Maine brand,” said Chad Coffin, president of the Maine Clammers Association.

“Regulations aren’t perfect, and some may need fixing,” said Harry Dwyer, a licensed forester and logger who owns Ghost Dance Forestry in Fayette. “But regulations are not the enemy. They are an important tool” to protect resources for future generations.

Horace “Hoddy” Hildreth, a former Republican state senator who is chairman of Diversified Communications, a company with 200 employees, said many of the laws protecting Maine’s air, land and water were enacted by Republican-controlled legislatures responding to the industrial abuses of the 1960s and 1970s.

“Their implementation has from time to time caused frustration and even outrage,” Hildreth said. “But I submit to you that working on the regulations to make sure they are responsive to the plain intent of the statutes is a better way to go than gutting or repealing the laws.”

Corky Ellis, founder and Chairman of Kepware, a software company in Portland, says they could have moved to North Carolina or Texas with lower taxes and minimal environmental regulations, but they wanted to live in Maine. "Please bear in mind that many businesses like ours are here in Maine precisely because of the protected beauty and the conservation efforts of the past."

And MPBN's news story quoted Ernie Hilton, former chair of the Maine Board of Environmental Protection (read and listen to the full MPBN news story here):

Ernie Hilton is a lifelong Republican, an attorney and civil engineer from Madison who previously chaired Maine's Board of Environmental Protection, and whose wife chairs the Land Use Regulation Commission, or LURC.

Hilton says he's worried Maine's quality of place may be threatened as the new administration and Legislature look to relax environmental permitting and reuglations and do away with agencies such as LURC, which governs zoning and planning in Maine's North Woods.

"I'm concerned when I see, as I did yesterday, a list of some of the statutes which are pending before the Legislature dealing with shoreland zoning and with LURC, and it strikes me as being a race to the bottom approach to our environment," Hilton said.

Hilton says it's not environmental rules or regulations that are the biggest impediments to job creation in Maine but rather the high cost of health care. He points out that over the last eight years more than 10,000 permits by rule were issued for small projects, and $5 billion dollars worth of major projects permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection alone.

 
 

Court tells EPA to move forward with rules to cut climate changing pollution

Here is some much needed good news this month related to global warming. Earlier this month, a U.S. Court of Appeals agreed that new Clean Air Act regulations on climate changing pollution from cars, trucks, power plants and factories can go forward as planned in January of 2011. Many industry groups, including the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, and others representing utilities, refiners, biomass fuel companies, and manufacturers, have filed a lawsuit to block these rules. Their initial effort was to attempt to “stay” (temporarily halt) the rules pending the outcome the full lawsuit.

But we beat them in this first round. While the full lawsuits will continue to play out, this ruling lets EPA do its job under the Clean Air Act to move forward to limit climate changing pollution that threatens our families, economy and environment. The ruling tells polluters who want to stall progress towards getting real climate change pollution reductions that EPA’s authority is real and that EPA is moving forward. NRCM (along with other groups) is represented in this case by Clean Air Task Force senior attorney, Ann Weeks. Many state agencies and other environmental groups have also joined in the defense of these rules.

The quick background: Because EPA found in 2009 that global warming pollutants endanger public health and welfare, EPA set emissions limits and fuel economy standards for new cars and trucks, to into effect on January 2, 2011. EPA also established rules to require permits for climate changing pollution from large power plants and factories – including those that burn biomass as fuel, to take effect at the same time. 

The big picture: Despite the best efforts of the oil and gas lobbies, which continue to pour money into fighting progress on clean energy and clean air, the Court’s decision means the implementation of these rules will not be delayed. Opponents continue to exaggerate the cost of cleaner, safer technologies (something that car makers and polluters are very good at), while ignoring the huge benefits to the air we breathe. But their stories of woe just didn’t stand up in court.

-Dylan Voorhees, NRCM Clean Energy Project Director

Governor-elect Excludes Enviros from Recent Forum

Did you see this front-page story on 12/1/10’s Portland Press Herald and other newspapers?

“Business Leaders Target Red Tape: Advocates for the environment, consumers, public health take no part in meeting”

http://www.kjonline.com/news/businessleaderstargetred-tape_2010-11-30.html

The piece describes how Gov.-elect Paul LePage is asking businesses and industry groups to help him reduce the regulations they believe hinder economic development. Twenty-eight representatives of these groups met with LePage and listed regulations they described as burdensome—issues related to the environment, civil rights, public health, child labor laws and tax policy. Unfortunately, environmental groups, public health advocates, and consumer advocates were not invited to the forum. NRCM Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim was interviewed for the story. "There are many voices that need to be he heard," said Didisheim. "This is not a balanced and fair approach to the policy process."

It does, however, provide insight into the direction the LePage Administration is likely headed regarded his view of protections put in place to protect Maine families and the state’s natural resource-based economy. You can read the full article here.

To stay informed about issues like these that put Maine’s environment at risk, and to hear about ways you can help make a difference, join NRCM’s Action Network.

"Choosing Maine's Next Governor" - watch gubernatorial candidate forum video

On Thursday October 21st, more than 300 citizens flocked to the University of Southern Maine's Portland campus to hear four of Maine’s gubernatorial candidates discuss how they would approach issues like clean air and water, climate change and energy, land conservation and wildlife, and a sustainable economy. The forum was moderated by Susan Sharon of MPBN, hosted by NRCM and more than 20 other groups, and online at, media.usm.maine.edu/~itms/video/Panel/Panel.html.
 

A Clear Case for Climate Legislation

We are at a critical juncture when we need bold, bipartisan support to help ensure passage of a comprehensive climate and energy bill this year.

This article in Grist by Dave Roberts makes the case clearly. It should give our bloggers the incentive to turn on the political heat that Roberts calls for. Pick up the phone and call Senator Snowe and Senator Collins (in-district office numbers) this week to ask them to be our climate champions and work towards a bill that will pass the Senate. They could make the difference for the planet. The time for hand-wringing is over. We need this sea change towards a clean energy future for Maine's economy and environment and for our children's future. 

Read here:
http://www.grist.org/article/2010-05-17-leaning-forward-why-the-american-power-act-is-worth-fighting-for/PALL/print.

Lisa Pohlmann, NRCM Deputy Director