I recently attended a hearing in Portland on the EPA’s new national standard limiting carbon emissions.

The event included a broad panel of Mainers who spoke in support of these important new rules, which for the first time will set limits on climate-changing pollutants from new power plants.

The speakers included a forester, a climate scientist and an asthma specialist, who all voiced grave concern about the impacts the warming climate is having on our natural world, economy and health.

Here in Maine, we are just coming out of one of the warmest winters on record. Not only did the lack of snow make for poor skiing and snowmobiling, but this spring it seems like every time I step outside I come back covered in ticks. These are just hints of much bigger changes to come if we don’t act now.

Because power plants are the largest source of carbon pollution in the country, this new rule is a great place to start. It will require new plants to reduce carbon emissions by about 60 percent from the current average, spurring innovation in clean technologies and creating more green jobs.

Technologies already exist to meet these new targets, and the proposed rules allow a 10-year period to phase them in. Even so, however, big power companies and their supporters already have spent tens of millions of dollars trying to block this change and protect their bottom line.

I urge Maine’s congressional delegation to stand up for state residents and support the EPA’s new Clean Air Act rules.

Greg Kimber

Temple

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