Latest news with #AnnMarieHilton
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maine union workers call on Congress to protect federal clean energy tax credit
Democratic Rep. Kilton Webb of Durham joined other union workers at the State House on April 23, 2025 to call on Congress to protect the federal tax credits for energy development that have kept him and others living and working in Maine. (Photo by AnnMarie Hilton/ Maine Morning Star) When IBEW Local 567 member Kilton Webb started his career as an electrician in 2018, his first job was on a solar field in Kennebunk. The two years that Webb, who now represents Durham in the House of Representatives, spent traveling from town to town building dozens of solar farms as renewable energy projects proliferated allowed him to pay off debt, purchase a home and advance to a journeyman electrician. That's why the Democrat joined other union workers at the State House Wednesday morning to call on Congress to protect the federal tax credits for energy development that have kept him and others living and working in Maine. Congressional Republicans are currently negotiating a federal spending plan that is expected to include significant cuts to pay for an extension of the 2017 tax cuts as well as bolstering funding for border security and defense. 'These clean energy tax credits — which have been in force now for more than two years — they are working,' said Francis Eanes, executive director of the Maine Labor Climate Council. 'They are doing exactly what they are intended to do: lowering Mainers' energy bills, investing in good-paying jobs right here at home and powering Maine with independent, homegrown energy. Win. Win. Win.' Part of the Inflation Reduction Act, the Investment and Production tax credits allow business and tax-exempt entities to deduct part of the cost of developing renewable energy systems from their federal taxes. They include labor requirements for the projects such as paying workers prevailing wages and hiring apprentices for a certain number of hours. Among Maine's congressional delegation, Democratic Reps. Jared Golden and Chellie Pingree, as well as independent Sen. Angus King, voted in favor of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022. However, Republican Sen. Susan Collins voted against it. The tax credits are a 'huge lever for driving clean energy and growing the pipeline of skilled tradespeople we so badly need,' Eanes said. Hayley Lawrence, who lives in Augusta, said it would be a 'mistake' to take away the tax credits that have helped create jobs for people like her. Prior to graduating from an apprenticeship program, Lawrence was living in her car. Just days after completing her program, she was able to get work on solar projects that allowed her to rent an apartment. While some energy development projects are only eligible for one of the credits, multiple solar and wind technologies, as well as municipal solid waste, geothermal, and tidal projects are eligible for both. The tax credits can offset development costs by up to 30%, which provides a 'meaningful savings' that can be passed on to the utility and ultimately, ratepayers, Eanes explained. If those credits disappear for projects that are counting on them, developers may have to renegotiate contracts or pass cost increases onto ratepayers. Eanes and other labor leaders feared that Maine could be disproportionately hurt if the tax credits end because the rural state has significant untapped capacity for new projects that could utilize the benefit to develop homegrown energy and good jobs. There are 145 utility-scale projects either operating or in development across Maine that could be eligible for federal energy tax credits, according to information provided by the Maine Labor Climate Council. This includes the Lincoln Battery Storage Project, Northern Maine Renewables Program, County Line Wind Farm and more. Together, those projects support more than 9,100 jobs, $8.8 billion in investment and nearly 5,000 megawatts of power generation or storage, the council said. But, Eanes said, 'they are depending on the certainty from Washington D.C. to keep these clean energy tax credits going.' SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Committee rejects efforts to stymie development of Sears Island wind port
Sears Island in Searsport, the potential home of the new offshore wind port. (AnnMarie Hilton/Maine Morning Star) The Legislature's Environment and Natural Resources Committee voted down two bills that would have put up roadblocks to the state's effort to develop an offshore wind port on Sears Island. Outside of the debate around developing offshore wind, a bipartisan majority of the committee feared the bills would squash the potential for any future economic development on the island. Last year, the state made clear that Sears Island is its preferred location for a new port to support a budding offshore wind industry. Rep. Reagan Paul (R-Winterport) brought these bills forward after a reelection campaign that emphasized her desire to save the currently undeveloped island in her district. In 2009, the state placed two-thirds of Sears Island, about 600 acres, into a permanent easement. The state plans to leave that portion untouched by the port, which will be built on roughly 100 acres outside of the protected area. LD 226 proposed extending that conservation easement to cover more of Sears Island, including a portion that has been reserved for port development by the Maine Department of Transportation. The committee voted against this bill 10-2, with one member absent. The state-owned land on the island is protected under