1 00:00:13,260 --> 00:00:14,680 Yeah, there she is. 2 00:00:23,210 --> 00:00:29,490 Okay, she's seen. Okay. She should be coming in soon. She's in the waiting 3 00:00:29,490 --> 00:00:30,370 room. She was, 4 00:00:33,130 --> 00:00:39,490 Ben had said he sent her a participant link. So there's something that screwed up that 5 00:00:39,490 --> 00:00:48,790 has to be worked out because she never is able to come in as a member like while we're in the 6 00:00:48,790 --> 00:00:57,570 but Robin you are we cannot hear you no okay me well we see you but okay now now 7 00:00:57,570 --> 00:01:03,890 you're you're in full length okay well the unmute the video the video so I did 8 00:01:03,890 --> 00:01:16,600 that first okay okay so we're all here so I guess we can start the meeting so 9 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:27,820 So it's called to order sustainability committee meeting of March 26, 2026 is starting now. 10 00:01:28,980 --> 00:01:30,320 Welcome everybody. 11 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:33,780 We have a roll call. 12 00:01:34,740 --> 00:01:36,440 David and I'll speak by chair. 13 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:40,360 I'm sorry. 14 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:41,560 I'm sorry. 15 00:01:41,920 --> 00:01:42,700 No, it's all right. 16 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:43,140 Go ahead. 17 00:01:43,140 --> 00:01:44,960 over each secretary 18 00:01:47,200 --> 00:01:56,520 Robin the award committee member and my gk's chair so I'm I'm not sure 19 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:07,360 did Robin did you do the minutes of the last meeting no I didn't the one before I got them 20 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:16,560 they're in February 26th, right? Yeah. Okay. I show around everybody, I don't know what 21 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:27,060 happened. Okay. Well, we can review them later then. We'll skip that. So today we 22 00:02:27,060 --> 00:02:36,600 have a guest speaker, Josh Caldwell, from the, well, I'll let him introduce himself 23 00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:45,040 and what he's going to discuss. He's with the Natural Resource Council of Maine and 24 00:02:45,040 --> 00:02:53,760 he will he's going to discuss the their environmental policy priorities. So I'm 25 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:58,480 going to turn the meeting over to him right now and then we can follow up 26 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,320 afterwards with some questions and then any other business we have. So 27 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:04,540 Welcome, Josh. 28 00:03:05,380 --> 00:03:07,760 Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. 29 00:03:08,900 --> 00:03:13,060 It's great to be here. We're entering the last three weeks of the state legislative session. 30 00:03:13,380 --> 00:03:16,800 So all of our priority issues are kind of coming to a head right now. 31 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:19,580 So this is an exciting time to be talking to you all. 32 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:25,360 But my name is Josh. I work on the climate and clean energy team at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. 33 00:03:25,360 --> 00:03:30,280 So what I'll be talking about today is primarily focused on our climate and clean energy concerns, 34 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:34,840 but I will note that the Natural Resources Council of Maine also has a couple other departments 35 00:03:34,840 --> 00:03:39,100 that I'll be touching on some of their priorities, and that's our woods, waters, and wildlife focus, 36 00:03:39,600 --> 00:03:44,440 and our sustainability program. And for us, our sustainability program is more focused on 37 00:03:45,200 --> 00:03:51,720 recycling and waste issues and physical sustainability. So I do have a presentation 38 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:57,920 That goes with some of my remarks. I'll share my screen now and see if that works out, but I think as a panelist it should. 39 00:04:00,540 --> 00:04:05,660 All right. How does that look? Are you seeing a screen? 40 00:04:06,340 --> 00:04:09,100 Yes, we see a crowd. 41 00:04:10,340 --> 00:04:12,260 I love when technology works. 42 00:04:14,460 --> 00:04:18,820 So feel free to ask questions throughout. I'll also just pause at the end for some questions, 43 00:04:18,860 --> 00:04:22,720 but it won't be a very long presentation, and I'll just go through some of our top issues 44 00:04:22,720 --> 00:04:28,380 and then we can have a little chat about it. But I wanted to highlight this. This happened 45 00:04:28,380 --> 00:04:32,300 last year. This was our Power Main Forward Day of Action, and we had over 100 folks 46 00:04:32,300 --> 00:04:39,240 come to the State House in Augusta and advocate at that time for LD1868, which is to establish 47 00:04:39,240 --> 00:04:45,040 at 100% clean electricity goal by 2040. And we did successfully pass that last year thanks in 48 00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:50,300 large part to this great lobbying effort. So this is just an example of the way that NRCM looks to 49 00:04:50,300 --> 00:04:57,520 congregate people in the halls of power to make good progress on our work. And for those of you 50 00:04:57,520 --> 00:05:00,780 who might not be as familiar with the Natural Resources Council at Maine, we've been around 51 00:05:00,780 --> 00:05:06,620 since 1959. We started by protecting the Allagash River wilderness up in Northern Maine, 52 00:05:06,620 --> 00:05:11,220 and we're proud of that accomplishment. It's still one of the most forested and protected rivers 53 00:05:11,220 --> 00:05:15,900 in the whole country. But we've since expanded, as I mentioned, to having three department 54 00:05:15,900 --> 00:05:21,660 focuses, and we also have a federal advocate who focuses on the federal policy landscape, 55 00:05:21,820 --> 00:05:25,360 and she is very busy right now, as you might imagine. 56 00:05:27,560 --> 00:05:29,960 These are our issues. Our Forest 57 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:35,600 and Wildlife and Healthy Waters program have been combined so that we can have a strong 58 00:05:35,600 --> 00:05:44,940 I work on our climate and clean energy team, and Vanessa is the head of our sustainability program, and I'm sure she'd be excited to come and talk to you at some point as well. 59 00:05:46,300 --> 00:05:51,200 We are currently in the second session of the 132nd Legislature in Maine. 60 00:05:52,640 --> 00:05:55,140 This means every legislature is two years. 61 00:05:56,020 --> 00:06:01,200 The first is right after the legislators are elected and runs from January to June. 62 00:06:02,280 --> 00:06:05,400 This is when all the new ideas come forward. 63 00:06:05,640 --> 00:06:10,020 We get a sense of what pieces of legislation are in play. 64 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:16,300 And it's incredibly hectic and people are really advocating for their priorities to go first and get passed. 65 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:21,120 The second session, the second year, runs from January to April. 66 00:06:21,540 --> 00:06:29,120 And to be frank, most legislators are excited to leave and get back on the campaign trail or, you know, go back and have a summer. 67 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:35,860 So a lot of the second session is focused on cleaning up what wasn't accomplished in the first year. 68 00:06:38,060 --> 00:06:43,020 And finalizing appropriations, getting money out to the bills that need money. 69 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:51,800 So a lot of it is really getting down into the weeds of the particulars for some of the stickiest bills that were not decided on in the first session. 70 00:06:52,320 --> 00:06:57,660 And the other context that I think is important for this year is that it is a gubernatorial election year. 71 00:06:57,660 --> 00:07:12,840 And so this is Janet Mills' last year as governor, and so there's currently a three-way trifecta democratic leadership in the governor's office in the Senate and in the House. 72 00:07:13,340 --> 00:07:16,740 And so we're looking to try to accomplish as much as possible with that context. 73 00:07:17,500 --> 00:07:24,160 NRCM is a nonpartisan organization, but we recognize that this is a moment to take environmental action. 74 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:41,160 These are our staff experts. These are the folks that if you were to come up to the state house, you might see in the halls. Pete is our legislative director, our advocacy director and he's been doing this work for 30 years to celebrate his 30 year anniversary with NRCM. 75 00:07:42,340 --> 00:07:48,480 And some of the other folks are newer to the team, but I share our climate and clean energy team with Jack and Rebecca. 