Maine Climate Council legislation enacted

Newly enacted Maine legislation establishes the Maine Climate Council to advise the Governor and state Legislature on ways to mitigate the causes of, prepare for and adapt to the consequences of climate change, and calls for significant reductions in the state's overall greenhouse gas emissions.

On June 26, 2019, Maine Governor Janet Mills signed into law An Act to Promote Clean Energy Jobs and To Establish the Maine Climate Council. One set of provisions in the new law establishes a requirement that Maine reduce gross annual greenhouse gas emissions -- to at least 45% below the 1990 gross annual greenhouse gas emissions level by 2030, at least 80% below the 1990 gross annual greenhouse gas emissions level by 2050, and on track to meet the 2050 target by 2040. The law requires the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules to ensure compliance with these levels, and authorizes the Department of Transportation to adopt similar rules.

Crucially, the rules must prioritize greenhouse gas emissions reductions by sectors that are the most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions, as identified by the United States Energy Information Administration and in the department's biennial reports, taking into account gross greenhouse gas emissions reductions achieved by each sector since 1990 and the cost-effectiveness of future gross greenhouse gas emissions reductions by each sector. While the electricity sector has largely been decarbonized, transportation and heating lag significantly. Maine's transportation sector was responsible for 53 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions in 2017, with heating taking the next greatest share. Meanwhile, electricity generation in Maine accounted for just 9 percent of the state's greenhouse gas emissions.

The law also creates a 39-member Maine Climate Council, with a subcommittee for scientific and technical matters and various working groups. The Council must meet at least every three months, report annually to a legislative committee, and prepare an updated climate action plan by December 1, 2020 and every four years thereafter. The climate action plan must include a clean energy economy transition plan.

 

Maine Climate Change Council legislation unveiled

Maine Governor Janet Mills has introduced proposed legislation to create a Maine Climate Change Council. While the bill had not been formally printed by the legislature's Office of the Revisor of Statutes as of May 1, the Governor's office posted a copy of the bill captioned, LR2478, An Act to Create the Maine Climate Council to Assist Maine to Mitigate, Prepare for and Adapt to Climate Change.

The draft bill includes a variety of provisions designed to advance clean energy goals:

• It includes language requiring the inclusion of more renewable resources in the state's electricity supply -- 80 percent by 2030, and 100 percent by 2050. (Current law requires 40 percent of electricity sold at retail to come from renewable resources. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2017, about three-quarters of Maine's net electricity generation came from renewable energy resources, with 30% from hydroelectricity, 26% from wood and other biomass, and 20% from wind.)
• It repeals the existing law setting Maine's goals for reduction of greenhouse gases (which currently calls for a reduction to 1990 levels by 2010, to 10 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and in the long term "reduction sufficient to eliminate any dangerous threat to the climate. According to the most recent report of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, in 2015 Maine's greenhouse gas emissions were 11.7 percent below 1990 levels.) It replaces this section with a new section, requiring reduction to 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. The bill requires the Department of Environmental Protection to adopt rules to ensure compliance with these new levels.
• It creates the Maine Climate Change Council to advise the Governor and Legislature on ways to mitigate the causes of, prepare for and adapt to the consequences of climate change. The council would be composed of up to about 40 people filling specific roles prescribed in the legislation such as business, youth, and science. The structure would include a scientific and technical subcommittee, plus working groups on transportation, coastal and marine issues, buildings, infrastructure and housing, working lands and ecosystems, and energy topics.
• It requires the Maine Climate Change Council to update the state climate action plan by December 2020, with further updates to the plan every 4 years thereafter. (The Maine Department of Environmental Protection released the current version of the climate action plan in 2004.) The bill also requires the council to report on progress toward implementing the climate action plan by December 2022, and every 2 years thereafter.

In a statement, Governor Mills said that the bill represents a step in combating the threat of climate change by "expanding our clean energy economy, and investing in our future by creating the Maine Climate Council and marshaling experts across the state to take urgent action." The bill's lead sponsor, Senator David Woodsome, is a Republican co-chair of the legislature's energy committee. Procedurally, next steps include the formal printing of the bill by the Revisor, followed by its reference to legislative committee for a public hearing to be scheduled in the coming weeks.