To the editor:
Unfortunately, the legislative discussions on the solar bill, L.D. 1649, are falling victim to the same crippling ideological conflicts that have made the Congress almost totally ineffective. But climate change isn’t liberal or conservative. It’s the science that makes 99 percent of climatologists believe in human-induced warming and it’s also about the world we are leaving our children and grandchildren.
The primary argument against L.D. 1649 is that it will increase utility rates and therefore harm businesses. In fact, the ratepayer impact of the bill is minimal. More importantly, the discussion is about the short-term impact in Maine rather than the long-term climate change impact to the ski, snowmobile, forestry, fishing, shellfish, and maple syrup businesses, all of which are vital to our economy.
As in most legislative discussions, the focus is on the near-term economic impact. The northern New England seasons we currently enjoy are beautiful and invigorating and our wildlife deserves a break too.
We have in the state and in the nation as a whole a responsibility to address the biggest threat to our lives and livelihood, but global warming is always on the low end of legislative priorities. The governor and Legislature should enact legislation that will encourage the expansion of solar installations by towns, individual homeowners, businesses, schools, and other entities.
We also need to look at other forms of clean energy because we are now below 10 percent renewable. Hydro Quebec is at our doorstep, a huge clean resource. Environmentalists have been opposed to or ambivalent about hydropower, but the climate change threat is huge and we have to take near-term steps to reduce and ultimately eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels.
We are now paying for up to $75 million to build natural gas infrastructure. Natural gas burns more cleanly than coal or oil, but there are widespread methane leaks from the source through the pipe network. Natural gas is a very strong greenhouse gas. So we’re subsidizing a fossil fuel, but somehow solar growth is interpreted as too costly. This is ideology, not reason.
We should expect our legislators and our governor to enact legislation to advance clean energy now. The state, our nation, and the world have already waited far too long.
