Mills sets goal to fight climate change: 100% renewable electricity by 2050 (Maine)

[jpak]

https://www.pressherald.com/2019/02/28/mills-sets-renewable-energy-goals-in-climate-change-speech/

AUGUSTA — Gov. Janet Mills outlined an extensive climate agenda on Thursday, pledging to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, work toward 100 percent renewable electricity generation and to work with other governors on regional solutions.

Mills said she joined a coalition of more than 20 governors committed to pursuing the goals of the Paris Agreement on climate despite the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the international pact. To that end, Mills will propose the creation of a Maine Climate Council – comprised of scientists, state leaders and industry representatives – to develop an “action plan” while helping Maine communities adapt to a changing climate.

The Democrat had campaigned hard on climate issues, often accusing her predecessor, Republican Gov. Paul LePage, of undermining Maine’s renewable energy industry and denying the threat posed by rising sea levels and warming temperatures. On Thursday, Mills told several hundred people attending an Environmental and Energy Technology Council of Maine event that the state “cannot wait a day longer.”

“We in Maine don’t need another report to tell us what we already know: that our climate is changing, that it is changing rapidly, that it will have profound implications for all of us and for future generations, and that there is very limited time to address it,” Mills told the E2Tech Council. “We know this because here in Maine we are witnessing changes firsthand.”

<more>