76 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:58,460 I want to start just by mentioning that we had two major successes in the climbing energy world last year, LD 1270 and LD 1868. 77 00:08:00,020 --> 00:08:09,000 1270 established a new department in Maine, the Department of Energy Resources. So that is a new department similar to the Department of Environmental Protection or the Department of Transportation. 78 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:21,200 It focuses exclusively on our energy resources and where Maine is sourcing our energy from and seeking explicitly to make those energy sources cleaner and more affordable. 79 00:08:22,180 --> 00:08:38,180 The other thing that we passed kind of in conjunction was LD 1868. And this was that bill that I mentioned that set a goal for 100% clean electricity by 2040, so that the electricity produced in Maine is all from clean resources by 2040. 80 00:08:39,040 --> 00:08:49,020 We initially had a goal for 2050 in our climate action plan and we were making such significant progress that that was actually moved up to 2040 and the legislature agreed that that was a good idea. 81 00:08:49,500 --> 00:08:53,900 So both of those are really great successes from this legislative session that occurred in 2025. 82 00:08:54,940 --> 00:09:01,340 We're following that up by by trying to pass several other pieces of legislation that the climate Superfund bill is maybe the one that I'm most excited about. 83 00:09:02,100 --> 00:09:06,160 The concept here is a polluters pay principle. If you make a mess you clean it up. 84 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:15,320 We saw this with Big Tobacco when Big Tobacco came to a settlement that is still providing Maine with about $50 million a year due to public health impacts of tobacco. 85 00:09:15,740 --> 00:09:24,980 We saw this with the Opioid Settlement where pharmaceutical companies have been made to pay out for causing public health damages in states like Maine and New Hampshire and other places. 86 00:09:25,700 --> 00:09:30,260 In this case, Maine experiences significant damage from climate change. 87 00:09:30,800 --> 00:09:36,840 I know in a gunk quit, I'm sure you're very familiar with that, particularly the storms of 2023 and 2024. 88 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:44,120 In the past few years alone, Maine has experienced over $100 million of damage to just our public infrastructure. 89 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:57,780 And that's not even counting our private infrastructure and residences that have had been damaged and needed to be repaired by severe weather, flooding, sea level rise, shorter winters, longer mud seasons, you name it. 90 00:09:59,100 --> 00:10:05,540 So the Climate Superfund Bill is one that we're working on really focusing on, really hard right now. 91 00:10:06,880 --> 00:10:10,380 We've taken an approach where we split this into two focus areas. 92 00:10:10,900 --> 00:10:16,340 The first is to assess the climate damages that have occurred in Maine. 93 00:10:16,860 --> 00:10:25,500 So we need to do an assessment for the entire state of Maine to understand how climate change is impacting Maine above baseline. 94 00:10:25,500 --> 00:10:38,620 Once we have that assessment complete and a number associated with climate change has caused X millions of dollars of damage, we can then associate that cost with the responsible parties. 95 00:10:39,240 --> 00:10:50,440 And we know that the responsible parties are these major polluters, you know, fossil fuel companies, global fossil fuel companies that extract, refine and sell fossil fuel products at a profit. 96 00:10:51,500 --> 00:11:01,560 There are about 100 of those companies globally that have emitted over 100 million metric tons of CO2 since 1994. 97 00:11:02,340 --> 00:11:18,220 And those are the companies that we believe are most responsible for causing climate change and the companies that would then be asked to pay fees to Maine so that communities in Maine can build back from these storms without resting solely on the shoulders of taxpayers. 98 00:11:18,820 --> 00:11:26,100 So we're excited about this bill. It has not yet hit the House and Senate floor, so it hasn't been voted on yet, but we're hoping for the best there. 99 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:40,120 The regional greenhouse gas initiative already passed, but that was this session as well. We're really excited about this. Reggie has been one of the longest standing cap and trade programs in the country for greenhouse gases. 100 00:11:40,120 --> 00:11:47,640 but regularly Maine has to pass legislation to approve updates to the program and reaffirm our commitment. 101 00:11:49,140 --> 00:11:54,540 Maine did successfully do that with a passage of LD 2037 earlier this year. 102 00:11:54,940 --> 00:12:00,860 So we are continuing to be a part of this regional program that produces a lot of money for Maine. 103 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:10,100 Efficiency Maine trust in particular most of their funding comes from the Reggie program for energy efficiency initiatives like heat pumps and weatherization program. 104 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:13,860 We're really excited about plug-in solar. 105 00:12:15,300 --> 00:12:21,500 You may be familiar with rooftop solar, rooftop solar where a contractor comes in and installs 106 00:12:21,500 --> 00:12:23,740 solar on your roof as a private residence. 107 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:27,980 You then apply for interconnection to the grid as part of the net energy billing program. 108 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:35,320 In this case, plug-in solar is an advocacy effort to allow people to purchase and use 109 00:12:35,320 --> 00:12:43,900 smaller solar panels that they can plug directly into their wall outlets without needing an interconnection agreement with a utility. 110 00:12:44,520 --> 00:12:54,480 So this would significantly reduce people's costs and offset electricity usage at home and really lower your utility bill without having to do a full installation on your home. 111 00:12:54,840 --> 00:13:02,940 Right now it is not legal to purchase these products, but over in Germany and just recently in Utah, they did make it legal to purchase these products. 112 00:13:02,940 --> 00:13:08,280 and in both of those places we're already seeing significant progress on reducing energy consumption 113 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:14,100 and reducing electricity bills by using these smaller balcony solar arrays. 114 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,960 Getting to the end of the climate and clean energy priorities, publicly-owned transmission 115 00:13:19,960 --> 00:13:25,900 started as a really big concept to establish an authority to publicly finance some of the 116 00:13:25,900 --> 00:13:30,420 transmission lines that we need to hit our climate and clean energy goals. It has since 117 00:13:30,420 --> 00:13:36,260 been somewhat downgraded, I would say, to a study. So now this will be a study of how Maine 118 00:13:36,260 --> 00:13:40,680 could go about establishing an authority to help with financing some of these large projects. 119 00:13:41,220 --> 00:13:45,780 But you've likely heard of the prospect of offshore wind or of some of these large onshore 120 00:13:45,780 --> 00:13:49,420 wind projects in northern Maine that need to be interconnected to the New England grid. 121 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:55,880 Those large transmission projects are all really expensive and are risky investments 122 00:13:55,880 --> 00:13:58,540 and are often paired with each other. 123 00:13:58,800 --> 00:14:01,460 So a large onshore wind development project 124 00:14:01,460 --> 00:14:04,100 is dependent on the creation of a transmission corridor, 125 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:06,160 but one can't move forward without the other. 126 00:14:06,460 --> 00:14:08,000 So that project on project risk 127 00:14:08,000 --> 00:14:09,940 is really a problem that we've seen. 128 00:14:10,160 --> 00:14:13,860 So the prospect of being able to use public dollars 129 00:14:13,860 --> 00:14:16,600 to put towards de-risking some of these large, 130 00:14:16,680 --> 00:14:18,060 important clean energy projects 131 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:20,440 is something that is now currently in the works. 132 00:14:22,300 --> 00:14:23,300 AI data centers, 133 00:14:23,300 --> 00:14:26,000 This has taken a lot of oxygen at the State House. 134 00:14:26,620 --> 00:14:30,140 You probably have seen headlines about AI data centers. 135 00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:32,600 It has certainly been a big part of the news. 136 00:14:32,980 --> 00:14:46,280 There have been a lot of proposals from developers to develop AI data centers that are either being used for AI data processing or in some cases other computer uses. 137 00:14:47,500 --> 00:14:56,000 But we know that they're highly energy-intensive and highly water-intensive, so they have these potential major energy impacts, major environmental impacts. 