Clean air is essential for healthy, happy lives. Clean, renewable energy helps ensure clean air. NRCM works for policies and initiatives that will improve Maine's air quality and reduce global warming pollution throughout the state and region.
NRCM’s climate and clean energy work is focused on where we can have the greatest impact: cleaner cars and trucks, clean and renewable energy production, and greater energy efficiency.
Our work in these key areas is critical to reducing health and environmental problems already plaguing our state. These include high asthma rates, more “bad air days,” rising sea levels due to climate change that threaten coastal communities, and threats to our fall foliage, skiing, and our vital tourism-based industry.
NRCM makes certain that Maine's elected officials and decision-makers are kept up to date about information related to climate change pollution, clean energy technologies, and steps Maine can take to ensure clean air.
LED Light Conversion Could Save Caribou Nearly $100,000 Annually
by Christopher Bouchard, Aroostook Republican & News Bangor Daily News story CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou City Manager Dennis Marker updated councilors on Feb. 11 about the results of an Investment Grade Audit report concerning the potential conversion of Caribou street lights to more efficient and less expensive LED. Marker said the IGA report indicates that Read More
Settlement Conference Scheduled for CMP’s $950M Transmission Project
by Staff Mainebiz news story The Maine Public Utilities Commission has scheduled a “settlement conference” for Tuesday on Central Maine Power Co.’s $950 million transmission line project through western Maine to deliver hydro-power from Canada to electricity customers in Massachusetts. The three-member PUC filed a procedural order on Friday to schedule a settlement conference for Read More
Ending Gross Metering a Good First Step for Solar Development
Bangor Daily News editorial It would be a gross understatement to say that Maine’s relatively new rules for solar power generation and billing have not been well received, particularly by the solar industry, environmental groups and the Maine people turning to this source of renewable energy. For years, Maine homeowners and others have received credits Read More
Portland Students are Rising Up on Behalf of Solar Energy
Kids understand the urgency of taking action, and they are ready to be heard by adults. by Siri Pierce of Portland, a Casco Bay High School junior and an organizer of SolaRISE Portland, a collaboration among student leaders, residents and educators to promote environmental stewardship. Portland Press Herald op-ed Kids are used to adults not Read More
Solar Supporters Urge Maine Lawmakers to Restore Financial Incentives
Hoping to capitalize on a shift in the political climate, installers and other advocates for solar energy want homeowners to again receive credit for feeding electricity back into the grid. by Kevin Miller, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — Solar power advocates urged Maine lawmakers on Tuesday to revive financial incentives for Read More
Blaine House to Show that Solar is a Good Deal
Mainers will get to see how they could benefit as the price for solar panels drops. Portland Press Herald editorial The Blaine House is not just the building where the governor lives. It’s also a place where the chief executive can make a point. So when then-Gov. Paul LePage wanted to promote the use of Read More
Support of LD 91, An Act to Repeal Gross Metering
Senator Mark Lawrence, Chair Representative Seth Berry, Chair Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities & Technology My name is Dylan Voorhees and I am the Clean Energy Director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM). Thank you for allowing us to present this testimony. NRCM supports the repeal of gross metering, which is punitive, Read More
As Maine Debates 145-mile Electric Line, Energy Giant with Billions at Stake is Absent
By Josh Keefe, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story As Maine regulators are deciding whether to approve the construction of a $1 billion transmission line across much of western Maine, the Canadian hydroelectric utility poised to make billions of dollars from the project has been absent from the process. This has left both opponents Read More
Climate Change Calls for Immediate Action on the Part of Maine Officials
Eight years of denial have only made it harder to prevent catastrophic loss. Portland Press Herald editorial Back in 2010, the state Department of Environmental Protection completed a report on the kind of risks Maine faced as a result of climate change. Although it contained 60 recommendations, it was not a climate response plan. It Read More
