By Michael Shepherd - Feb. 27, 2023
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📷 Habib Dagher, founding executive director of the Advanced Structures and Composites Center at the University of Maine in Orono, talks about developing offshore floating wind turbines on Dec. 6, 2022. (BDN photo by Linda Coan O'Kresik)

Good morning from Augusta. The Legislature is back after school vacation last week. Here's the Monday committee agenda.

What we're watching today

It's a pivotal year for Maine energy policy, and it's hard to tell where we're going from here. The year started with crucial approvals for a wind transmission line that is nearly as big as the stalled Central Maine Power Co. corridor and will connect Aroostook County to the regional grid. It could end with a quasi-public takeover of the state's major electric utilities that will be decided in the November 2023 election.

Those are only the bookends of a pivotal year for Maine energy policy. We are going to see plenty more in the meantime. One of the major things to watch is the movement of Gov. Janet Mills' new goal of transitioning to fully renewable electricity by 2040. Virtually every facet of the state's clean-energy portfolio from heat pump adoption to a potentially large but far-off transition to offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine is wrapped up in that so-far-vague plan.

The Democratic governor's office is just beginning to flesh out a bill charting a path to that goal. Sen. Mark Lawrence, D-Eliot, the co-chair of the Legislature's energy committee, expects that it will take more "fine-tuning" of existing initiatives than new ones. Mills rolled out the proposal during her budget address earlier this month, but the bill will likely be considered separately, and Democrats can pass it alone in the Legislature.

Lobbyists will also want their say in all of this. For example, Mills ally Tony Buxton, who represents the Industrial Energy Consumer Group, a coalition of manufacturers and other large power users, is nudging the state to speed along heat pump adoption. His group is behind a measure from Sen. Nicole Grohoski, D-Ellsworth, that he said would put the Maine Public Utilities Commission in charge of beneficial electrification, or replacing fossil-fuel infrastructure such as furnaces and vehicles with electric alternatives.

Buxton has been one of the major critics of net energy billing, the set of subsidies passed by Mills and the Legislature in 2019 that created a solar energy boom across the state but then gained attention when the fixed-price power contracts threatened large rate increases. The policy has been scaled back since then and the Mills administration is behind new changes this year.

Republicans want to abolish the policy altogether, and they are also back with other proposals reflecting their energy orthodoxy back in the era of former Gov. Paul LePage. Top among them is removing the 100-megawatt cap on hydropower projects deemed renewable under strict state standards, something that has been a nonstarter for Democrats and will continue to be.

While they have relatively little power in Augusta right now, Republicans' stances on major energy items are key to predicting the future in this policy area. Senate President Troy Jackson, D-Allagash, championed the Aroostook power line, support from Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart of Presque Isle and other Republican lawmakers kept it on solid political footing.

The opposite can be said for offshore wind. When Mills released her roadmap for that power source last week, a group of Republicans including House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, a lobsterman from Winter Harbor, called offshore wind "a blueprint for destroying Maine’s way of life."

This was not always how it was. The University of Maine has played the main role in spurring the conversation in this policy area by developing floating turbines that are a major part of Maine's plans, and it has long benefited from the bipartisan support of the congressional delegation. LePage opposed a test project being sited during his 2022 campaign against Mills, who was criticized by many lobstermen over her policies.

Democrats have control of Augusta now, allowing the governor to do many of the things she wants in this area. But they probably won't have control forever. Any adjustment of long-term energy goals can be changed down the road. That makes bipartisan agreement in these areas important, especially with wider uncertainty about who will be providing the power in Maine going forward.

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News and notes

📷 Major William Ross (left) of the Maine State Police is sworn in as Troop A lieutenant in October 2015 by then-Col. Robert Williams, the chief of the agency. (Photo courtesy of the Maine State Police)

🚨 Two Maine law enforcement veterans get big confirmation hearings.

◉ Major William Ross of the Maine State Police and Assistant Fire Marshal Richard McCarthy, who were each nominated by Mills for the top jobs in their respective agencies, face lawmakers on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee at 1 p.m. on Monday. Watch here.

◉ McCarthy may get some questions following a BDN report on years-long complaints about leadership in the fire marshal's office. Michael Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said he was confident in McCarthy's ability to lead the agency.

◉ Both Ross and McCarthy have worked in their agencies for more than 20 years. Their promotions to colonel and fire marshal — replacing the retired John Cote and Joseph Thomas, respectively — require Senate confirmation.

💰 Maine's congressman forms a new fundraising committee.

◉ Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine's 2nd District, formed the As Maine Goes PAC last week, becoming the second member of the state's congressional delegation to have a leadership committee that he can use to bolster likeminded candidates.

◉ The third-term congressman has taken a more prominent role in national politics this year as the effective head of the Blue Dog Coalition, a small group of centrist Democrats. After beating former Rep. Bruce Poliquin for the second time in 2022, Golden's standing in the swing district is as strong as ever.

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What we're reading

4️⃣ A Maine city's switch could bolster the case for a four-day workweek.

🚑 Supply-chain issues hold up life-saving equipment for Maine agencies.

🙋‍♀️ Town meeting season is upon us. Here's a guide to how they work.

⛔ A Route 1 reconstruction through Searsport may cost $5 million more.

🛒 Presque Isle's mall is closing after failing to pay bills. Here's your soundtrack.

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