November 25, 2024 (Augusta, ME) — Maine’s leading environmental advocacy organization today urged Senators Susan Collins and Angus King to insist that the full, deliberative “advice and consent” process be pursued in the U.S. Senate for nominees to federal agencies that play a critical role in helping protect Maine’s environment.
The Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) said that the U.S. Senate must conduct full, transparent public hearings at which lawmakers can scrutinize the concerning public statements and direct links with polluting industries that have been clearly documented for several of the candidates who have been nominated for top positions dealing with clean air and water, energy, public land management, endangered species, and public health.
Below is a statement from NRCM Federal Policy Advocate Anya Fetcher:
“For the health of Maine’s economy, people, and natural resources, we can’t afford to put our nation’s environmental and energy agencies in the hands of people who prioritize polluting industries over public health, clean air and water, and responsible action on climate.
At a time when Maine is becoming less dependent on costly oil and gas, nominees who are tightly connected to the fossil fuel industry would send our state backwards. We can’t afford to abandon the new sources of home-grown clean energy that will help to stabilize electricity costs and reduce our dependence on volatile natural gas prices.
Our nation’s bedrock environmental laws protect the air we breathe and the water we drink. Mainers deserve agency leaders willing to stand up for these essential health protections. Our leaders need to do what’s necessary to address the growing threat that climate change poses to our communities, to our local businesses, and to future generations.
Any effort to bypass the normal order of confirmation hearings would be a violation of one of the U.S. Senate’s most important roles as defined in the U.S. Constitution and should be rejected. These decisions are simply too important to be simply rubber-stamped.”
The incoming administration has identified a slate of nominees for federal environmental and energy agencies that have made concerning statements that ignore the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, and/or who have direct connections with fossil fuel companies that want to make Maine more dependent on oil and gas energy sources, which cause air pollution, volatile energy prices, and climate change. They include:
- Fossil fuel company executive Chris Wright for Secretary of the Department of Energy. Wright has denied that climate change exists, and is responsible for expanding fracking of natural gas, a volatile and expensive energy source that is primarily responsible for rising electricity costs in the Northeast. In a video he posted last year, Wright said the idea of carbon pollution is “outrageous.” He also said, There is no such thing as clean energy or dirty energy,” and “there is no climate crisis.”
- Lee Zeldin for Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. The former Congressman has few qualifications and little background in energy or environment. He voted against clean water legislation at least a dozen times and clean air legislation at least half a dozen times, according to the League of Conservation Voters.
- Doug Burgum for Secretary of the Department of Interior. Governor Burgum has close relationships with fossil fuel companies and lobbyists and supports opening up more fossil fuel drilling on the nation’s public lands, despite expanded fossil fuel production being inconsistent with maintaining a safe climate for future generations.
