By Christopher Cousins, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story AUGUSTA, Maine — Republican leaders said Monday that the case of the $36 million-a-year typo isn’t as simple as it seems, because current legislators might not agree with their predecessors who passed the original bill in 2013. “It isn’t as simple as just grabbing a Read More
Climate Change
Climate change and global warming pollution harm Maine people, wildlife, and our environment. Global warming, also known as climate change, is caused by a blanket of pollution that traps heat around the earth. This pollution comes from cars, factories, homes, and power plants that burn fossil fuels such as oil, coal, natural gas, and gasoline.
Climate-changing pollution knows no boundaries. It enters the atmosphere, spreads across the globe, and traps heat around the earth for 50-200 years after it is emitted. That is why we need to reduce global warming pollution now, because our children, and their children, will still feel the effects of global warming for years to come. Currently, the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are at their highest levels in hundreds of thousands of years.
Learn how you can reduce climate-changing pollution and advocate for a cleaner, healthier Maine.
Warming Climate Spells Disaster for Gulf of Maine Fisheries, Unless We Act
By Edward Reiner, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed For 13 years I was a lobsterman from Cliff Island. Lobstermen are close observers of the natural world. When you climb into your boat each morning you are a witness to wildness and beauty. But that is half the story. We have worry and Read More
Business Owners Push to Restore Efficiency Maine Funding
WCSH-6 TV news story AUGUSTA, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Business owners and energy experts gathered in Augusta Monday in the hopes of getting lawmakers to fix the omission of one little word that could reduce state funding to Efficiency Maine by $38 million. The bill, passed in 2013, was intended to provide money to Efficiency Read More
Mistake in Law Could Cost Mainers Millions
By Nakell Williams WABI-TV news story A typo left the word “and” out of a piece of legislation and that mistake could end up costing Mainers millions in higher energy bills. “It’s completely an accidental typographical error, but it’s now the law and so the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) made this decision based on their Read More
Mistake in Efficiency Law Will Cost Mainers $250 Million in Higher Energy Bills if Not Corrected Swiftly
Hundreds of Energy Jobs Also at Risk NRCM news release Augusta, ME —Businesses and energy experts gathered today to inform Mainers that a one-word typographical error in the omnibus energy law passed in 2013 will cost Maine energy consumers $250 million if not corrected by the Legislature or the Public Utilities Commission (PUC). The missing Read More
Women Promoting Conservation are Well-represented in Maine
From Margaret Chase Smith to Rachel Carson, Maine women have made many significant marks. by Joan Benoit Samuelson and Lisa Pohlmann Portland Press Herald op-ed March is Women’s History Month, a national celebration of the generations of women whose invaluable commitments and leadership have helped to make the world a better place. We’d like to Read More
NRCM Testimony In Opposition to An Act to Reduce Carbon Emissions from Residential Heating (LD 595)
Senator Saviello, Representative Welsh, and distinguished members of the Joint Standing Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. My name is Pete Didisheim and I am the Advocacy Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. I appreciate this opportunity to testify in opposition to LD 595 NRCM opposes this legislation because Maine already has a Read More
Lamey-Wellehan President Jim Wellehan Creates a Legacy of Advocacy and Fairness
by Dylan Martin MaineBiz news story Ask Jim Wellehan what it means to be a business leader, and for his initial response, you likely won’t hear him mention Lamey-Wellehan, his 100-year-old, Auburn-based family retail shoe business. Instead, he’ll bring up a word that means a great deal to him: community. “I love my community. I Read More
Lawmakers Should Fix the Missing ‘And’ So Energy Efficiency Work is Not Cut Back
By The BDN Editorial Board Bangor Daily News editorial At $12 million per letter, a missing “and” in a state law has proven an expensive error now that the state Public Utilities Commission used inadvertently flawed statutory language to cut funding for Maine’s energy efficiency work by $36 million. The PUC earlier this week took Read More