The incoming Obama administration and our new Congress are working out the details of a $825 billion economic stimulus package that could be finished in a matter of weeks. Gov. John Baldacci, like his counterparts in other states, has submitted to the Obama transition team his wish list for the expenditure of $3.6 billion of those funds in Maine in an effort to rejuvenate our faltering economy.
Yet, at this critical juncture we need to transform our economy, not just stimulate it. If properly channeled, this massive expenditure of public funds has the potential to initiate fundamental change in those economic sectors where recent history has proved Maine most vulnerable. Let us avoid the politically “easy fix” of subsidizing business-as-usual, and instead invest in real transition.
Our leaders should, for example, resist the temptation to expand our automobile-only transportation network. Repairing existing roads and bridges is essential, but as we learned last summer, Maine — which has almost no public transit facilities — is among the most susceptible states in the nation to the fiscal harms of high fuel prices. When this recession is over, the price of fuel will almost certainly climb out of reach again. If we invest in viable alternatives to move freight and people now, our communities and businesses will be shielded against the next fuel price spike or economic slump that we are forced to endure.
The stimulus bill is the perfect opportunity to do so, while also creating new jobs and economic activity. Expenditures on an enhanced fleet of clean-fueled buses, development of commuter and light rail options that model the success of the Downeaster, and the addition of safe bike and pedestrian ways in our urban areas, will provide an injection of cash to the economy, enhance public health and our quality of life, and afford Maine residents and businesses a less-costly alternative to gasoline (and cut our greenhouse gas emissions in the bargain).
Similarly, by investing in the energy-efficiency of our homes, businesses and public buildings we can reduce substantially our electricity and heating expenses, soften foreign oil’s grip on our budgets, and reduce pollution — while simultaneously putting hundreds, if not thousands back to work in the building trades.
Nowhere is this need greater than in Maine’s stock of residential housing, which is outdated, poorly insulated and woefully inefficient. Funding a well-planned and aggressive program that provides a combination of tax incentives, low-interest loans, grants and other support for residential energy-efficiency could save Mainers millions every year. Equivalent savings could be realized by implementing similar measures in the business and public sectors.
As the demise of several of Maine’s traditional, core industries has become a reality, the state is quietly transforming into the region’s hub for renewable energy generation and resources. We have local businesses specializing in the construction of wind farms, environmental and engineering firms consulting nationally on renew-able energy projects, a university with expertise in the composite materials from which windmill blades are made, and a landscape and climate that provides significant wind resources.
Federal investment in the research and development of wind and other clean renewable energy technologies will translate into expanded and new businesses, jobs for Maine workers and a conversion from our costly, volatile and polluting petroleum-based energy supply to one based upon home-grown, clean, renewable power.
Great leadership is characterized by the ability to recognize and seize opportunity in a moment of crisis. As our government undertakes public infrastructure expenditures of historic proportions, it must do so with a bold will for change and an inspired vision of how today’s investments could position us tomorrow. Anything less will doom us to repeat past mistakes, placing us at a local and global economic disadvantage and paving the way to environmental calamity.
Greg Cunningham is a senior attorney with the Conservation Law Foundation, a regional environmental advocacy group with offices in Brunswick.