Testimony in Support of LD 258, An Act Making Unified Appropriations and Allocations from the General Fund and Other Funds for the Expenditures of State Government and Changing Certain Provisions of the Law Necessary to the Proper Operations of State Government for the Fiscal Years Ending June 30, 2023, June 30, 2024, and June 30, 2025
Senator Rotundo, Representative Sachs, Senator Brenner, Representative Gramlich, and honorable members of the Joint Standing Committee on Appropriations and Financial Affairs and the Joint Standing Committee on the Environment and Natural Resources: My name is Jack Shapiro. I am the Climate and Clean Energy Director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine. NRCM has been working for more than 60 years to protect, restore, and conserve Maine’s environment, and I am here today on behalf of our 25,000 members and supporters to testify in support of LD 258, An Act Making Unified Appropriations and Allocations from the General Fund and Other Funds for the Expenditures of State Government and Changing Certain Provisions of the Law Necessary to the Proper Operations of State Government for the Fiscal Years Ending June 30, 2023, June 30, 2024, and June 30, 2025.
The Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) work is critical to meeting Maine’s ambitious climate and clean energy goals. In particular, the Department has the responsibility to track and report on annual gross and net emissions levels, and to ensure compliance with the state’s statutory emissions-reduction targets of 45% gross emissions reductions by 2030, 80% gross emissions reductions by 2050, and net-zero emissions by 2045.¹
These efforts would be bolstered with additional capacity in the air division to set sector-specific and interim greenhouse gas emissions-reduction targets. This capacity would facilitate the achievement of the strategies laid out in Maine’s Climate Action Plan, “Maine Won’t Wait,”² as well as enhance accountability, spread the burden justly, and let agencies, municipalities, utilities, businesses, and even citizens know what proportion of our overall emissions reductions they are responsible for.
Meeting these targets is crucial. Climate change is already impacting Maine – headlines from just the past six weeks include:
- Researchers seek statewide changes to save clam fishery from climate-driven collapse.³
- ‘Mud season’ conditions keeping Maine loggers out of the woods.4
- Rising seas are causing ‘sunny day flooding’ on Maine’s coast.5
- January warmth takes its toll on winter recreation in Maine.6
- Storm batters Maine’s coastal communities, causes widespread flooding and outages.7
To carry out its important work, it’s imperative that the Department be fully resourced. We encourage the Committee to ensure that this budget provides the funding and staffing resources needed for DEP to meet its responsibilities, ensuring our emissions reduction targets are met on time.
Thank you.
1 https://legislature.maine.gov/legis/statutes/38/title38sec576-A.html
4 https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/01/14/business/maine-loggers-struggling-warm-winter/
5 https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/01/25/portland/climate-change-flooding/
7 https://www.pressherald.com/2022/12/23/southern-maine-facing-high-winds-outages-storm-warning/