138 00:14:56,640 --> 00:14:59,480 And so what LD307 would do if past this session. 139 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:06,700 Is establish a moratorium for one year to prevent AI data center build out until we've 140 00:15:06,700 --> 00:15:11,240 established a coordinating council that can put some guardrails on what Maine would like to see 141 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:17,160 for AI data center development. That could range from, yes, we're okay with some AI data centers, 142 00:15:17,200 --> 00:15:21,840 but they need to make sure to produce their own electricity and do so with clean energy sources, 143 00:15:22,400 --> 00:15:27,440 or they need to be a part of investing in the regional transmission and distribution grid to 144 00:15:27,440 --> 00:15:34,260 able to host themselves in given areas, but basically the concept being that we want to establish a 145 00:15:34,260 --> 00:15:38,260 coordination council under the Department of Energy resources that we just created 146 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:43,160 so that they can take a look at data centers more significantly and put up some good guard 147 00:15:43,160 --> 00:15:49,060 rails so that developers and the general public alike understand what best practices are for 148 00:15:49,060 --> 00:15:53,540 data center build out. Now we'll just touch on a couple of the things that are outside 149 00:15:53,540 --> 00:15:55,000 out of the Climate and Clean Energy Department. 150 00:15:56,080 --> 00:15:58,380 Land for Mains Future is one of the most important 151 00:15:58,380 --> 00:16:01,140 conservation programs that is state funded in Maine. 152 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:06,260 We are approaching that fund running out of money 153 00:16:06,680 --> 00:16:08,340 and there isn't a sustainable way 154 00:16:08,340 --> 00:16:09,960 to replenish it at the moment, 155 00:16:10,300 --> 00:16:12,540 but we think we may have found a sustainable way 156 00:16:12,540 --> 00:16:14,120 to replenish Land for Mains Future. 157 00:16:14,980 --> 00:16:17,960 Basically there were several different legislative vehicles 158 00:16:17,960 --> 00:16:19,260 that we could potentially use, 159 00:16:19,460 --> 00:16:21,440 but we think that we've actually succeeded 160 00:16:21,440 --> 00:16:28,040 and including it directly in the budget so that each year some state dollars will be allocated 161 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:34,560 specifically for conservation purposes. We're also working to fund lake and farmland conservation 162 00:16:34,560 --> 00:16:40,960 through the bill LD2141. Every year there are unclaimed bottle deposits so every time you buy 163 00:16:40,960 --> 00:16:46,480 a bottle that is eligible for return you're paying an extra five cents. A lot of people 164 00:16:46,480 --> 00:16:50,940 don't actually return those bottles to the tune of about 16 million dollars a year in 165 00:16:50,940 --> 00:16:54,740 the state of Maine and right now that $16 million just goes right back to the 166 00:16:54,740 --> 00:16:59,220 beverage distributors which wasn't the initial intention of the the bottle 167 00:16:59,220 --> 00:17:04,080 return program. So what we're proposing here is that of that $16 million, $2 168 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:08,200 million we go to farmland conservation and $2 million we go to lake 169 00:17:08,200 --> 00:17:12,320 conservation leaving $12 million still to go back to beverage 170 00:17:12,320 --> 00:17:17,820 distributors but basically you know using using this opportunity for 171 00:17:17,820 --> 00:17:22,100 these unclaimed model deposits to actually go towards something good in this state. 172 00:17:23,620 --> 00:17:28,280 And then over to our sustainability program, you all might be familiar with this corporate 173 00:17:28,280 --> 00:17:35,480 tendency to want to develop products that can only be repaired by the issuing manufacturer. 174 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,120 So you know, some of these large corporations, if they sell you something, you need to 175 00:17:40,120 --> 00:17:42,000 go back to them in order to get it fixed. 176 00:17:42,840 --> 00:17:46,920 What we would like to see is for manufacturers that sell their products in Maine be required 177 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:54,840 to issue guidance on how to actually fix those electronic devices so that you can do so in your own home 178 00:17:54,840 --> 00:18:01,640 and so that local businesses can help you to fix your products so that you don't have to go back to the original manufacturer with your products. 179 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:05,080 And the last one here is our battery recycling. 180 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:13,260 Maine has a lot of really great stewardship policies, but one thing that hasn't been included in our stewardship of waste materials is batteries. 181 00:18:13,660 --> 00:18:16,720 And we're seeing a lot more batteries with a lot more electrical appliances. 182 00:18:17,300 --> 00:18:22,560 And so we want to make sure that our batteries are taken care of in a sensible manner and 183 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:26,180 that we have money dedicated to that stewardship program. 184 00:18:26,900 --> 00:18:32,600 Right now, there is not a single refuse center in the state of Maine that accepts batteries. 185 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:37,640 So they have to be shipped out of state, and we want to make sure that that's something 186 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:39,220 that Maine is actually taking advantage of. 187 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:46,200 And then our Healthy Waters Program, this one is one that we've been working on for several 188 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:50,520 sessions, you may have heard of it, but basically the four federally recognized tribes in the 189 00:18:50,520 --> 00:18:56,180 state of Maine are the only four tribes of the 574 nationwide that are not deemed sovereign. 190 00:18:56,780 --> 00:19:00,880 They're treated more as municipalities within the state of Maine, whereas the others 191 00:19:00,880 --> 00:19:02,720 are treated as sovereign nations. 192 00:19:02,720 --> 00:19:12,900 There have been several bills to rectify this historical mishap and currently LD 785 is moving forward and we hope to see it passed. 193 00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:23,280 So I just want to finish out here by making a plug for becoming a member of the Natural Resources Council of Maine or by joining us in other ways like taking action at our events, 194 00:19:23,820 --> 00:19:25,580 signing up for our email updates. 195 00:19:26,380 --> 00:19:34,140 We are the largest environmental advocacy group in the state, and we have the most presence directly at the statehouse, so we're the folks that are working directly on policy. 196 00:19:34,700 --> 00:19:43,020 We don't have land holdings like Nature Conservancy or other groups like that, but we do really focus on making sure that the right policies are passed. 197 00:19:44,120 --> 00:19:48,760 There's a couple of things that I wanted to highlight for folks that are coming up if you do want to participate. 198 00:19:48,760 --> 00:20:02,100 The make polluters pay phone bank is happening next Tuesday the 31st and Margie what might be best is I can send you some of these things after the fact for distribution just so that folks can sign up for them outside of the call. 199 00:20:02,660 --> 00:20:11,260 But we have a phone bank to call other energy and members and supporters to encourage them to reach out to their legislators to say yes we want to see the climate Superfund bill passed this session. 200 00:20:12,540 --> 00:20:15,780 Also, the first Thursday of every month we have a climate action call. 201 00:20:16,420 --> 00:20:22,320 This is an opportunity for folks that are more interested specifically in our climate and clean energy focus to come and chat with us. 202 00:20:23,540 --> 00:20:26,460 This month we are going to be focusing on the data centers question. 203 00:20:27,380 --> 00:20:33,860 So it's next Thursday at noon, the second that we'll be talking about AI data centers and more depth than what I went into today. 204 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:36,740 If you want to be a part of that conversation, I can send you the link. 205 00:20:37,400 --> 00:20:50,120 And then we have a end of the session ritual action hour the session will end by April 15. So on April 7 we're reserving some time for you to come and join us and learn about the best ways to take action at the very end. 206 00:20:50,720 --> 00:20:56,680 You can also come see us in person at a couple of places that are near enough to a gunk with that I wanted to include them in this presentation. 