Maine
Maine Climate Council is on the road to hear feedback from Mainers
Hannah Pingree, director of Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, explains the Maine Climate Council’s mission at a workshop Tuesday at the Lewiston Public Library. Frida Zeinali/Sun Journal
LEWISTON — The Maine Climate Council began its statewide tour Tuesday night at the Lewiston Public Library with a question in mind: “What does successful climate action in Maine mean to you?”
Attendees had a chance to answer that question and others as the council held the first of five workshops this month in an effort to hear Mainers’ concerns about the climate.
The first draft of Maine’s next climate action plan for the next four years, Maine Won’t Wait, was met with criticism for lacking resolve around certain targets, such as transportation emissions. The council is on the road to hear what efforts Mainers want to rally around to combat climate change.
“We have specific goals in law to reduce emissions 45% by 2030 and at least 80% by 2050 to help our state on the path to carbon neutrality,” Hannah Pingree, director of Governor’s Office of Policy Innovation and the Future, said. “We need to think about how we prepare our communities, our people, and our economy for the impact of climate.”
“We’re out listening to Maine people. The Maine Climate Council will start deliberating at the end of September,” she said. “All of the feedback we’ve heard from Maine’s people is going to be what we bring to the Maine Climate Council.”
First, the attendees used sticky notes to describe what successful climate action meant for them.
Then, the attendees were asked to take a walk around the library’s Hallett Hall, where the council’s proposed strategies were lined up on boards. After that, they were split into groups with themes to critique the strategies, point out what was most relevant and what was missing.
The strategies were intended to help ease the impact of a variety of climate-related issues. The major themes across the strategies were diverse, from waste and land management, reducing fossil-fueled vehicle traffic to conservation efforts to protect marine habitat and increasing infrastructure for housing and more public transportation.
“I’d say the main reason I’m here tonight is just the severity of the recent storms over the past year. That made me want to be a little more involved,” Paul Josephson said. “Obviously, things have been getting warmer for a long time now.”
The attendees at the first of Maine Climate Council’s action plan workshops, held Tuesday at Lewiston Public Library, were asked to describe successful climate action in Maine. Frida Zeinali/Sun Journal
Once the discussions were over, each group got to report its notes.
“Really doing anything to just take the focus off of cars and put it on pedestrians will go a long way in making public transportation more efficient because less people will simply be taking cars,” said Jon Diotalevi, speaking for his group which had focused on transportation. “We (had) different ideas about how to not encourage cars, like heavier taxes on larger trucks and cars, wider road shoulders for bikers, and more sidewalk shoveling through cities. A lot of it is ‘build it and they’ll come.’”
Another group shared thoughts about energy. “(We didn’t see an item for) providing access to energy efficient programs for renters and ensuring that renters see their benefits as well,” Brian Allen said. “Another item we noted is that the home weatherization effort seems to be lagging. There’s really been no discussion of why that is, but it does seem like a pretty small number of many homes that have been weatherized, maybe 17,000.”
“And the last item wasn’t mentioned, but seems to be worthy of mention, is this idea of signing up for solar shares, which can save you 15% on your electricity bill,” Allen added. “That’s kind of a free, no-cost program that every household should be signed up for.”
The council has four more workshops scheduled this month in Portland, Bangor, Biddeford and Ellsworth. The workshops are open to the public. More information about registration is available at the council’s meeting calendar at maine.gov/future.
Many Maine municipalities will open cooling centers this week with the National Weather Service issuing a variety of heat advisories covering the next few days.
The Maine DEP also issued an air quality alert for Wednesday with ground-level ozone expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
All of York County, interior Cumberland and Androscoggin counties, and the southern half of Oxford County will fall under an extreme heat warning from 11 a.m. Wednesday to 8 p.m. Friday.
The warning calls for “dangerously hot conditions” that could feature heat index values of up to 110 degrees, with overnight lows only expected to fall into the 70s, according to the weather service’s office in Gray.
