PORTLAND, Maine — As the Trump administration works to dismantle renewable energy initiatives and boost oil, coal and natural gas, states such as Maine with aggressive climate initiatives will be largely on their own to maintain momentum. Or maybe shift gears.

That’s why the makeup of the Maine Legislature and the occupant of the governor’s office after the 2026 election cycle will be so consequential.

While the 132nd Legislature will reconvene in January and the who’s who of 2027 is unknowable now, the key issues lawmakers will face were foreshadowed earlier this month during a panel discussion at the Maine State Chamber of Commerce’s Energy Summit in Portland. 

One takeaway is that energy affordability — under mounting stress chiefly from rising electricity prices — will be a litmus test for most any climate policy or spending decisions. That puts pressure on Democrats specifically. They have controlled both the Legislature and the executive branch since 2019, and have thus set Maine’s energy agenda, embodied in the state’s climate action plan. 

Another takeaway is that, although Democratic and Republican legislators have different visions of how to make energy more affordable, they seem to have retained the rapport necessary for dialogue, a value largely gone from Washington in the Trump era.

The policy outlook panel hosted by the chamber featured four lawmakers with deep institutional knowledge, gained from their  years on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee: Sen. Mark Lawrence (D-York), the Senate co-chair; Rep. Melanie Sachs (D-Freeport), the House co-chair; Rep. Steve Foster (R-Dexter), ranking committee member; and Sen. Matt Harrington (R-York), the assistant Senate Republican leader. (You can watch their discussion here; it starts at 3:19.)

Solar policy has been among the most divisive issues handled by the committee. Maine has wrestled in recent years to adjust financial incentives, championed by Democrats, that unleashed a wave of solar development but proved too generous and created a multi-million-dollar burden for electric customers. A recent law, L.D. 1777, restructured the incentives and set the stage for designing a successor program.

During the panel discussion, Sachs and Lawrence expressed satisfaction with the reforms, with Lawrence saying solar policy is now “in the rearview mirror.” But Harrington and Foster disagreed, saying the changes didn’t go far enough. Whether solar stays in the rearview mirror will depend on whether Democrats remain in the driver’s seat, or if a suit filed this week by the solar industry to block the law gets traction.

On the challenge of balancing affordability with clean energy goals, Sachs said Maine can do both. And Lawrence suggested Maine can expand its renewable energy sectors to export more power and boost economic growth. But their Republican colleagues see it differently.

Referring to a large wind farm in Bingham, near his district, Foster noted it was built to satisfy out-of-state contracts and didn’t directly benefit Maine electric customers. More pointedly, Harrington questioned the entire premise of building clean energy projects to meet “our climate goals.”

Harrington continued: “I do not share in those goals. The last six years in the Maine Legislature, the only focus has been on ‘their climate goals.’ There has been zero emphasis on affordability. And Maine people are feeling that so badly today.”

One step that could reduce electricity prices is lowering the wholesale cost of natural gas, which is used to generate half of New England’s electricity. The region doesn’t have enough pipeline capacity on the coldest days, and building new pipelines into southern New England could help lower costs and reduce price volatility. Public and political opposition in New York and Massachusetts, however, has kept more gas from coming north. That’s the primary reason most Maine electric customers will see their electricity supply rates rise next year. 

Lamenting that, Foster spoke at length about the financial and climate emission benefits that natural gas brought to Maine paper mills after they converted from oil. He noted the political opposition occurring out of state, but offered no suggestion of how the Maine Legislature could influence it.

There’s a global effort to design small, less-expensive nuclear reactors that can be built in factories and assembled on site, although none yet exist in North America. Asked by the panel’s moderator to comment on the potential role of next-generation nuclear power, Harrington said it should be part of the energy conversation in Maine. He said a Maine law that requires voter approval of any effort to restore nuclear power here should be changed. 

Lawrence, who along with Sachs had recently visited Ontario to learn about Canadian plans to build small modular reactors, said he wasn’t opposed to nuclear power. But the effort in Ontario is heavily subsidized by the government, he said, with job opportunities related to uranium mining, research and construction taking place in Canada.

Money spent on nuclear power in Maine wouldn’t stay here, Lawrence said, unlike local, renewable energy development such as offshore wind. He called nuclear power “an economic loser for the state of Maine.”  

The panelists were asked to identify priorities for the upcoming legislative session. No surprise, the top issue was affordability. Harrington said affordability should be the only standard to work under, as opposed to the clean electricity standard now in state law that calls for greater shares of renewable power.

One hopeful sign that Maine lawmakers can work across party lines on affordability came in a closing remark from Lawrence, reflecting on his seven years working with Foster. It spoke to mutual respect, at a time when some lawmakers vilify their political opponents as personal adversaries.

“He’s very much a conscience,” Lawrence said of his Republican colleague, “when we Democrats are doing something too fast, too ambitious.”

This story was originally published by The Maine Monitor, a nonprofit and nonpartisan news organization. To get regular coverage from the Monitor, sign up for a free Monitor newsletter here.

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