Clean air is essential for healthy, happy lives. Clean, renewable energy helps ensure clean air. NRCM works for policies and initiatives that will improve Maine's air quality and reduce global warming pollution throughout the state and region.
NRCM’s climate and clean energy work is focused on where we can have the greatest impact: cleaner cars and trucks, clean and renewable energy production, and greater energy efficiency.
Our work in these key areas is critical to reducing health and environmental problems already plaguing our state. These include high asthma rates, more “bad air days,” rising sea levels due to climate change that threaten coastal communities, and threats to our fall foliage, skiing, and our vital tourism-based industry.
NRCM makes certain that Maine's elected officials and decision-makers are kept up to date about information related to climate change pollution, clean energy technologies, and steps Maine can take to ensure clean air.
NRCM Urges Senators Collins, King Not to Undermine Senate Confirmation Process for Nominees
November 25, 2024 (Augusta, ME) — Maine’s leading environmental advocacy organization today urged Senators Susan Collins and Angus King to insist that the full, deliberative “advice and consent” process be pursued in the U.S. Senate for nominees to federal agencies that play a critical role in helping protect Maine’s environment. The Natural Resources Council of Read More
Updated Climate Action Plan is Opportunity for Maine to Lead
The Maine Climate Council released its updated Climate Action Plan (view PDF) today as is statutorily required under a bipartisan climate law passed in 2019. Since the first Climate Action Plan was published in 2020, the impacts of climate change have become more pronounced, causing damage to critical infrastructure, harm to local communities, and interruptions Read More
New Methane Pollution Charge Will Protect Our Health
November 15, 2024 (Augusta, ME) — A new rule announced this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) aimed at slashing harmful methane pollution will protect clean air and safeguard human health. As part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the U.S. Congress adopted the methane waste emission charge as part of the Read More
Why NRCM is Supporting an Offshore Wind Port on Sears Island
The Natural Resources Council of Maine supports a proposed offshore wind (OSW) port on Sears Island because it is our best chance to create a new clean energy industry for Maine that helps us become more energy independent, reduce harmful air pollution, and create thousands of new good-paying jobs. In this post, we explain the Read More
Successful Gulf of Maine Offshore Wind Lease Sale Kicks Off a New Clean Energy Era
News release October 29, 2024 (Augusta, ME) – A new era for clean energy in New England kicked off today when the federal government announced the results of its first floating offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Maine. Four of the eight available lease areas were purchased by developers, including one in the northern Read More
US Dept. of Energy Grant for Aroostook Renewable Transmission
NRCM Statement October 3, 2024 (Augusta, ME) — Today, the U.S. Department of Energy announced $425 million in support of a proposal to connect clean, reliable wind energy from Aroostook County to the rest of Maine, as well as the New England electric grid. The project, proposed by Avangrid, must still be selected by the Read More
Latest CMP Reorganization Plan Raises Concerns for Maine Electricity Customers
Advocates Urge PUC to Protect Ratepayers September 16, 2024 (Augusta, ME) — The plan to take Maine’s largest utility private is raising serious concerns about the impact on electricity customers and the role of utilities in helping the state meet its clean energy goals. Iberdrola’s $2.5 billion buyout of public shares of Central Maine Power’s Read More
Sales Notice Posted for Gulf of Maine Wind Projects
News Release September 16, 2024 (Augusta, ME) – The federal government today issued its final sale notice for the responsible development of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine. The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) notice sets October 29th as the date for its auction of lease areas for building floating offshore wind projects Read More
One Rural Maine School District’s Electric School Bus Experience
When Scott Lawyerson, the Head of Maintenance and Head Bus Driver at MSAD 13, was asked to describe experience with the district’s new electric school bus in one word he said “dependable.” Over the past 3 years, Maine has been awarded 72 electric school buses across 28 school districts through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Read More