207 00:20:56,680 --> 00:21:10,300 I'll be at the green home and energy show in South Portland this upcoming Saturday, which is a great space with hundreds of vendors ranging from heat pumps to sustainable clothing to plants for your home. 208 00:21:10,480 --> 00:21:14,960 There's just a lot of different home upgrades and modifications you can make to make your space more efficient. 209 00:21:15,640 --> 00:21:21,700 It also will have an electric vehicle ride and drive. So if you want to come and test out an electric vehicle you can do that there. 210 00:21:21,700 --> 00:21:27,200 And then we'll also be at the Portland Earth Day on Saturday, April 18th, if you want to come and say hi there. 211 00:21:29,420 --> 00:21:34,400 I'll just quickly breeze through these. You can sign up to learn more from us by getting action alerts. 212 00:21:35,040 --> 00:21:44,940 You can look for yourself at some of the bills that we're focused on on our website. We keep track of all the bills that we're working on, and you can read about their progress through the legislative process. 213 00:21:44,940 --> 00:21:46,900 You can also become a member. 214 00:21:48,220 --> 00:21:52,720 You know, typically, energy and members contribute $35 a year to keep our programs running. 215 00:21:53,980 --> 00:21:56,480 And I will conclude with that. 216 00:21:57,940 --> 00:22:00,140 Looking forward to any questions that you may have. 217 00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:04,920 And I might as well drop the screen here so that we can all look at each other again. 218 00:22:07,740 --> 00:22:09,400 I have a few questions. 219 00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:10,340 Yes. 220 00:22:10,700 --> 00:22:11,100 Happy to answer. 221 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:14,740 Are you private? 222 00:22:14,740 --> 00:22:16,040 I mean, how are you funded? 223 00:22:17,020 --> 00:22:19,120 Yeah, we're a member-oriented nonprofit. 224 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:24,180 So a lot of our funding comes from our member base providing funding for us to do what we do. 225 00:22:24,580 --> 00:22:28,140 We also pursue a lot of grants that allow us to do the work that we do. 226 00:22:28,260 --> 00:22:30,080 So there are some large funders nationally. 227 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:35,360 We are an affiliate of the National Wildlife Federation and of the Environmental Defense Fund. 228 00:22:36,140 --> 00:22:40,580 So those national groups provide us some funding, but we focus on main specific issues. 229 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:43,520 So we only do main-oriented advocacy work. 230 00:22:44,740 --> 00:22:55,480 Alright. So, okay. So, you're associated with the National Wildlife Federation and the Environment Department. 231 00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,260 So, do you get involved in any wildlife issues in Maine? 232 00:22:58,820 --> 00:23:03,760 We do. Yes, definitely. And that's over in our Woods Waters and Wildlife Department. 233 00:23:04,060 --> 00:23:08,760 My colleague, Luke Frankel, is the director over in that program. 234 00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,960 And so any, I'm happy to connect you with him if you have questions that I can. 235 00:23:13,540 --> 00:23:25,860 Yeah, and Luke was, what was he, he was, he did a lot of water testing on some of the grants that the town, Gunkwood had going back, 319 grant. 236 00:23:26,480 --> 00:23:26,840 Yeah. 237 00:23:27,440 --> 00:23:31,820 He was previously working as an environmental consultant prior to joining NSEM. 238 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:32,480 Yeah. 239 00:23:33,020 --> 00:23:34,320 So, okay. 240 00:23:36,020 --> 00:23:45,860 And regarding the plug-in solar panels, because we discussed that at one of our meetings. 241 00:23:46,380 --> 00:23:53,860 And is that, do you have special permits for that? 242 00:23:54,340 --> 00:23:54,900 No, you don't. 243 00:23:54,940 --> 00:23:56,000 We can go buy one somewhere. 244 00:23:56,600 --> 00:23:57,580 You can go buy one. 245 00:23:57,660 --> 00:23:59,420 Well, you can't currently go buy one. 246 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:03,380 So that's what the legislation by passing LD1730, 247 00:24:03,380 --> 00:24:07,760 and I should have mentioned that it did just pass the House and the Senate. So all it needs now 248 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:13,640 is to be signed into law by the governor to be law. But once this change is made, 249 00:24:13,780 --> 00:24:20,580 it will be legal to purchase and install your own balcony solar. There are some requirements 250 00:24:20,580 --> 00:24:24,920 as to the product to make sure the product itself is safe, right? So they need to make 251 00:24:24,920 --> 00:24:31,740 sure that it won't cause any backlog on the electric grid or result in any unsafe 252 00:24:31,740 --> 00:24:37,900 conditions in the home. But this reduces a lot of barriers to people generating their 253 00:24:37,900 --> 00:24:42,040 own electricity at home and avoiding some of the costs associated with your current 254 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:50,520 electric bills, which we know are high. Yeah, that's good to know. I didn't know 255 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:58,820 that you had to have the state head to approve. Utilities typically like to control generation, 256 00:24:58,820 --> 00:25:12,460 which does make sense. You know, they want to make sure they know where generation is coming into the grid. But with such small scale appliances, we believe that this will effectively offset people's electricity bills without causing any issues on the grid larger scale. 257 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:21,400 Yeah, but the electricity wouldn't be really going into the grid. You'd be generating your own electricity for your own appliances and everything. 258 00:25:22,360 --> 00:25:22,520 Exactly. 259 00:25:23,620 --> 00:25:25,700 Yeah, 400 watts. So pretty. 260 00:25:25,700 --> 00:25:34,060 I have a question, if I may. You said that you keep 2 million out of the 12 million in 261 00:25:34,060 --> 00:25:34,960 the bottle return. 262 00:25:35,980 --> 00:25:41,760 Yeah. So for the bottle return, the proposal on the table is that currently there are $16 263 00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:47,220 million every year that go back to beverage distributors. The proposal is to take $2 million 264 00:25:47,220 --> 00:25:52,760 of that and provide it for lakes funding and $2 million of that and provide it for 265 00:25:52,760 --> 00:25:54,900 or farmland funding, both would be issued 266 00:25:54,900 --> 00:25:56,660 through the Department of Environmental Protection. 267 00:25:57,440 --> 00:25:57,940 So it would be- 268 00:25:57,940 --> 00:25:59,240 Why not the 16 million? 269 00:25:59,480 --> 00:26:04,480 Why 14 million back to the, to the bottler or the, whatever? 270 00:26:04,980 --> 00:26:06,480 Well, it is, it's a compromise. 271 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:09,920 Basically, we are getting significant pushback 272 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:12,000 from the beverage distributor industry. 273 00:26:12,420 --> 00:26:13,100 And they- 274 00:26:13,100 --> 00:26:14,540 Why are they entitled to it? 275 00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:17,200 I mean, that's the thing, they aren't entitled to it. 276 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,180 It wasn't originally designed to go back to them 277 00:26:19,180 --> 00:26:21,460 in the first place, but through lobbying efforts, 278 00:26:21,460 --> 00:26:25,400 they were able to argue that it should go back to them, and we're kind of gradually chipping away 279 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:30,740 at it by trying to argue that this should either go towards supporting our recycling efforts, 280 00:26:30,900 --> 00:26:35,100 or it should go towards other positive initiatives for Maine. 281 00:26:35,300 --> 00:26:40,500 How about individual towns? I see sustainability for Ogunquit. 282 00:26:41,500 --> 00:26:45,240 Yeah, that's a good question actually, and one for Vanessa, because Vanessa has been working 283 00:26:45,240 --> 00:26:50,800 extensively on, you know, extended producer responsibility legislation. So for example, 284 00:26:50,860 --> 00:26:56,720 that's that's the legislation that main pass that was first in the nation that enables basically 285 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:03,200 requires people who sell products in Maine that have some waste stream to pay for for recouping 286 00:27:03,200 --> 00:27:08,220 that waste stream. So that's where we've generated some funding for municipalities to be able to 287 00:27:08,220 --> 00:27:14,860 process waste coming and that money coming from, you know, the average distributor is rather 288 00:27:14,860 --> 00:27:15,740 than from the taxpayers. 