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.
Ocean Scientists Report “Unprecedented” Spike in Sea Level Off Portland Several Years Ago
Casco Bay waters rose by 5 inches during a peak period in 2009-10, and more extreme fluctuations are likely, increasing the threat of coastal flooding. By Eric Russell, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story Sea levels off Portland rose by 5 inches during 2009 and 2010 as part of what researchers called an “unprecedented” Read More
LePage Joins Governor Coalition That’s Working to Expand Offshore Drilling
The group’s first member from the Northeast says the state could benefit from more natural gas exploration, and some ask: Is he eyeing the Gulf of Maine? By Steve Mistler. Portland Press Herald Portland Press Herald news story AUGUSTA — Gov. Paul LePage has joined a coalition of governors supporting offshore drilling and exploration for Read More
Senator King at Mt. Abram Ski Area to Promote Clean Energy Solutions to Climate Change
Ski Area Showcases Investments in Solar, Biomass, Efficiency to Lower Costs and Emissions News release Greenwood, ME – Today U.S. Senator Angus King toured clean energy projects, including an 803-panel solar installation, wood pellet-fired heating system, and an electric car charging station, at the Mt. Abram ski area. King said clean energy solutions Read More
North American Sightings of Elusive Snowy Owls Take Flight
By Barbara Goldberg, Reuters Bangor Daily News news story NEW YORK — The elusive snowy owl, rarely seen outside the Arctic, is turning up more frequently in the skies of North America than it does in the pages of a Harry Potter book, data from the National Audubon Society suggested on Wednesday. Sightings of the Read More
A Different View of the Dip & Dash
I have been one of the people who has attended each of NRCM’s seven polar plunges on East End Beach in Portland. I was there when about a dozen people raced into the icy cold Atlantic to kick off NRCM’s 50th anniversary year in 2009, and I was there for this past event when more Read More
Energy Efficiency Saves Jackson Laboratory More than 1 Million KwH, Thanks to Funds from Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
NRCM news release For more information, see: www.nrcm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/JacksonLab9.pdf While businesses across Maine are scrambling to deal with the electric price increases that are slated to hit customers this winter, Jackson Lab has already taken steps to help ease its exposure, through wise energy-efficient investments over the last few years. “With help from Efficiency Maine and Read More
U.S. Solar Installations Surge in 2014: Maine Losing Out
“There is no question that Maine businesses and people want to go solar,” said Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
Using Less is Maine’s Only Option to Dull Winter Electricity Price Spike
Bangor Daily News editorial Maine utility regulators have been warning of a big increase in electricity prices this winter. The problem is that the northeast is heavily reliant on natural gas for electric power generation. With limited pipeline capacity, the region’s growing demand for gas can’t be met. Natural gas is the largest source of Read More
Historic Eight Million Comments Delivered in Support of EPA Clean Power Plan, Including Thousands from Maine
Milestone Reached as the Public Comment Period Closed at Midnight, Highlighting 2+-Year Effort to Give a Voice to Maine Citizens Who Want Clean Energy and Action on Climate Change News Release Augusta, ME—As the public comment period on the Clean Power Plan came to a close at midnight on Monday, Maine groups supporting climate action Read More