PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 31, 2026
Maine lawmakers Tuesday took a possible step toward establishing a program to recoup money from large, corporate polluters to pay for the impacts of climate change. The House passed a bill that would study how much greenhouse gas emissions have cost the state in a 75-72 vote that fell largely along party lines. The Senate passed the bill 19-13 earlier in the week with Democrats in support and Republicans opposed. The bill, LD 1870 started out as a proposal for a so-called “climate superfund” that would collect fees from groups that extract fossil fuels and refine crude oil and whose activities are found to contribute to certain levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The money would be used to fund climate change adaptation projects. It was revised to a proposal for a study of the cost to the state of greenhouse gas emissions from 1995 to 2024.