the Natural Resources Protection Act, which prohibits new or expanded structures on coastal sand dunes. A bill last year sought to authorize the Department of Environmental Protection to grant an exception for the site, so long as all other applicable permitting and licensing criteria are met. The proposal drew strong pushback from local conservation and Indigenous groups and initially divided lawmakers, but eventually prevailed and was ultimately included in the supplemental budget passed last session. Reagan's other bill, LD 735, would roll back those efforts from last session and impose limits on who could propose similar legislation in the future. The committee voted against that bill 9-3, with one member absent. In addition to concerns raised by the committee's legislative analyst that aspects of the legislation could conflict with the state constitution, committee co-chair Sen. Denise Tepler (D-Sagadahoc) said she opposed the bill because she was informed that Wabanaki leaders weren't consulted, despite the proposal including the establishment of an Indigenous lands protection committee. Despite the overwhelming vote recommending against passage of the bills, they still advance to the full Legislature, beginning with the House of Representatives. The state is in the preapplication phase for developing a wind port on the island, said Matthew Burns, deputy director of the Office of Freight and Business Logistics for the Department of Transportation. Design work is a little over halfway complete, but Burns said the state doesn't anticipate submitting permit applications until there is more clarity about how the project would be funded. After conversation digressed into details about what dredging would be necessary for port construction, Tepler reminded the committee that LD 226 is not actually about a port. 'This bill is about voiding the ability of the Department of Transportation to use a small piece of Sears Island — or a third of the island that they own — for any possible future development,' Tepler said. Given that, she asked the committee to refrain from further conversation about building a potential wind port when discussing that bill. Rep. William Bridgeo (D-Augusta) said it is 'vitally important' to preserve the island's potential for economic development given that the other major ports in the state are either built out or logistically challenging. 'It would not be prudent for the state to relinquish its ability…to utilize that piece of land for open-ended purposes,' he said. While she appreciates conservation concerns, Sen. Stacy Brenner (D-Cumberland) agreed that the land should be left open for economic development opportunities in the future. Shutting that off would 'close a lot of doors,' she added. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Amid increased need, federal uncertainty, bill would double support for hunger relief program
Snell Family Farm's stand at the Portland Farmer's Market. (AnnMarie Hilton/ Maine Morning Star) From her time volunteering at a food pantry, Rep. Anne Graham (D-North Yarmouth) said she will always remember a mother who showed up with tears in her eyes because she was ashamed she couldn't afford to put food on her family's table. To support that mother and others who are food insecure, as well as Maine farmers, Graham introduced LD 415, which would provide an additional $1 million per year to the statewide hunger relief program administered by the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry. Citing an increase in need, as well as the uncertainty facing federal assistance programs that support low-income communities, Graham argued that the investment could have multiple benefits at this critical juncture. Currently, the program provides $1 million to the Mainers Feeding Mainers program run by the Good Shepherd Food Bank, which sources produce from local farms for food pantries across the state. Graham's bill would double the current investment, she told the Legislature's Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee during a public hearing Thursday. One in eight people in Maine face hunger, including one in five children, said Good Shepherd President Heather Paquette in her testimony in support of the bill. This has increased since last year, she said, leaving the food bank with the challenge of 'providing more food for more people with fewer resources.' Mainers Feeding Mainers works with more than 90 farms throughout the state and has invested more than $2.7 million into the local agriculture economy, according to the Good Shepherd website. Paquette said money from the program is used to buy produce, while outside donations pay for seafood, meat, grain, dairy products and eggs. Not only could this money further promote local agriculture, Graham argued it could also make the state more resilient to unpredictable shifts in weather and international trade that disrupt food supply chains. 'Our state is facing an extremely unpredictable future,' Graham said. Additionally, it could prepare the state for any cuts or changes the federal government could implement to benefits and assistance programs. As the Trump administration and Republican-led Congress look to slash federal spending, some are concerned there could be cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Though Republicans have said they don't intend to reduce food stamp benefits, the House budget resolution requires the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees SNAP, to reduce its budget by $230 billion from the various programs in its jurisdiction. More than 183,000 Mainers received SNAP benefits in December, according to the most recent data from the state Department of Health and Human Services. The agriculture committee also held a hearing for a similar bill, LD 468, which would provide an additional $1.2 million per year to the Fund to Address Food Insecurity and Provide Nutritional Incentives, which supports programs that allow low-income Mainers to use their benefits to buy produce from farmers. Multiple agricultural organizations and farmers testified in support of the bills, noting that the additional funding could help bolster Maine farms while aiding in the state's goal to end hunger by 2030. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
