Maine Becomes First State to Enact Comprehensive Climate Change Law

New England State Becomes First to Enact Comprehensive Climate Change Law

Posted: 25-Jun-2003; Updated: 15-Aug-2007

Call it Yankee ingenuity.  Maine is transforming the political climate to turn the tide on climate change.

Last week Maine Governor John Baldacci (pictured, right) signed into law what is being pegged as the most far-reaching piece of legislation aimed at curbing global warming.  "I am proud that Maine leads the nation in setting responsible climate change goals," said Baldacci.  "Maine's law paves the way for others to join us in a responsible approach to address the risks of global warming."

The law requires the Pine Tree State to develop a climate change action plan that would reduce carbon dioxide (C02) emissions:

• to 1990 levels by 2010,
• to 10% below 1990 levels by 2020,
• and by as much as 75-80% over the long term.

These targets were agreed to by the New England Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers whose long-term goal is to reduce emissions to a level that eliminates any dangerous threats to the climate.

Maine's action is the first of its kind to wind its way through a legislature and arrive at a governor's desk.  Other states are pursuing similar greenhouse gas emissions reductions through executive orders and more targeted legislation.  What all these efforts show is that the states are stepping in where the federal government is failing to act.

"Environmental Defense applauds Maine's decision to stand up as a leader on the issue of climate change and we expect other states to continue to move forward with their own plans, including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut," said Jim Marston, director of state climate initiatives with Environmental Defense.

Global Warming Debate Heating Up?

Snowe is a co-sponsor of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act (S.139 [PDF]), the leading federal legislation to address the problem of climate change.  The bill would reduce greenhouse gas emissions across all sectors of the economy by setting a nationwide target for pollution reductions.  Companies that exceed the limits can trade those overages to companies that will have trouble meeting the limits.  (Learn more about the Climate Stewardship Act here or sign our petition to show your leaders that you care about the issue.)

As more and more states enact laws similar to Maine's, it will be increasingly difficult for the White House to dodge the seriousness of this grave environmental issue.  "All of these actions at the state level underscore the urgent need for strong, consistent federal action to control dangerous greenhouse gas pollution," said Marston.

New Hampshire was the first state to tackle the issue of climate change in April 2002 by regulating four pollutants, including CO₂, through abill to curb power plant emissions of greenhouse gases executive order.  The following year Granite State officials joined the Chief Legal Officers of Alaska, Connecticut, California, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont in a letter to President George W. Bush, requesting that the current administration address global warming through comprehensive national policies on greenhouse gas emissions.

Massachusetts and California shortly followed suit, enacting laws to curb power plant pollution and tailpipe emissions, respectively. 

Business Friendly

"There are already energy efficient lights, appliances and building techniques that can reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and our emissions of CO₂," said Paul Paydos, Vice President Technical Services of Guilford of Maine. "There are also clean, renewable energy sources that are ready to go on line.  Our company is ready for the challenge.  We believe that Yankee ingenuity and 'can-do' attitude will lead the way to reducing our harmful impact on the planet."

By Erica Rowell
 

Maine's new climate change law also requires the state to foster at least 50 partnerships with businesses and nonprofits to reduce C02 emissions.  Guilford of Maine, a sixty-year-old office fabrics business, is an early recruit.

Such state commitment may have reverberations on Capitol Hill, where the global warming debate is a quiet topic among politicians.  Earlier this week Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) criticized the Environmental Protection Agency for a glaring omission in its highly touted environmental report.  "As the EPA marks a milestone in releasing its first Report on the Environment, which analyzes the nation's water, air and land quality," said Snowe, "it fails to assess one of the most important environmental issues of our time -- global warming."