289 00:27:16,860 --> 00:27:18,500 Can she get in touch with us? 290 00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:23,680 I really think it's the most unfair to give it back to them. 291 00:27:24,100 --> 00:27:24,360 Yeah. 292 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:26,680 Yeah, go ahead. 293 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:27,940 No, I appreciate that. 294 00:27:28,020 --> 00:27:29,160 I was just going to mention Margie, 295 00:27:29,280 --> 00:27:29,940 I think that you actually, 296 00:27:30,100 --> 00:27:32,380 you reached out initially to Vanessa and I. 297 00:27:32,920 --> 00:27:35,400 So I'll just make sure that to let Vanessa know 298 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:37,180 that you have some additional questions for her. 299 00:27:38,280 --> 00:27:38,640 Yeah. 300 00:27:38,980 --> 00:27:40,960 Well, yeah, regarding the bottles, 301 00:27:40,960 --> 00:27:50,400 I mean, in Clink, which is the company that processes the bottles and all, you know, you 302 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:51,260 can set it up. 303 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:57,740 You can set up nonprofits to get the money from the bottle returns. 304 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:00,380 Yeah, but who's picking it up right now? 305 00:28:00,660 --> 00:28:06,900 I mean, the 16 million, is that an effort by the state that goes around cleaning up 306 00:28:06,900 --> 00:28:11,780 and they recoup all these bottles or because individuals that recoup the bottles are not 307 00:28:11,780 --> 00:28:14,240 going to give it back to them, right? They're going to keep the money. 308 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:18,740 Right. Basically, when you pay for a bottle that is eligible for a bottle return, you're 309 00:28:18,740 --> 00:28:23,760 paying the additional five cents. There's about $16 million worth of that that is not ever 310 00:28:23,760 --> 00:28:31,620 returned by the individual. And so that $16 million is extra. And would then currently 311 00:28:31,620 --> 00:28:36,560 goes back to the beverage distributors. But our argument is that it shouldn't actually go 312 00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:40,480 back to the beverage distributors and should be used to clean up our environment here in Maine. 313 00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:46,500 So that's the that's the objective and it is interesting because it creates kind of a 314 00:28:46,500 --> 00:28:51,240 an odd incentive because ideally we want more people to recycle and the more people that 315 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:55,960 do effectively use our bottle program and recycle the less that unclaimed deposit 316 00:28:55,960 --> 00:29:01,700 amount is right so that 60 million should presumably over time be lower. So it's 317 00:29:01,700 --> 00:29:05,820 interesting where it's like we don't want to have our environmental sustainability programs 318 00:29:05,820 --> 00:29:11,140 dependant on the source that we're hoping gets smaller over time, but we're also saying while 319 00:29:11,140 --> 00:29:15,180 this money is available it should be used for better uses than just going back to the beverage 320 00:29:15,180 --> 00:29:22,180 distributors. I see a hand from Robin. Yes, when you were talking about Reggie, 321 00:29:22,960 --> 00:29:28,300 it seems that it has a finite applicability and we have to sign up to it periodically. 322 00:29:29,060 --> 00:29:32,520 How long is it enforced once we've signed up to it again, 323 00:29:32,520 --> 00:29:40,220 And why is it on this kind of revolving platform whereby you don't sign up for once and for all and commit to it? 324 00:29:40,680 --> 00:29:41,760 Yeah, it's an interesting question. 325 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:51,140 We initially signed up as part of a memorandum of understanding an MOU with 12 other states in 2008, and states have joined and left since that time. 326 00:29:51,500 --> 00:29:56,340 And so Maine, I think, is on a four-year cycle, so that every other legislature will see it. 327 00:29:56,340 --> 00:29:59,960 but basically, if the program undergoes significant changes. 328 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:06,900 If a state like Pennsylvania leaves and they have to reallocate some of the funding, then 329 00:30:06,900 --> 00:30:11,380 Maine has to approve that reallocation to continue participating in the program. 330 00:30:11,940 --> 00:30:17,120 Some states are actually set up with automatic renewals. Maine is just set up so that we actually 331 00:30:17,120 --> 00:30:20,520 have to pass it as a bill every time it comes up. 332 00:30:22,290 --> 00:30:23,510 Lots of extra work. 333 00:30:24,130 --> 00:30:28,370 Yes, lots of extra work. Fortunately, there wasn't. We were worried because we saw that 334 00:30:28,370 --> 00:30:36,090 Pennsylvania stepped away from the program and some Republicans in Pennsylvania were making a big deal about about the Reggie program and being an inhibitor to 335 00:30:37,510 --> 00:30:38,590 Yeah, sure 336 00:30:39,250 --> 00:30:44,790 But fortunately that wasn't as as much of a that wasn't taken up as much in main is from our opposition 337 00:30:46,410 --> 00:30:48,730 Paul I got a question and 338 00:30:49,830 --> 00:30:53,490 Your your program has been very expansive and 339 00:30:53,490 --> 00:31:00,670 And a compliment to you that let me tell you one problem that the state has it's killing everybody 340 00:31:01,890 --> 00:31:09,130 Costs to the energy. What are you guys doing about that? That's a that's a terror that that'll bankrupt people 341 00:31:09,650 --> 00:31:13,250 Yeah, no, I agree Paul. That's it's a good question energy affordability 342 00:31:13,250 --> 00:31:15,550 I think is on the front of everyone's minds at the moment 343 00:31:16,210 --> 00:31:18,230 There's a few ways that we approach that one 344 00:31:18,810 --> 00:31:22,930 Rebecca Schultz my colleague is in front of the public utilities commission regularly 345 00:31:23,490 --> 00:31:28,190 The Public Utilities Commission is the body that regulates our utilities, CMP and VersaNT. 346 00:31:28,630 --> 00:31:33,450 And so we advocated against the rate case increase that CMP brought this last fall. 347 00:31:33,990 --> 00:31:37,370 I don't know if you were tuning into that, but basically CMP said, 348 00:31:37,730 --> 00:31:41,310 we need to increase rates in order to recoup from some of these storms 349 00:31:41,870 --> 00:31:44,870 and for a number of other upgrades that they wanted to make. 350 00:31:45,390 --> 00:31:48,750 And we said, no, you should not increase rates. 351 00:31:48,750 --> 00:31:56,670 And in fact, we believe that too much of your money goes back to profits for shareholders that are overseas. 352 00:31:57,070 --> 00:32:00,610 And so as you know, CMP is owned by Avangrid, which is owned by Ebert Rola. 353 00:32:01,110 --> 00:32:09,350 So it's this huge Spanish energy company that is getting 14% of all of the profit or all of your bill that you pay regularly for your electricity. 354 00:32:09,990 --> 00:32:16,970 So we're regularly advocating for to reduce profits that CMP makes and for them to make sensible investments. 355 00:32:17,790 --> 00:32:28,450 We also really do believe, and I think that the current situation in Iran is illustrating this, that transitioning to clean energy is going to allow Maine to reduce rates in the long term. 356 00:32:29,210 --> 00:32:37,150 Because we don't have any control over the global fossil fuel market. And right now Maine imports over $4 billion of fossil fuels every single year. 357 00:32:37,610 --> 00:32:44,050 And so when you get an international conflict like the one we're currently seeing, energy prices go way up. We have no control over that. 358 00:32:44,050 --> 00:32:49,090 If we were to produce our own energy here in Maine, using solar and wind, we would have 359 00:32:49,090 --> 00:32:54,510 control over generation, which would ensure that we don't get those crazy spikes and fluctuations 360 00:32:54,510 --> 00:32:55,310 in energy. 361 00:32:55,690 --> 00:33:00,690 So those are just a couple of the ways, Paul, but it certainly is something that we are 362 00:33:00,690 --> 00:33:01,670 paying attention to. 363 00:33:02,050 --> 00:33:07,570 You understand Maine is one of the highest electrical rates in the United States. 364 00:33:08,050 --> 00:33:08,570 I know it. 365 00:33:08,670 --> 00:33:12,270 This is an area that's a killer for the state. 366 00:33:12,270 --> 00:33:19,250 If you can't fix that, you're going to lose industry, people are going to leave, and all 367 00:33:19,250 --> 00:33:21,610 the good work you're doing will go for naught. 368 00:33:22,610 --> 00:33:29,970 I appreciate you're doing what you're doing, but I don't see, and I understand how to 369 00:33:29,970 --> 00:33:36,030 reduce costs of investment, but it's a problem. 