MORE OBSERVATIONS FROM AUGUSTA

Legislative Blog # 6, February 9

For people new to these Observations:

You might want to scroll down to previous Blogs, and read up.

With Senator Mike Carpenter at NRCM Citizen Action Day

Legislative Blog # 6, February 9

For people new to these Observations:

You might want to scroll down to previous Blogs, and read up.

These written observations are only a fraction of what I actually observe each week at the legislature. And what I actually observe is a much smaller fraction of what goes on there each week. This gives me a greatly enhanced respect for the hard work each conscientious legislator must do and for why my legislator may not yet know enough about my issue to provide an opinion on where he or she stands. I do my best to educate myself about a bill so that I can address the pertinent questions before I contact my legislator, but I frequently fall short.

Tuesday I participated in a Citizen’s Action Day sponsored by the Natural Resources Council of Maine (NRCM) which consisted of a workshop discussing bills of environmental and energy interest followed by a trip to the State House to lobby our legislators about them. I read the summary of each bill and material provided by NRCM ahead of time. The workshop reviewed each bill. And still it was a challenge for me to remember sufficient detail to spontaneously answer legislators’ questions. I was very grateful for the information handouts NRCM provided to give to legislators.  

NRCM supports LD 1444  An act to prohibit Gross Metering, formerly titled “An Act Regarding Large-scale Community Solar Procurement” and still titled that on the main.gov web site. After getting confused in trying to explain this bill to my Representative Trey Stewart, and after further research into the formerly titled bill, into the NRCM position, and into news articles about the issue, I have to confess that I do not entirely understand this bill, so I will provide some summary and quotations that give me (and hopefully you) a sense (perhaps an illusion) that I at least understand the problem and the proposed solution.

First a definition of terms https://www.ecosoch.com/net-metering-vs-gross-metering-basics/: “Gross metering: The total energy generated by the solar rooftop plant is to be injected into the grid without allowing the generated solar energy to be consumed directly by the consumer. Net Metering: The energy generated by the solar rooftop plant is first allowed for self-consumption and the excess energy is injected to the grid.” LD 1444 attempts to ban Gross metering.

The problem started in 2017 when the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) instituted a Gross Metering Rule which required solar consumers to pay to the energy company a 3% tax on the market value of the energy they consume. 

In addition to banning Gross metering, LD 1444 also raises the cap on the number of participants allowed to participate in a community solar array from 9 to 50.  A community solar array is a sort of coop of solar consumers who individually can’t afford to install their own solar system. They pool their resources to create a community array. I don’t know why there is a cap at all on this except that utility companies lose business when they can’t charge customers for their electricity.  

I have heard about, but not yet found in writing, an argument that Transmission and Distribution companies are also threatened by solar energy consumers who don’t use the grid infrastructure the companies must build and maintain. The fear is that they will have to charge all customers higher rates to recoup their losses.

The PUC rule about Gross metering and the 3% tax to solar customers has yet to go into effect but will soon unless the legislature steps in to prohibit it.

Representative Trey Stewart thinks the tax is a bad deal, but wants to see the details of the bill to make sure rates won’t be raised for all customers before he decides how to vote.

Senator Mike Carpenter supports the bill and more solar in general.

NRCM supports LD 1510 An Act to Authorize a Bond to Fund Wastewater Infrastructure Projects ($50 million) and LD 178, An Act to Authorize a Bond to Provide Jobs, Improve Road Infrastructure and Protect Water Resources ($5 Million). LD 1510 is needed to prevent the millions of gallons of untreated storm water and sewage from spilling into and polluting Maine water ways by replacing outmoded systems with modern ones.  

LD 178 addresses the problem of nutrient pollution in Maine’s lakes by providing funds to improve camp roads and reduce the run off from them and other sources of run-off pollution. “Maine lakes generate at least $3.5 billion in economic activity and help sustain 52,000 jobs. . . . Water quality in Maine’s lakes isdeteriorating.”  These bond bills are important to the outdoor sports and recreation economy of Aroostook County.

Representative Stewart said he is strongly considering supporting LD 1510 depending on what other bonding priorities come up for his district and compete with the limited total amount of bonding money.

Senator Carpenter is very supportive of these bills and all efforts to reduce water pollution

NRCM opposes LD 1703, An Act to Create Equity for Wine and Spirits Containers.  This bill would reduce all bottle deposits and redemption value to $.05 each. NRCM opposes because the reduction would reduce incentives to redeem the containers; would impose an economic burden on redemption centers; would cause charities to lose income from bottle drives; would cause increased costs in waste management for towns and municipalities; during the label change, some consumers will only get $.05 redemption for containers they paid $.15 for; the state will have to pay $150,000 in implementation costs and will lose its annual $350,000 share of unclaimed bottle deposits.

Representative Stewart said he wants to know the reasons for LD 1703. I reported back to him supporting testimony summarized on the NRCM site:  Beverage industry representatives who testified in support of the legislation said the change would bring about “equal marketplace treatment” for spirits and wine containers. The deposit change would eliminate confusion among consumers and retailers, leave more money in customers’ pockets, and make Maine’s state beverage portfolio more competitive with neighboring New Hampshire’s. There wouldn’t be a risk of increased roadside litter, proponents said, because beverage containers currently make up only a small percentage of litter in Maine, with spirits and wine containers an even smaller subset of that litter.

Senator Carpenter is very opposed to this bottle bill.

While visiting in the State House legislative hall, my NRCM team bumped into Henry Bear, a non-voting Representative of the Maliseet people and got a chance to thank him and his people for continuous support of the environment. The non-voting status of Native American Representatives in the Maine Legislature is reprehensible.  I do not see any good reason why they should not have full voting rights. 

I have other important issues I observed in Legislative meetings this week that I would like to report on, but I suspect I have taxed followers of this blog enough for now with this one. I hope to write a second 6-week post about protecting substance exposed infants and the continuing story about minimum wage this weekend. 

Henry Bear with NRCM Activists for the Environment.