Jon Reisman

Maine’s Climate Council, co-chaired by Office of Policy Innovation and the Future Director Hannah Pingree and Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Melanie Loyzim is updating Maine Won’t Wait, Maine’s climate action plan. The plan seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (principally from transportation), phase out fossil fuels, encourage solar and wind, promote (undefined) “equity,” and have at least 30% of Maine publicly owned and controlled for conservation and carbon sequestration.

I plan on attending the September 17 hearing at the Bangor Public Library and delivering this:

Climate Council Chairs, Director Pingree and Commissioner Loyzim:

My name is Jon Reisman. I am a retired UM Machias professor of economics and public policy. In 1995, I served in the King administration, implementing the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments, which involved contentious energy and environmental policy choices involving federalism, efficiency, equity, automobiles, emissions modeling and measurement, agency credibility, public opinion, and politics. There were marked differences between the two Congressional Districts and rural vs. urban Maine. I cannot help but channel Yogi Berra: It’s déjà vu all over again.

I have the following comments on the updated Maine Won’t Wait Climate Action Plan:

• The plan is silent on how much climate change Maine’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions will avert. The ultimate goal is not to reduce greenhouse gas emissions but to avert and mitigate climate change. The entire exercise is a consequence of climate alarmism, the belief that anthropogenic climate change is an existential threat to humans and the planet. There is no estimate as to how much of this apocalyptic “climate emergency” threat is being reduced/averted. The reason is because the answer is none.

• Replacing fossil fuels with intermittent solar and wind, magical unicorn battery storage systems, and transmission lines and cables across rural and off shore Maine is driving electricity rates toward $.40/kWh and will lead to a less reliable grid. Costly and unreliable energy that has no climate benefit is not a sustainable policy.

• “Equity” has become a major focus of the plan, but it is neither defined nor measured. I would often suggest to University DEI advocates that “equity” means “equal outcomes,” but they did not seem to embrace that definition. 

• The goal of 30% of the State in conservation/public/tax-exempt/carbon sequestration ownership has particular implications across the 2nd CD and rural Maine, where the vast majority of conservation land is. 30% of Washington County is already in conservation/public ownership. An implemented statewide 30% goal would almost certainly mean half or more of Washington County was off limits for development. The benefits and costs of public ownership are not distributed equitably across all of Maine.

I suggest:

• Tell Mainers how much climate change the plan’s emission reductions will avert and at what cost.

• Define equity.

• Cap public ownership in any given county at 50%.

• Pursue policies that lower, rather than raise, the price of energy, and make the grid more, rather than less, reliable.

• Fracking and Nukes will better protect freedom, prosperity, and resiliency than climate alarmism. Fracked gas replacing coal and oil is a principal reason for emission reductions. Point LePreau Nuclear Station is off the Bay of Fundy and closer to my home than Bangor. Point LePreau supplies Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative with safe reliable carbon free power at $.05/kWh. Put that in your solar subsidizing net energy billing Ponzi pipeline and smoke it.

Jon Reisman is an economist and policy analyst who retired from the University of Maine at Machias after 38 years. He resides on Cathance Lake in Cooper, where he is a Selectman and a Statler and Waldorf intern. Mr. Reisman’s views are his own, and he welcomes comments as letters to the editor here or to him directly via email at [email protected].