PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 4, 2021
Maine’s solar development “land rush” presents a host of benefits – lower electricity rates, gainful employment and reduced carbon emissions – but also an inherent conflict: Renewable-energy development takes up a lot of valuable space that is also needed to meet other climate goals such as growing food, providing connected wildlife habitat and conserving carbon-absorbing forests and farmland. The Maine Legislature can help strike a balance by crafting a clean-energy procurement that incentivizes projects with minimal impacts. Maine law doesn’t guide the location of projects to minimize impacts on land that provides other important agricultural, habitat or climate benefits. Conservation partners are developing a policy to avoid unduly burdening developers while keeping energy prices low. ~ Ellen Griswold, Maine Farmland Trust, and Eliza Donoghue, Maine Audubon