PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 20, 2024
Gov. Janet Mills is creating a commission to help Maine rebuild from a string of winter storms that caused an estimated $90 million in damage and to develop a long-term infrastructure resilience plan to prepare for more climate-driven disasters in the future. “The time is now for immediate steps to strengthen (our) ability to better withstand the impacts of a changing climate,” Mills said. Eleven disasters have been declared since Mills took office in January 2019. Eight of those have been declared in the last two years, an unprecedented number in Maine history. According to a 2021 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the increase in greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane in our atmosphere caused by the burning of fossil fuels has increased the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events.