Politics
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SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — Republicans at a Friday gubernatorial forum debated how far to go in gutting Gov. Janet Mills’ clean energy policies, while Democrats split over the role of natural gas in the state’s energy future.
These small cracks emerged at an event hosted by the Manufacturers Association of Maine. Six Republicans, three Democrats and independent state Sen. Rick Bennett, a longtime Republican, gathered to tackle energy policy. The afternoon offered a rare chance to see members in the field tested together ahead of the June 9 primaries.
Republicans mostly agreed by railing against solar and wind incentives enshrined under the Democratic governor, saying they had jacked up Mainers’ energy prices. On the Democratic side, former Maine public health chief Nirav Shah broke with Secretary of State Shenna Bellows and Bennett by embracing natural gas as a bridge fuel.
“It will only be through a broader energy portfolio that we’re actually able to bring our prices down,” Shah said. “Parts of the country that have done so have not doubled down on one source of energy to the exclusion of others.”
Bellows called for grid modernization and said the state must “go big on solar and wind, although she criticized the design of Maine’s long-debated solar subsidies that are funded by ratepayers. The state should keep more power within Maine instead of shipping it out to the other New England states without profit, she said.
“We’re balancing investments in solar on the backs of our taxpayers, and that’s why we do have some of the highest electricity rates in the nation,” she said.
On the Republican side, lobbyist and former Maine Senate President Garrett Mason led the Republican charge in opposing large-scale wind and solar “going after more natural gas.” He called for expanding pipeline capacity, including working with President Donald Trump to get more natural gas from Massachusetts.
Entrepreneur Jonathan Bush said Maine’s energy crisis amounted to a case study “of what happens when you combine recent trends in virtue signaling as a way of attaining power with one-party rule.”
Lawyer Bobby Charles, who was appearing with his rivals after facing criticism for skipping two debates this week, along with entrepreneur Owen McCarthy, real estate executive David Jones and former fitness executive Ben Midgley agreed with Mason and Bush that the state had overbuilt on solar power. Charles, McCarthy and Jones also called for expanding access to natural gas pipelines and hydropower and exploring small nuclear reactors.
But Charles went further, eyeing cuts to the state energy office from almost two dozen staffers to two, and sweeping the Maine Public Utilities Commission of “political hacks, and put on engineers and economists and those with utility expertise.”
Bennett, who released an energy plan this week, echoed Bellows by noting Maine sends more than $4.5 billion out of state to pay for fossil fuels. He called for improved efficiency and grid improvements, support for renewables and more electrification.
Former clean energy executive Angus King III, a Democrat, said permitting and interconnection reform would help protect the environment while still fostering energy development. He called for greater business incentives for more efficient use of the grid, “more sensors, more storage, more capacity, which ends up lowering the cost ultimately for ratepayers.”
On budgeting, Charles and Bush found more agreement, even though Bush has previously criticized Charles for proposing a $4 billion state budget cut. After several candidates said they wanted to work together and collaborate with communities and businesses to find ways to save money, both Republicans painted a dire picture of Augusta that required big changes.
“It’s not a time for all holding hands,” Bush said.
Charles slammed Democrats for saying they wanted to work together while consistently passing simple-majority budgets with little if any Republican support. He called for rolling back not only regulations but eventually the income tax and “hundreds or thousands of unfunded mandates on towns and counties,” which he said would lead to lower property taxes.
Bellows used the moment to stand out, saying she agreed with Republicans that “there is too much waste” in Augusta.