The rest of the state — save northern Aroostook, Piscataquis and Somerset counties — falls under a heat advisory from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the weather service has also placed much of the state under an extreme heat watch for Thursday.
Heat index values, which measure how hot it feels to the human body when relative humidity is combined with the air temperature, are expected to reach up to 104 degrees during the heat advisory period, the weather service warns. They could reach 110 degrees Thursday, when the extreme heat watch is in effect.
Northern Oxford and Franklin counties, and central Somerset County, can expect a heat index value of up to 99 degrees Wednesday, according to the weather service.
The weather service advises people to drink plenty of fluids, stay in air-conditioned rooms when possible, avoid extended periods in the sun and check up on relatives and neighbors. It also warns not to leave young children and pets in unattended vehicles, as “car interiors will reach lethal temperatures in a matter of minutes.”
Cooling Centers
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection has also issued an air quality alert from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Wednesday along the coast from Kittery to Acadia National Park. The agency warns that ground-level ozone concentrations are expected to reach levels that are unhealthy for sensitive groups.
Ozone levels may reach “moderate levels” further inland, according to the Maine DEP, including in all of Androscoggin and Kennebec counties, as well as parts of Cumberland, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Sagadahoc, Waldo, Washington and York counties.
Elevated ozone levels can pose a risk to children, older adults and people suffering from respiratory or heart diseases, according to the Maine DEP. Anyone exerting themselves outdoors may also experience health effects, which could include coughing, shortness of breath, throat irritation and mild chest pain.
Ozone levels were already climbing in southern New England on Tuesday, according to the Maine DEP, and winds are expected to bring those conditions to Maine on Wednesday.
The Maine DEP recommends that vulnerable populations avoid strenuous outdoor activities, keep windows closed, and circulate indoor air with fans or air conditioners. Those with asthma are also advised to keep quick-relief medication handy.
Particle pollution levels are also expected to be moderate across the state on Wednesday due to wildfire smoke, the Maine DEP said in its announcement Tuesday. Wildfires in Colorado, which have claimed the lives of three firefighters, had burned nearly 90,000 acres as of Tuesday, according to the Denver Post.
Maine could face up to $50 million in penalties next year due to errors in its payments for federal food benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Newly released data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture find that Maine’s error rate last year was nearly 11%, the bulk of which were overpayments. That’s in line with the U.S. average. But starting in October of next year, states with error rates above 6% must cover a portion of the SNAP benefits.
Anna Korsen, executive director of Full Plates, Full Potential, said the overpayments aren’t fraud — they’re human error. She said this new cost-shifting policy enacted last year under the Trump administration further complicates the SNAP application process.
“Instead, we could make this program more accessible and more efficient,” Korsen said. “And that would reduce the number of errors and also ensure that Mainers who are eligible for SNAP have access to it.”
She’s urging Congress to delay or reverse the policy under the farm bill that’s currently under consideration.
Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services said it’s taking steps to reduce the error rate, including modernizing its systems and hiring an additional 40 eligibility specialists.
This story appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.
-
Los Angeles, Ca56 minutes agoMan dies after violent solo crash in Sherman Oaks
-
Detroit, MI1 hour agoPriority Waste CEO shares progress on plan to fix disruptions, delays across Metro Detroit
-
San Francisco, CA1 hour agoThe San Francisco Church That Holds America’s Secrets
-
Dallas, TX1 hour agoCrews battle large fire at Pilates studio in Uptown Dallas, officials say
-
Miami, FL1 hour agoalaïa clads first miami boutique in pink mosaic tiles, from interior to facade
-
Boston, MA2 hours agoLooking for a lodging adventure? Beat the heat at a floating B&B. – The Boston Globe
-
Denver, CO2 hours agoLavender festival, Tennyson Street Fair and more free and cheap things to do in July
-
Seattle, WA2 hours agoSeattle’s solution for the middle-class housing squeeze: government housing | CNN Business