06-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Bid to protect lobstering by extending Maine's maritime jurisdiction could be unconstitutional
Cliff House Beach in Cape Elizabeth, Maine. (AnnMarie Hilton/Maine Morning Star) Previous attempts to extend Maine's jurisdiction over coastal waters faced legal hurdles, but one lawmaker is trying again. Two bills from Sen. Joseph Martin (R-Oxford) that seek to assert state sovereignty and ownership up to 12 and 24 nautical miles off the state's coast are scheduled to have a public hearing Thursday before the Legislature's Marine Resources Committee. Just two years ago, similar legislation was brought forward and failed. At the time, both the Maine Department of Marine Resources and the Maine Lobstermen's Association raised concern that such a change is legally fraught and wouldn't result in the desired outcome of protecting lobster fisheries, leading both entities to oppose the bill. The new proposal to extend state sovereignty to 12 nautical miles off the coast, LD 553, includes an emergency preamble that would allow the legislation to take effect immediately upon passage, rather than waiting the typical 90 days after adjournment. The emergency language in the bill cites recent decisions from the National Marine Fisheries Service and New England Fishery Management Council to restrict herring fishing in the Gulf of Maine. Herring are commonly used as bait for commercial lobster fishing, so those decisions could have devastating consequences for Maine's lobster industry, the bill states. The 2025 herring fishing quota for the region is a fraction of what it was expected to be in an effort to reduce the risk of overfishing and help rebuild the population, explained Jamie Cournane, a senior fishery analyst with the New England Fishery Management Council. The decision to lower the limit was motivated by a stock assessment conducted last year that showed the herring population was not doing as well as a 2022 assessment predicted. However, Cournane said the council is continuing to assess new information about the herring population and could update its recommendations to the federal government. Prior legislation made similar arguments that state authority should be extended to protect Maine's lobster industry. The proposal to go as far as 24 miles, LD 687, was submitted as a concept draft and the complete language was not available as of Wednesday afternoon. As with the 2023 legislation, neither proposal seems to 'have legs' because federal laws and previous court decisions don't permit state authority that far off the coast, said Charles Norchi, director of the Center for Oceans and Coastal Law at the University of Maine School of Law. A 1975 U.S. Supreme Court case found that states on the Atlantic Coast only have jurisdiction up to three nautical miles from the low-water mark. Therefore, it would be unconstitutional for a state to assert jurisdiction beyond that, Norchi said. That decision was based on two 1953 federal laws, namely the Submerged Lands Act and the Outer Continental Shelf Land Act, that establish the three-mile boundary. In his testimony against the 2023 bill, Maine Department of Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher said a 1997 analysis from the Marine Law Institute of the University of Maine found that the state could not assert its sovereignty beyond the three-mile boundary because of the Submerged Lands Act. Nothing in the current proposals makes Norchi believe this attempt would garner different results than the previous attempt. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine and other coastal economies rely on NOAA – even if they don't realize it
Setting lobster traps in Casco Bay. (Photo by AnnMarie Hilton/Maine Morning Star) Healthy coastal ecosystems play crucial roles in the U.S. economy, from supporting multibillion-dollar fisheries and tourism industries to protecting coastlines from storms. They're also difficult to manage, requiring specialized knowledge and technology. That's why the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – the federal agency best known for collecting and analyzing the data that make weather forecasts and warnings possible – leads most of the government's work on ocean and coastal health, as well as research into the growing risks posed by climate change. The government estimates that NOAA's projects and services support more than one-third of the nation's gross domestic product. Yet, this is one of the agencies that the Trump administration has targeted, with discussions of trying to privatize NOAA's forecasting operations and disband its crucial climate change research. As a marine environmental historian who studies relationships among scientists, fishermen and environmentalists, I have seen how NOAA's work affects American livelihoods, coastal health and the U.S. economy. Here are a few examples from just NOAA's coastal work, and what it means to fishing industries and coastal states. One of the oldest divisions within