370 00:33:36,290 --> 00:33:37,630 I just don't know how to deal with it. 371 00:33:38,110 --> 00:33:38,470 Yeah. 372 00:33:38,830 --> 00:33:40,150 It is a problem, absolutely. 373 00:33:40,810 --> 00:33:41,150 Margie? 374 00:33:42,250 --> 00:33:56,030 That transmission line from Hydro-Quebec that finally was approved. I mean it goes to Massachusetts which 375 00:33:56,030 --> 00:34:05,950 helped but doesn't mean benefit get some of the electricity from that. Yeah this one's this one's 376 00:34:05,950 --> 00:34:10,750 tough one. We were opposed to the original New England Clean Energy Connect corridor. 377 00:34:11,850 --> 00:34:19,690 And the main people opposed it by referendum by about 60%. And then CMP was able to win the legal 378 00:34:19,690 --> 00:34:24,650 case that it should go forward, which we were disappointed by. A quick aside, part of that 379 00:34:24,650 --> 00:34:31,270 legal case is that they have to conserve 50,000 acres of land in Maine. So we are, 380 00:34:31,670 --> 00:34:34,610 you know, whenever we see a large project like this, we do want to make sure that 381 00:34:34,610 --> 00:34:38,970 we are getting some benefit from the project. So one of the benefits is conservation associated 382 00:34:38,970 --> 00:34:44,190 with the project. But we aren't opposed to all transmission lines. We need some transmission 383 00:34:44,190 --> 00:34:49,110 in order to build out the clean energy grid that we need to power our future. It just 384 00:34:49,110 --> 00:34:53,350 needs to be sensibly and thoughtfully cited, and it needs to provide benefit to Maine. 385 00:34:53,930 --> 00:35:00,730 And for us, that line that you're referencing cut through too much undisturbed forest land 386 00:35:00,730 --> 00:35:08,030 and was primarily redistributing existing energy from Canada to Massachusetts through Maine 387 00:35:08,030 --> 00:35:12,010 without providing a lot of long-term benefit for Maine. 388 00:35:13,330 --> 00:35:17,070 And we're beginning to see, you know, I hope this doesn't continue to play out, 389 00:35:17,210 --> 00:35:24,890 but Hydro Quebec is relatively famous for having these huge hydro dams, you know, up in Quebec province. 390 00:35:25,450 --> 00:35:29,030 And they say they have a lot of extra electricity to go around, 391 00:35:29,030 --> 00:35:34,070 and so that's why they wanted to build this line down to Massachusetts. But over this cold snap, 392 00:35:34,350 --> 00:35:39,330 this last winter, they ran out of energy to provide through that line down to Massachusetts 393 00:35:39,330 --> 00:35:44,570 because they had to focus on all the energy demand in Quebec province. So I think that's 394 00:35:44,570 --> 00:35:49,570 just an example of, you know, we always want to be a little bit suspicious of these claims that 395 00:35:49,570 --> 00:35:56,050 these large corporate entities are making about whether their, you know, energy is 396 00:35:56,050 --> 00:35:58,830 is going to be beneficial to to where they say it is. 397 00:36:00,390 --> 00:36:05,850 Wasn't there something I read some years ago about doing something with hydropower 398 00:36:05,850 --> 00:36:08,990 at the Bay of Funday? 399 00:36:10,030 --> 00:36:11,570 Because of the tide differentials. 400 00:36:12,250 --> 00:36:13,490 Yeah, tide tidal power. 401 00:36:14,070 --> 00:36:19,110 That's still, tidal power is kind of in its infancy, but there is this organization, 402 00:36:19,630 --> 00:36:25,090 and the acronym is ORPC, Ocean Renewables Power, something. 403 00:36:25,090 --> 00:36:34,370 I can find out what the exact acronym stands for, but they are developing these title turbines that are that flow according to the tides. 404 00:36:34,730 --> 00:36:47,070 I think our understanding right now is that it just isn't particularly scalable and they haven't proven that it's a legitimate technology for larger scale use, but it is something that they're researching and developing. 405 00:36:47,070 --> 00:36:56,590 And this sort of speaks to whenever we see a hydro proposal, you know, we just have to question that the impact versus the energy, right? 406 00:36:56,710 --> 00:37:04,530 I mean, we think that with large hydro dams, you know, sometimes you're chopping off entire river, riverine ecosystems. 407 00:37:05,150 --> 00:37:11,690 With tidal power, there's probably more potential for there to be some interplay and less ecological damage. 408 00:37:11,990 --> 00:37:14,930 But we just haven't seen large scale proposals yet. 409 00:37:14,930 --> 00:37:26,030 I have one more quick question, wasn't there a bill before the legislature to allow communities 410 00:37:26,030 --> 00:37:34,650 to negotiate rates directly with the Public Utilities Commission, I mean, or not with 411 00:37:34,650 --> 00:37:45,990 the public, directly with whatever source or other supply is. The, you know, because 412 00:37:45,990 --> 00:37:52,990 I had asked Jerry Runty rep a couple months ago or six weeks ago when he said there's 413 00:37:52,990 --> 00:38:00,150 a bill in front of the legislature so that communities can basically negotiate their 414 00:38:00,150 --> 00:38:07,430 own supply rate. I mean, the distribution rate is fixed by central main power, forgetting 415 00:38:07,430 --> 00:38:13,370 they own all the distribution lines, but the actual power generation, you know, there's 416 00:38:13,370 --> 00:38:17,830 all these companies that try to sell it to you. And, you know, it's great rate for six 417 00:38:17,830 --> 00:38:24,890 months and then they'll increase it and all that. But if you have a whole town, a city 418 00:38:24,890 --> 00:38:34,650 working out some deal at a lower rate. But I think the legislature had to approve it. 419 00:38:35,130 --> 00:38:44,750 And I thought that it was, you know, any day. This was six weeks ago. I haven't seen what 420 00:38:44,750 --> 00:38:49,830 happened. Okay. Well, Jerry certainly, Jerry serves on the Energy Utilities and Technology 421 00:38:49,830 --> 00:38:53,850 Committee. So he's definitely in the loop on this. I'm not as familiar with that bill. 422 00:38:53,850 --> 00:38:58,750 it hasn't been a component of one of our prior or major priorities this year, but I can circle 423 00:38:58,750 --> 00:39:07,550 back and find out because in Massachusetts, the most of the greater Boston towns and cities, 424 00:39:08,090 --> 00:39:09,990 you know, they send you a form. 425 00:39:11,250 --> 00:39:18,810 Once he is saying that your electricity supply is coming, you know, and you have a choice 426 00:39:18,810 --> 00:39:23,990 of whether you want all green, average, or no green, with three different rates. 427 00:39:24,850 --> 00:39:31,490 And the whole town gets that rate, which is negotiated by the town, not ever sourced. 428 00:39:32,030 --> 00:39:37,490 You know, you have the, that so, and it says saved money, and you don't have to get involved 429 00:39:37,490 --> 00:39:41,930 with, you know, all these supply companies that give you a great rate for six months 430 00:39:41,930 --> 00:39:44,250 and then double the price and stuff like that. 431 00:39:44,250 --> 00:39:49,250 So I had asked him about that. I'll follow up with him and see then. 432 00:39:49,330 --> 00:39:52,130 Yeah, and I'll do the same. I'll follow up with Rebecca Schultz, 433 00:39:52,150 --> 00:39:57,410 my colleague here who is more closely looking into the grid side. 434 00:39:59,110 --> 00:40:00,650 Robin, I see you had a hand raised. 435 00:40:01,330 --> 00:40:05,590 Yes, I'll guess that that C in your acronym stands for consortium, 436 00:40:05,830 --> 00:40:10,150 but actually my comment relates more to your discussion with Paul 437 00:40:10,150 --> 00:40:13,430 and you're talking about alternative sources of energy. 438 00:40:14,390 --> 00:40:16,770 As we have seen, the current administration 439 00:40:16,770 --> 00:40:20,230 is trumping around paying out our money 440 00:40:20,230 --> 00:40:22,690 to cancel initiatives like that. 441 00:40:22,930 --> 00:40:26,670 So I wondered what is Maine doing to try to future proof 442 00:40:26,670 --> 00:40:28,490 and protect these initiatives 443 00:40:28,490 --> 00:40:31,050 from unfriendly federal intervention? 444 00:40:31,850 --> 00:40:36,830 Yeah, that is, and what Robin's referencing 445 00:40:36,830 --> 00:40:38,270 for those who may not have seen this, 446 00:40:38,270 --> 00:40:42,310 this was the Trump administration paying one billion dollars to a French company who had 447 00:40:42,310 --> 00:40:49,430 proposed building an offshore wind farm off of the east coast to cancel that project. 