Opinion: You want climate action in Maine? Be my guest.

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 29, 2024

Why hasn’t Maine done more to combat climate change? We’ve done a lot of grandstanding and goalsetting, but when push comes to shove, Maine and other states in the region seem reluctant to go all-in on any of these grandiose climate schemes. It’s easy to create climate councils and working groups and subcommittees with a gazillion members to dream up new ways to fight climate change. It’s a lot harder to put any of these schemes into action, however, because a majority of Mainers don’t support them. Our recent analysis estimates Maine’s share to fully decarbonize the ISO-NE grid by 2050 with enough renewable energy to ensure the lights always come on would cost $70 billion. That amounts to the average residential ratepayer paying an additional $99 per year for electricity through 2050, and even greater increases for commercial and industrial ratepayers. Most people can’t afford that. ~ Jacob Posik, Maine Policy Institute