by Susan Sharon Maine Public news story As Republicans look to reconcile key differences between the House and Senate versions of their tax bills, one of the flashpoints is around a remote, eastern corner of Alaska — the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, considered one of the most pristine wilderness areas in the country. The Senate Read More
Federal Climate & Energy Issues
NRCM partners with Mainers, businesses, and other local organizations to push Congress and the federal government to take ambitious climate action that will create millions of new jobs, deliver home-grown clean energy to power our future, and protect our health.
Working together with our supporters, NRCM has successfully advocated for the largest investment in climate in U.S. history and billions in infrastructure funding to make our communities more resilient. Moving forward, we will continue to hold Congress accountable to their responsibility to accelerate the transition to clean energy to avert the worst impacts of climate change
Senate Tax Bill Passes, Including Environmentally Damaging Give-Away to Fossil Fuel Corporations
Statement of Lisa Pohlmann, Executive Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine We are deeply disappointed that Senator Collins voted for a tax bill that would open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil drilling. This vote reverses her 20-year record of opposing efforts to allow oil drilling in ANWR, and it is inconsistent Read More
Trump Administration to Hold Sham EPA Hearing to Repeal Clean Power Plan
Stark Contrast with Extensive Public Input to Establish the Plan Statement of Lisa Pohlmann, CEO, Natural Resources Council of Maine “We are deeply disturbed by the Trump Administration’s misguided plan to push through the repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which set the nation’s first limits on carbon pollution from power plants, despite overwhelming public support. Read More
Susan Collins: Ignoring Climate Change is ‘Simply Not a Solution’
By Christopher Burns, BDN Staff Bangor Daily News news story Maine Sen. Susan Collins on Tuesday warned that the federal government’s failure to take action on climate change will come at a high cost to U.S. taxpayers. Her remarks, delivered on the Senate floor, come on the heels of an alarming report from the nonpartisan Read More
As the “Tailpipe of the Nation,” Maine Deserves Cleaner Air
By moving to repeal the Clean Power Plan, Trump is doing the bidding of the coal industry and big polluters. By Conrad Schneider, advocacy director for the Brunswick-based Clean Air Task Force and Jacqueline Guyol, campaign organizer at Environment Maine Portland Press Herald op-ed Last week, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency took steps to eliminate the Read More
NRCM Response to Pruitt Announcement of Rollback of Clean Power Plan
Statement of Lisa Pohlmann, Executive Director, Natural Resources Council of Maine “In Scott Pruitt’s ideal world, polluters have total control of America’s energy and environmental policy. That is a disaster for Maine, which is not only downwind from many of those polluters, but is also blessed with abundant clean, local, renewable energy supplies, rather than Read More
Trump’s “Dirty Budget” is a Grave Threat to the Health of Our Planet
By Josie Cowles and May Young, Special to the BDN Bangor Daily News op-ed As young people, we’re often told we are responsible for the future, even though we can’t vote yet. We are teenagers, and because we will inherit this planet, healthy or not, we’re expected to clean up the messes left by those Read More
Pope Blasts Climate Skeptics, Cites “Moral” Duty to Act
Francis says scientists have clearly charted what needed to be done to reverse course on global warming. by the Associated Press Central Maine newspapers news story ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE — Pope Francis has sharply criticized climate change skeptics, saying history will judge those who failed to take the necessary decisions to curb heat-trapping emissions Read More
Activists Say Proposed EPA Cuts Threaten Maine
by Melanie Sochan The Forecaster news story SCARBOROUGH — Officials and experts spoke out against President Donald Trump’s proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency, saying they could hurt beaches, air quality, and tourism, and contribute to sea level rise and damage the health of Maine residents. The remarks came at a press conference Aug. Read More