NOAA is the National Marine Fisheries Service, known as NOAA Fisheries. It dates to 1871, when Congress created the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries. At that time, the first generation of conservationists started to worry that America's natural resources were finite. By conducting surveys and interviewing fishermen and seafood dealers, the fish commissioners discovered that freshwater and saltwater fisheries across the country were declining. Oil spills and raw sewage were polluting waterways. Fishermen were using high-tech gear, such as pound nets, to catch more and more of the most valuable fish. In some areas, overfishing was putting the future of the fisheries in jeopardy. One solution was to promote aquaculture, also known as fish or shellfish farming. Scientists and entrepreneurs reared baby fish in hatcheries and transferred them to rivers, lakes or bays. The Fish Commission even used refrigerated railroad cars to ship fish eggs across the country. Today, U.S. aquaculture is a US$1.5 billion industry and the world's fastest-growing food sector. Much of the salmon you see in grocery stores started as farm-raised hatchlings. NOAA provides training, grants and regional data to support the industry. NOAA Fisheries also helps to regulate commercial and recreational fishing to keep fish populations healthy and prevent them from crashing. The 1976 Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act and other laws implemented catch limits to prevent overfishing. To develop fair regulations and combat illegal practices, NOAA and its predecessors have worked with fishing organizations through regional fishery management councils for decades. These industries generate $321 billion in sales and support 2.3 million jobs. NOAA also benefits U.S. coastal communities by restoring coral reefs. Corals build up reefs over centuries, creating 'cities of the sea.' When they're healthy, they provide nurseries that protect valuable fish species, like snapper, from predators. Reefs also attract tourism and protect coastlines by breaking up waves that cause storm-driven flooding and erosion. The corals of Hawaii, Florida, Puerto Rico and other tropical areas provide over $3 billion a year in benefits – from sustaining marine ecosystems to recreation, including sport fishing. However, reefs are vulnerable to pollution, acidification, heat stress and other damage. Warming water can cause coral bleaching events, as the world saw in 2023 and 2024. NOAA monitors reef health. It also works with innovative restoration strategies, such as breeding strains of coral that resist bleaching, so reefs have a better chance of surviving as the planet warms. A third important aspect of NOAA's coastal work involves controlling invasive species in America's waters, including those that have menaced the Great Lakes. Zebra and quagga mussels, spiny water flea and dozens of other Eurasian organisms colonized the Great Lakes starting in the late 1900s after arriving in ballast water from transoceanic ships. These invaders have disrupted the Great Lakes food web and clogged cities' water intake systems, causing at least $138 million in damage per year. In the Northwest Atlantic, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, invasive lionfish, native to Asia and Australia, have spread, preying on native fish essential to coral reefs. Lionfish have become one of the world's most damaging marine fish invasions. NOAA works with the Coast Guard, U.S. Geological Survey and other organizations to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species. Stronger ballast water regulations developed through the agency's research have helped prevent new invasions in the Great Lakes. One of NOAA's most crucial roles is its leadership in global research into understanding the causes and effects of climate change. The oil industry has known for decades that greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels would raise global temperatures. Evidence and research from around the world have connected greenhouse gas emissions from human activities to climate change. The data have shown how rising temperatures have increased risks for coastal areas, including worsening heat waves and ocean acidification that harm marine life; raising sea levels, which threaten coastal communities with tidal flooding and higher storm surges; and contributing to more extreme storms. NOAA conducts U.S. climate research and coordinates international climate research efforts, as well as producing the data and analysis for weather and ocean forecasting that coastal states rely on. Why tear apart an irreplaceable resource? When Republican President Richard Nixon proposed consolidating several different agencies into NOAA in 1970, he told Congress that doing so would promote 'better protection of life and property from natural hazards,' 'better understanding of the total environment' and 'exploration and development leading to the intelligent use of our marine resources.' The Trump administration is instead discussing tearing down NOAA. The administration has been erasing mentions of climate change from government research, websites and policies – despite the rising risks to communities across the nation. The next federal budget is likely to slash NOAA's funding. Commercial meteorologists argue that much of NOAA's weather data and forecasting, crucial to coastal areas, couldn't be duplicated by the private sector. As NOAA marks its 55th year, I believe it's in the nation's and the U.S. economy's best interest to strengthen rather than dismantle this vital agency. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
