by Jonathan Reisman

August arrived Downeast with fog, unusually high temperatures, and thunderstorms in terms of both weather and politics. 

I could not help but reflect on my first trip to Washington County as a soon-to-be 13-year-old camper in August of 1969. A wonderful “wilderness” canoe/fishing/camping trip on the St. Croix from Spednic Lake to Princeton left an imprint on me and marked a number of issues and themes that still resonate. From the seat beltless backbenches of the camp truck towing a canoe trailer, (it was a different era in terms of child transport safety regulations and rules) northern Washington County appeared, at least to that young somewhat wide-eyed Philly boy, to be an ocean of trees. My memories include impressive Hydro Power Facilities at Vanceboro and Grand Falls, great fishing, repeatedly running the rips at Class III Little Falls, dusk and dawn at haunting Loon Bay, playful otters and grassy islands, sailing a tailwind in lashed canoes down the Grand Falls Flowage to pull out at Princeton, and an eye and mind opening brief introduction to Indian Township.  Now some 55 years later, some version of those memes and memories is still operating, even if that Maine and that impressionable young boy are long gone. Who knows, maybe some faint glimmer of what they were so many years ago still persists.

As July waned, I attended two Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative (EMEC) meetings, the annual meeting (at Washington County Community College in Calais) and the zone election meeting (in Meddybemps). Earlier in the year, as a former director, I pestered the Board and my elected Director/Rep. to educate the members and publicly oppose the climate-alarmist solar and wind policies that are raising our rates and making the grid less reliable. The problem is even worse for Versant (formerly Bangor Hydro) and Central Maine Power (CMP) customers, who are now paying almost $.30 per kilowatt-hour, with no rate relief in sight (in fact more Pain is guaranteed). The Board did not disagree but is cognizant of the political risks in opposing climate alarmism. At the annual meeting, Management delivered pointed remarks critical of the “net billing” debacle that is driving up rates for Versant and CMP, making the grid less reliable, and threatening to do the same for EMEC if the climate alarmists get their way. The climate alarmist language is mine, not EMEC’s. There are some advantages to being a slightly cranky retired professor, widower, and Statler and Waldorf intern.

When I moved to Cooper in 1985 and joined EMEC, our power for both generation and delivery was about $.10/kWh; although, Seabrook delays and financing cost overruns were already driving up EMEC’s costs and would lead to bankruptcy in short order. Environmental and energy policy fights over nuclear power then and climate change now have substantially raised our energy costs and now make the grid less reliable. Expensive and unreliable energy are not prescriptions for freedom and prosperity. “Net zero” policies and replacing fossil fuels with intermittent wind, solar, and (hoped for) batteries will not avert any global warming either. They are, however, raising our rates and making the grid less reliable. 

The climate alarmists have succeeded in promulgating the Big Lie that extreme weather (storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, heat waves, droughts, floods, etc.) is increasing because of climate change–that Carbon Dioxide causes Bad Weather. There is little to no evidence to support this alarmist claim and plenty to disprove it, but the legacy media and much of Maine are not in the business of fact-checking climate alarmists, especially when that would involve uncomfortable introspection. Maine Public, the Portland Press Herald, the Bangor Daily News, the Maine Monitor, WLBZ Channel 2, the University of Maine System, Governor Mills, Senators King and Collins, almost all Democrats, and far too many Republicans regularly carry water for the climate alarmists. That is not likely to change unless there is accountability for advocating policies with great costs and no benefits, except possibly for the climate alarmist grifters who want to control your energy consumption choices. Could be a job for a slightly cranky retired professor, widower, and Statler and Waldorf intern.