As I sit on an outcrop watching the moon rise above the Alaskan skyline and mighty Taku Glacier, I can’t help but wonder how many years into the future this great ice mass will remain. Recent research suggests up to 60% of Taku will be gone in the next century if our climate continues on its current warming trajectory. These are humbling 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.
Maine’s Utility Regulators Have a New Mandate to Act on Climate Change
Against the backdrop of a highly productive legislative session for Maine’s environment earlier this year, one new law could prove to be extremely important to Maine’s efforts to address climate change. The bill, LD 1682, expands the responsibility of the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to include reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Governor’s Energy Office and Read More
How Congress Can Support Maine’s Climate Action Plan
Maine’s Congressional delegation has before them the chance to build and pass the most important piece of climate legislation ever seen in the United States. This opportunity comes at a time when the latest report from the world’s leading climate scientists signaled a “Code Red for Humanity” – time is running out and immediate, bold Read More
Top 10 Climate and Clean Energy Accomplishments from Maine’s 2021 Legislative Session
Maine’s Climate Action Plan is appropriately titled Maine Won’t Wait. With record-breaking temperatures and wildfires in the western U.S., deadly floods in Germany, and a heatwave sweeping across Siberia, it is abundantly clear that the planet can’t wait any longer for the necessary widespread, global, and transformative actions required to address the mounting impacts of Read More
74 Maine Groups Call for Broad Federal Infrastructure Investment
News release A broad federal infrastructure investment is needed to give Maine the chance to recover from the pandemic stronger and tackle climate change while providing dividends for decades to come, according to an open letter signed by 74 organizations across Maine. The diverse range of groups, which represent small businesses, regional chambers of commerce, Read More
Support of LD 1708, An Act to Create the Pine Tree Power Company, a Nonprofit Utility, to Deliver Lower Rates, Reliability and Local Control for Maine Energy Independence
Addressing Climate Change Senator Lawrence, Representative Berry, and distinguished members of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee. My name is David Costello. I am the Climate and Clean Energy Program Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), and I am testifying today in support of LD 1708, An Act to Create the Pine Read More
Support of LD 1682, An Act to Require Consideration of Climate and Equity Impacts by the Public Utilities Commission
Senator Lawrence, Representative Berry, and distinguished members of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee. My name is David Costello. I am the Climate and Clean Energy Program Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), and I am testifying today in support of LD 1682, An Act to Require Consideration of Climate and Equity Read More
The Power of Green Banking
Like many of you, on January 20, 2021, I took a very long exhale as I watched President Biden and VP Kamala Harris being sworn into office. I think the weight of four years of stress came out in that long exhale, and I felt a resurgence of hope seeing the flurry of executive orders Read More
Support of LD 1634, An Act To Create the Maine Generation Authority
Good afternoon Senator Lawrence, Representative Berry, and distinguished members of the Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Technology. My name is Sue Ely, and I work for the Natural Resources Council of Maine. I am pleased to testify today in support of LD 1634, An Act To Create the Maine Generation Authority. Maine faces a monumental Read More
