Background

Here in Maine, too much of our electricity comes from dirty, unstable sources and too little comes from Maine's wind, sun and clean biomass. That means we're emitting more than our share of pollution into the environment—leading to more asthma attacks and premature deaths and putting Maine's natural heritage at risk from haze, acid rain and global warming.

There are also concerns over the limited supply of natural gas, which fuels almost half of Maine's electricity generation. Natural gas prices also have people concerned. Because of increasing prices of natural gas, electricity costs rose about 15 percent last spring, and are expected to rise another 20 percent this spring. Gov. Baldacci, and the senate chair, house chair and the ranking minority member of the Utilities and Energy Committee all support increasing new clean renewable energy in the state by 10 percent by 2017.

Promoting these cleaner energy sources will preserve Maine's natural heritage and quality of life. We can cut pollution by using more wind, solar and clean biomass energy. Environment Maine is advocating energy policies that rely on efficiency and clean renewable energy as a means to protect our environment, safeguard our health and strengthen our economy.

Clean Energy Platform

Fifteen percent clean energy by 2015
Although federal energy policy is increasing our reliance on dirty, out-of-state energy, we can make better energy choices in Augusta right now. A standard that increases our state’s new clean energy production to 15 percent by 2015 would protect our environment by cutting smog and soot by over 12,000 tons, and bolster our economy by promoting local jobs and industry. Establishing a clean energy fund would also help support these new renewable energy projects.

Reducing Maine’s reliance on polluting energy
Three-quarters of our energy comes from dirty energy sources, including fossil fuels and nuclear power—a quarter of it from out of state. The resulting pollution and waste causes acid rain, haze, global warming, asthma attacks, respiratory disease and cancer.

Gaining momentum in the Legislature
We’ve got enough wind, sun and clean biomass fuel here to meet all of Maine’s needs, yet we use almost none of it. Many legislators agree that now is Maine’s chance to use our clean energy potential and become self-sufficient, while dirty energy industries work to maintain the status quo.