Maine grassroots organizations announced the launch of a coalition Friday dedicated to addressing the converging issues of mass unemployment, racial injustice, the COVID-19 pandemic and the climate crisis, marking the occasion by backing a policy agenda in the 2021 legislative session designed to make substantial progress in those areas.
The Renew Maine Alliance, a consortium of groups that includes frontline communities, Indigenous tribes, environmental justice advocates, youth groups and racial justice organizations, is made up of 20 groups, including Maine People’s Alliance (of which Beacon is a project). The coalition is part of the Renew New England Alliance, which includes organizations from all six New England states.
At a news conference Friday, the Renew Maine coalition laid out a bold policy agenda, urging the legislature to pass a number of bills seeking to address significant issues in the state.
One such measure the coalition is backing would reinforce tribal sovereignty. Maulian Dana, Penobscot Nation ambassador, said while tribes made progress on a variety of issues in Maine’s 129th Legislature, there is still more to do. Specifically, Dana pointed to the need to amend the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980, which she said has stymied the tribes economically and served to undermine the inherent sovereignty and self determination of the Wabanaki people.
A list of recommended changes to the law has been put forward by the Maine Indian Land Claims Task Force. But a bill to implement those recommendations died when the legislature ended early last year due to the pandemic.
As a result, Dana said tribal leaders will be working with lawmakers in the 2021 session to push for the proposed changes to the Settlement Act.
“Going into this next session, we will have legislation sponsored by Rep. Rachel Talbot Ross of Portland and also Rep. Ben Collings from Portland that seeks to finally put these recommendations into law and really increase fairness and equity and keep pushing this new dawn of tribal relations,” Dana said.
Another top issue for Renew Maine is creating a consumer-owned utility. State Rep. Seth Berry (D-Bowdoinham) has put forward a bill in the 2021 legislative session to do just that.
The legislation would replace Maine investor-owned utility companies Central Maine Power (CMP) and Versant with a consumer-owned utility that would be a much better deal for Mainers, Berry said at the news conference.
“Consumer ownership has three principle advantages,” Berry said. “Lower cost. Local control. And far better opportunities to create clean energy.”
Berry noted that consumer-owned utilities currently serve one in three Americans, and that the six places in the U.S. that have utilities that are 100 percent renewable are all served by consumer-owned utilities.
A consumer-owned utility would also allow Maine to finance its grid at a much lower cost, Berry explained, allowing for investments to improve reliability and affordability.
Berry added that because CMP — the least popular utility company in the country for three years running — and Versant are foreign-owned, Maine ends up “pumping millions and millions of dollars out of the economy each year in order to profit those investors.” But Berry said Mainers don’t have to be subject to the whims of investor-owned utilities.
“20 years ago, Maine required our investors to sell off their generation assets,” Berry said. “Today, we propose that we require them to sell their remaining assets, to deliver electricity to us. They are allowed to own it because we allow it in law, and we have the ability at any time to control that ourselves.”
In addition to tribal sovereignty and a consumer-owned utility, the Renew Maine coalition also urged that action be taken to create affordable housing in Maine.
At the news conference, state Rep. Rebecca Millett (D-Cape Elizabeth) spoke about legislation for a “green affordable housing bond.”
Millett said she has seen firsthand the importance of affordable housing, particularly when it comes to education.
“In order to succeed in school, in order to succeed in their lives, children and their families need healthy, affordable, secure homes,” she said.
Millett said the bond is designed to increase available housing, helping Mainers who find themselves unable to afford rising rents. But Millett emphasized that the legislation is also about the need to build affordable housing that is environmentally friendly and that creates good jobs with high labor standards that can help the state recover from the economic fallout of the pandemic.
“This legislation will support the development we need with the highest bar in the nation for both green building standards and affordability,” Millett said. “It also prioritizes flexibility, making sure developers have many ways to meet these high energy and climate resiliency standards and that the housing that is built fits the communities who need it.”
Anthony Marvin, a member of the Sunrise Movement hub based in Portland, also spoke at the event about how an affordable housing bond could help young people get ahead.
Marvin shared how in 1998 their mother had bought a house in Skowhegan. At the same age that their mother had a house and three kids, Marvin, 27, has a cat and $20,000 in student debt.
Marvin said an affordable housing bond is needed to address housing costs that many can no longer keep up with. However, Marvin added that legislation around affordable housing must also combat the looming climate crisis, saying the measure is a way to address the inadequacies of a market-based approach to fighting climate change.
“Housing is an essential human right,” Marvin said. “And my generation will be the ones to lead and solve the climate crisis equitably and dismantle the systems of violence that have led us to the climate crisis in the first place. A rising water must raise all boats, and this bond is a way to address systemic issues and combat the climate crisis.”
Another piece of climate-related legislation Renew Maine is pushing is a rooftop solar bond. Scott Vlaun, director of the Center for an Ecology-Based Economy, said at the news conference that Maine has lagged behind other states in New England when it comes to adopting solar power. He said many in the state would benefit from the bond being put forward.
“Renew Maine’s bold proposal for a rooftop solar bond will create greater equity in our energy economy and support those who struggle to put food on the table and a roof over their heads,” Vlaun said.
Vlaun added that the solar bond will create opportunities for businesses in Maine and good jobs for hundreds of Mainers while also allowing the state to move toward a grid that — coupled with a consumer-owned utility — will help Maine reduce its greenhouse gas emissions at least 45 percent by 2030, as laid out in the action plan presented by the Maine Climate Council in December.
“We don’t have a minute to waste in tackling the growing economic inequities exacerbated by the pandemic, and the climate emergency that is wreaking havoc on Maine’s communities will only get worse,” Vlaun said. “This is just the kind of bold legislation that will meet the moment.”
Top photo: Screenshot from the launch event
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