448 00:40:49,630 --> 00:40:51,590 Yes, it was just in the news, yeah. 449 00:40:51,690 --> 00:40:56,570 Yeah, it's really a remarkably poor use of taxpayer dollars and the Trump administration 450 00:40:56,570 --> 00:41:00,890 in particular has just been really disproportionately opposed to wind. 451 00:41:01,390 --> 00:41:02,230 It's Trump's. 452 00:41:02,470 --> 00:41:06,090 Yeah, there's been some conversation about Trump having this ingrained thing against 453 00:41:06,090 --> 00:41:14,050 wind because there was some wind being proposed off of one of his golf courses in Scotland 454 00:41:14,050 --> 00:41:20,470 that he didn't like to look up on the horizon. So anyway, not economic rationale behind canceling 455 00:41:20,470 --> 00:41:24,210 that project and I think a waste of taxpayer dollars. But I do want to answer your question, 456 00:41:24,330 --> 00:41:28,970 Robin, which is, you know, primarily one of the things that we set up by doing a department 457 00:41:28,970 --> 00:41:34,230 of energy resources is tasking that department of energy resources with regularly scheduled 458 00:41:34,230 --> 00:41:40,470 procurements of clean energy here in Maine so that the state is committing on a biennial basis 459 00:41:40,470 --> 00:41:46,310 to continuing to support clean energy development in the state, regardless of federal conditions. 460 00:41:47,310 --> 00:41:51,390 So that's one way that we're future-proofing it by setting up that schedule of procurements 461 00:41:51,390 --> 00:41:55,230 and showing the economic benefits of having regularly scheduled procurements, 462 00:41:55,530 --> 00:42:00,910 which it also turns out is better for the marketplace for investors to be able to depend 463 00:42:00,910 --> 00:42:19,090 And reliably on there being a schedule that they can compete into right so it makes a lot of sense to set it up that way and I'm glad that we're doing so and that we have a schedule all the way out through 2040, which is how we anticipate getting to that 100% electric clean electricity goal so it doesn't prescribe 464 00:42:20,350 --> 00:42:28,110 Exactly the source. It just defines clean energy and has a series of sources that can be utilized under that clean energy definition. 465 00:42:29,030 --> 00:42:43,590 So, I think that's the strongest way that we're trying to do so. And then, we at NRCM just continue, you know, to mobilize our membership to contact our congressional representatives to oppose some of these more drastic measures that are being taken in the more immediate 466 00:42:44,030 --> 00:42:54,310 because they are certainly negatively impacting the prospect of may never developing, you know, offshore wind, for example, which is certainly a big part of our plan for our clean energy sourcing in the future. 467 00:42:55,130 --> 00:43:00,090 Thank you. I also wanted to suggest that if there aren't any more questions from the 468 00:43:00,090 --> 00:43:06,070 committee, Margie, would it make sense to see if any of the people who have joined us 469 00:43:06,070 --> 00:43:10,210 from the public have questions to ask directly to Josh? 470 00:43:10,590 --> 00:43:11,430 I don't know. I think. 471 00:43:11,970 --> 00:43:14,310 Yeah, we've got books. That's our hand up, so. 472 00:43:16,070 --> 00:43:18,110 All right. Yeah, well, 473 00:43:22,720 --> 00:43:23,600 is... 474 00:43:23,600 --> 00:43:24,900 Can I hear? Yeah, there you go. 475 00:43:25,740 --> 00:43:47,380 Hi. Thank you so much, Josh. That was really interesting. I'd like to know how you get to do what you do. Do you have a sense of what kind of educational opportunities there are in Maine at colleges and universities that would graduate people who want to work with natural resources? 476 00:43:48,500 --> 00:43:52,860 That's a really great question. I appreciate you asking it. I'm really fortunate and then 477 00:43:52,860 --> 00:43:56,340 I grew up in Maine. I grew up in West Gardner and then I went to Bates College in Lewiston. 478 00:43:56,640 --> 00:44:01,740 So I feel really grateful to continue to, and I studied environmental studies at Bates 479 00:44:01,740 --> 00:44:05,300 College. And so this feels like it's in direct alignment with what I worked on. And 480 00:44:05,300 --> 00:44:10,320 I'm really grateful to NRCM for prioritizing hiring folks with, with Maine backgrounds 481 00:44:10,320 --> 00:44:16,160 and experiences. But there are a lot of ways that, that people can get involved 482 00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:31,200 And one of them that is just on the top of my mind because I'm going to the event in just a couple of weeks is every single year, you main hosts a offshore wind demonstration challenge for high school middle school and high school students. 483 00:44:31,380 --> 00:44:35,220 So middle school and high school students come up to you main over 1000 of them every year. 484 00:44:35,460 --> 00:44:41,240 And they test sample offshore wind floating turbines in the state of the art facilities up at you main. 485 00:44:41,240 --> 00:44:46,700 And then the winning team, the members of the winning team get scholarship offers to 486 00:44:46,700 --> 00:44:47,600 the University of Maine. 487 00:44:48,300 --> 00:44:53,600 And the University of Maine is the leading research institute on floating offshore wind 488 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:54,260 in the country. 489 00:44:54,580 --> 00:44:58,660 So they have this advanced composite center that has this wave pool and this 3D printer. 490 00:44:58,660 --> 00:44:59,980 and they have, you know, they... 491 00:45:00,000 --> 00:45:03,760 They fabricate these huge offshore wind turbines right on site. 492 00:45:04,180 --> 00:45:08,940 So that's just one way in which, you know, from a very young age onward, we're developing 493 00:45:08,940 --> 00:45:15,420 this pipeline of young students who are interested in contributing to a clean energy future and 494 00:45:15,420 --> 00:45:16,820 want to do so right here in Maine. 495 00:45:17,840 --> 00:45:23,520 And I'll just finalize that thought by saying, Maine doesn't produce any fossil fuels, right? 496 00:45:23,580 --> 00:45:25,460 We don't extract fossil fuels from the state. 497 00:45:25,820 --> 00:45:26,860 We don't extract coal. 498 00:45:26,860 --> 00:45:33,040 we don't extract natural gas, but we are increasingly beginning to install solar, build wind, 499 00:45:33,980 --> 00:45:41,000 you know, weatherize homes, install heat pumps, HVAC and weatherization programs are really available 500 00:45:41,000 --> 00:45:46,940 largely through vocational and community colleges that are getting some funding or we're getting 501 00:45:46,940 --> 00:45:52,940 funding to do that. So there are a lot of ways in which I think young manors right now could 502 00:45:52,940 --> 00:45:57,440 vision themselves working in the clean energy industry in Maine in the future in a way that didn't 503 00:45:57,440 --> 00:46:05,300 exist, you know, 10 years ago. I am always happy to talk with people as well. So I have regular 504 00:46:05,300 --> 00:46:08,800 conversations with high school students in particular who are either working on projects 505 00:46:08,800 --> 00:46:14,920 or who are curious about this career path. So, you know, I would say if you have young 506 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,740 people in your life that are curious, there are a lot of, you know, whether it's natural 507 00:46:18,740 --> 00:46:23,200 Resources Council of Maine or Maine Conservation Voters or the Maine Renewable Energy Association. 508 00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:27,220 There are a lot of willing folks out there who would love to talk to manors about how they can 509 00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:34,360 continue to study this and get involved. And do you know of graduates who are working with 510 00:46:34,360 --> 00:46:35,000 municipalities? 511 00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:42,280 I do. Chrissy Adamowitz used to work for the Natural Resources Council of Maine 512 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:45,800 and now she's working with the City of Brunswick on their sustainability program. So 513 00:46:45,800 --> 00:47:00,100 So there are examples of that I'm trying to think are you all familiar with the main can main climate and action network. Yeah. 514 00:47:00,860 --> 00:47:06,780 So this is one of the best best ways I think to get updated information about job postings and such. 515 00:47:07,380 --> 00:47:19,780 So this is an email list that connects a lot of municipalities together and municipalities can post their needs. And then anyone on that list can, you know, respond and either apply to jobs or vice versa, right? 516 00:47:19,920 --> 00:47:32,340 You can post that you're looking for something and then get something there. So I think we're beginning to develop these networks of interconnected climate and energy opportunities for municipalities. 517 00:47:38,370 --> 00:47:39,190 Thanks, Rebecca. 518 00:47:43,450 --> 00:47:44,930 Are there any other hands? 519 00:47:50,690 --> 00:47:51,130 No hands. 520 00:47:51,890 --> 00:47:52,190 Okay. 521 00:47:53,690 --> 00:48:01,370 Okay, from, I guess, from the committee, I guess, who answered all the questions. 522 00:48:01,830 --> 00:48:06,910 So we appreciate you coming and talking to us. 523 00:48:07,110 --> 00:48:13,130 And we know if we have any questions, we can ask you to direct us in the right direction. 524 00:48:13,150 --> 00:48:13,850 Yeah, exactly. 