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.

Landfill Solar Panels to Cover 95 Percent of Maine Town’s Electricity Needs
By Ralph Morang, Portsmouth Herald Bangor Daily News news story ELIOT, Maine — Dark skies and cold rain Monday morning did not hinder the progress of work on Eliot’s newest solar array. Trucks poured concrete into ballasts that will support 384 345-watt photovoltaic solar panels in three ranks at the town’s former landfill next to Read More

PUC Delays CMP Power Line Hearings, Per Request by NRCM, Others
CMP’s 11th Hour Filings Raise Serious Questions Statement of Sue Ely, Clean Energy Attorney, Natural Resources Council of Maine “The PUC’s decision to delay hearings on CMP’s proposed transmission line is a welcome acknowledgement that this process has been moving too fast for a thorough analysis of this massive, incredibly complex and flawed project. After months of Read More

Some Maine Outdoorsmen are Worried about the Potential Impact of the CMP Transmission Line
By Fred Bever Maine Public news story Listen to full news story. Some snowmobilers and hunters in Maine are raising their voices against the high-voltage transmission line that Central Maine Power wants to string through western Maine in order to bring electricity to Massachusetts. The Maine Snowmobilers Association (MSA) is contending with dissent in its Read More

New England Power Line Opposition Brings Together Unusual Alliance
Environmental groups and gas generators both oppose the power line project, which would carry Canadian hydropower to Massachusetts. by Bill Opalka Energy News Network news story The proposed New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line is creating an unusual alliance of opponents in Maine that range from environmental groups to fossil fuel power generators. Groups Read More

CMP Plans to Bury Proposed Transmission Line Under Kennebec Gorge
In a concession to opponents, the power company says it would drill under the scenic canyon instead of stringing power lines overhead if it wins approval for the 145-mile transmission line project. by Peter McGuire, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story Central Maine Power wants to bury the portion of its planned electrical transmission Read More

Mainers Overwhelmingly Oppose CMP Transmission Line
CMP’s desperate gambit doesn’t change that Statement of Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine “In a desperate gambit to try to salvage its controversial power line proposal, Central Maine Power (CMP) today acknowledged that its proposed 145-mile transmission line across Maine would cause significant harm to the Kennebec Gorge. But this small Read More

Scores Speak Out to Regulators about Impact of CMP’s Transmission Line Proposal
More than 70 signed up to speak at the hearing and most who testified in in the first three hours voiced concerns about the impact the project would have on the environment and tourism. by Rachel Ohm, Morning Sentinel Portland Press Herald news story HALLOWELL — The Maine Public Utilities Commission heard hours of testimony Read More

New Study Shows CMP Transmission Project Would Not Reduce Climate-changing Carbon Pollution
Reveals Hydro-Quebec’s financial incentive to “green-wash” power News Release Natural Resources Council of Maine, Sierra Club, and Maine Renewable Energy Association (Augusta, ME) A new analysis released today by environmental and renewable energy organizations concludes that the transmission line through western Maine (NECEC) proposed by Central Maine Power (CMP) and Hydro-Quebec would not reduce carbon Read More

Report Challenges Environmental Benefits of CMP Project
The report says hydropower from Quebec would merely be redirected to a new U.S. market and will not affect emission reductions regionally, a claim Hydro-Quebec refutes. by Tux Turkel, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story Hours before a much-anticipated public hearing on the merits of a new transmission line through western Maine, an analysis Read More