525 00:48:13,850 --> 00:48:17,050 And I'll follow up with a couple of the links to the things that I mentioned on the call. 526 00:48:17,550 --> 00:48:22,010 One thing that I am remembering now that I forgot to mention is that a few municipalities have 527 00:48:22,010 --> 00:48:27,950 moved forward by passing resolutions in support of creating a climate superfund for Maine. 528 00:48:28,650 --> 00:48:34,650 So the towns of Bath, the town of Rockland, and the town of Yarmouth have all passed 529 00:48:34,650 --> 00:48:40,070 resolutions in support of creating a climate superfund. Scarborough is currently considering 530 00:48:40,070 --> 00:48:46,150 yet as is Falmouth and a few other places. But basically, you know, I think a lot of towns are aware 531 00:48:46,150 --> 00:48:52,190 of the need for climate resilience funding and are maybe a part of the community resilience 532 00:48:52,190 --> 00:48:57,810 partnership. And the concept of creating a super fund that would be funded by climate polluters, 533 00:48:58,230 --> 00:49:02,330 but that would be distributed directly to municipalities for resilience and adaptation 534 00:49:02,330 --> 00:49:08,370 projects, I think is an exciting one. And if you, you know, what I've seen happen before 535 00:49:08,370 --> 00:49:20,190 Or is a sustainability committee or a climate committee suggesting to the town council adoption of a resolution. So if you'd like more information about that as a potential action to take, I'm happy to share. 536 00:49:21,250 --> 00:49:24,750 Okay, so that would be great. We'd really like to see more about that. 537 00:49:24,990 --> 00:49:26,870 Okay, great. I'll include that in my follow up. 538 00:49:27,530 --> 00:49:27,970 Okay. 539 00:49:28,770 --> 00:49:29,990 All right. Well, thanks. 540 00:49:30,490 --> 00:49:30,850 Thank you. 541 00:49:31,390 --> 00:49:32,630 Yeah, thank you so much for having me. 542 00:49:32,750 --> 00:49:33,510 Thanks very much. 543 00:49:33,950 --> 00:49:34,270 Okay. 544 00:49:34,650 --> 00:49:34,890 Okay. 545 00:49:34,990 --> 00:49:35,230 Bye-bye. 546 00:49:36,010 --> 00:49:36,450 Bye-bye. 547 00:49:40,740 --> 00:50:01,250 Okay well that was interesting and so to continue with beach updates the I guess I 548 00:50:01,250 --> 00:50:08,550 had heard that the beach grass was indeed being planted in the dunes. 549 00:50:11,230 --> 00:50:13,130 Did you see 550 00:50:13,130 --> 00:50:22,690 that Robin? I've seen the fencing. The fencing is what's happened since that we 551 00:50:22,690 --> 00:50:30,290 had our workshop on March 5th? Well the fence at the protected area at the 552 00:50:30,290 --> 00:50:34,610 one end of the beach has a low rise fence saying protected area keep out but 553 00:50:34,610 --> 00:50:38,810 that didn't seem to quite have the desired effect as there were some people 554 00:50:38,810 --> 00:50:46,110 clearly intruding upon said space and then heading up towards Moody where traditionally 555 00:50:46,110 --> 00:50:53,570 the Clover nesting sites are. There's a there's a series of posts along there from where I was 556 00:50:53,570 --> 00:50:58,590 standing they look to be about four or five foot high but that might have been perspective. 557 00:50:59,310 --> 00:51:07,950 And there's also a really strange one-off sign that's tied to the power lamp post 558 00:51:09,070 --> 00:51:12,350 near to where you have the seated area with the canopy, 559 00:51:12,790 --> 00:51:14,770 which is talking about the plovers 560 00:51:14,770 --> 00:51:18,970 and helping to protect them, but it's twisted around 561 00:51:18,970 --> 00:51:21,830 so it's not even square on for people to see. 562 00:51:22,130 --> 00:51:23,870 And I was wondering if that was something 563 00:51:23,870 --> 00:51:26,790 that another organization put up 564 00:51:26,790 --> 00:51:29,670 or if it was something that was meant 565 00:51:29,670 --> 00:51:33,270 to be bold and visible and just got damaged by the storms. 566 00:51:33,530 --> 00:51:35,270 But it was a very interesting thing 567 00:51:35,270 --> 00:51:42,450 given that our workshop was talking about improved signage and such, and this seems quite a friendly 568 00:51:42,450 --> 00:51:47,950 and accessible looking thing rather than the style of the Rachel Carson, but from where it came I do 569 00:51:47,950 --> 00:51:48,550 not know. 570 00:51:50,930 --> 00:52:01,090 Yeah, I get pictures sent to me once in a while, so I noticed that there was some 571 00:52:01,090 --> 00:52:05,910 for the damage at the end of the parking lot, which I keep, you know, 572 00:52:06,410 --> 00:52:11,830 talking about the dunes, but the end of the parking lot looks like it was collapsing. 573 00:52:15,090 --> 00:52:24,830 But I know that when we had our workshop, Mandy was supposed to attend, but she got busy 574 00:52:24,830 --> 00:52:32,150 and I think there were some questions that were sent to her that hasn't responded yet. 575 00:52:33,610 --> 00:52:40,350 Pam sent them in and she wrote a very emollient email saying, no, I know it's a budget season 576 00:52:40,350 --> 00:52:45,430 and you're very busy, et cetera, et cetera, but then sent in a list of questions because 577 00:52:45,430 --> 00:52:50,190 I did a draft that I included you all in when I sent and said, you know, if anyone 578 00:52:50,190 --> 00:52:55,430 has anything to add and Pam said that she had, she was taking down some questions as well but 579 00:52:56,290 --> 00:53:06,270 haven't seen anything back from Mandy whatsoever. So, well I guess we'll have to see. 580 00:53:08,130 --> 00:53:14,390 I will prod Pam to prod Mandy. You want? I will prod Pam to prod Mandy. 581 00:53:14,390 --> 00:53:21,110 Yeah. Well, they finished the beach scraping and I heard because I thought they had scraped 582 00:53:21,110 --> 00:53:27,710 in front of the Norseman. I was there when I was there. It looked, but somebody told me 583 00:53:27,710 --> 00:53:33,210 it wasn't scraping. It was just because there was actually the storm, one of the storms 584 00:53:33,210 --> 00:53:37,670 had brought up a lot of sand. There was like a lot more sand in front. You know, 585 00:53:37,670 --> 00:53:45,990 every year it keeps changing but so well we'll see how it is once everything gets cleaned up. 586 00:53:46,990 --> 00:53:52,330 So it's still I mean today's a nice day but it's going to be cold again on the weekend 587 00:53:54,510 --> 00:54:06,230 so but anyhow so all right if I may in terms of our workshop although I know Eileen set 588 00:54:06,230 --> 00:54:11,230 times aside for us through the year so that there was, it was available if needed. 589 00:54:12,170 --> 00:54:16,750 I don't see that there's a point to meeting again until we have that information from Mandy. 590 00:54:17,870 --> 00:54:23,170 But it's nice to know that we've got a block of time and we can then just check amongst ourselves to see 591 00:54:23,730 --> 00:54:25,550 is it a convenient time to meet. 592 00:54:26,810 --> 00:54:27,250 Okay. 593 00:54:29,170 --> 00:54:29,610 Okay. 594 00:54:29,610 --> 00:54:40,690 Okay. Any more questions or comments from the audience on anything? Anybody still watching? 595 00:54:41,650 --> 00:54:45,310 Elaine has her hand raised if Ben needs to admit her to speak. 596 00:54:47,670 --> 00:54:48,850 Can you hear me? 597 00:54:49,830 --> 00:54:50,070 Yes. 598 00:54:50,830 --> 00:54:58,870 Okay. I just wanted to say that the contractor who did the dunes, Labi, either he or a subcontract 599 00:54:58,870 --> 00:55:04,830 to put in thousands upon thousands of grasses. They're all in from the noisemen all the way 600 00:55:04,830 --> 00:55:12,590 down to moody. And they also put in the stakes in twine that usually is done by our DPW or 601 00:55:12,590 --> 00:55:19,490 the main Audubon. They're higher than normal and they have two rows of the string on them. 602 00:55:19,670 --> 00:55:22,310 So that's all done. It was all done before the 15th. 603 00:55:25,130 --> 00:55:29,850 So it looks great. We just hope that they take and that people stay out of the dunes. 604 00:55:29,930 --> 00:55:34,370 They also finish the crossovers, at least on the beach side. I think there's a little more 605 00:55:34,370 --> 00:55:36,490 work to be done on them on the river side. 606 00:55:38,610 --> 00:55:42,110 Oh, okay. Okay. Well, that's good news. 607 00:55:43,030 --> 00:55:45,750 Thanks for a great speaker today. 608 00:55:46,230 --> 00:55:48,210 Okay. Thanks for watching. 609 00:55:48,890 --> 00:55:49,350 You're welcome. 610 00:55:50,770 --> 00:55:53,390 anybody else no 611 00:55:55,950 --> 00:56:04,250 hands okay so any anything else the committee wants to 612 00:56:04,250 --> 00:56:14,370 discuss or any or should our next meeting would be in four weeks which is I 613 00:56:14,370 --> 00:56:17,250 forgot to look April let's 614 00:56:22,560 --> 00:56:25,420 say well if it's the fourth if it's the fourth 615 00:56:25,420 --> 00:56:37,260 Thursday, it would be the 23rd. Right, April 23rd, I see that, right. Okay. Okay, so I guess 616 00:56:38,480 --> 00:56:51,110 if there's nothing else, we can adjourn the meeting and if I wait one more minute, it'll be 617 00:56:51,110 --> 00:57:02,390 exactly. I moved to adjourn. I second. Okay. Thank you very much. Thanks, everyone. Alright, 618 00:57:02,650 --> 00:57:05,030 thank you. Bye-bye.