Staff Report

Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart sits down with Assistant Senate Republican Leader Matt Harrington, Senate Republican Lead on the Legislature’s Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee

Stewart: Yesterday the Democrats here in Augusta held a press conference about affordability. It sounds like their polling is telling them they need to be talking about that more often in an election year. You and I know that couldn’t be further from the truth with regard to what it is the Democrats are actually doing here in Augusta. Tell us all a little bit about what’s happening in the energy sector and in the Energy Committee.

Harrington: Every election season, the Democrats get out and pretend to care about electricity prices. Every time they get re-elected, they come back; and their policies do the complete opposite of that. We saw that yesterday with their press conference — “An Act for Energy Fairness.” They’re really good at creating bills with great titles that they can tout as doing something, but the policies don’t match up to that. I think that’s what we see every election cycle.

Republicans constantly put proposals forward that will actually address high energy costs and the proposals get defeated along party lines. I hope the people of Maine are seeing that and paying attention.

Stewart: Yeah, that bill quite literally does nothing. It’s a request for a report and yet the title is catchy. That’s how they’re going to be drawing people in. There’s a good argument to be made that it will actually make energy more expensive in the State of Maine. Talk to us a bit about some of the efforts that Republicans have put forward this session in contrast to Democrats. What are some Republican priorities as it relates to energy?

Harrington: We’ve consistently been putting bills in to roll back the net energy billing program and we are constantly met with partisan opposition. Last year, they passed what they’re going to tout as a massive reform to net energy billing. It saves a fraction of what we could be saving — over $220 million a year; and they’re patting themselves on the back that they’ll save ratepayers $70 million of that. We need to be looking at a full repeal of net energy billing and save the Maine people all $220 million that is being added to their electricity bills to cover that program.

Stewart: That’s an example of what a state can do to become more competitive. The first thing to do is stop the bleed — stop subsidizing and losing these funds that are paid by ratepayers. Let’s talk about what the Republican vision is for energy and our future as a state long term. If Republicans were in control, what are the things we’d be doing, how we would be focusing on that part of our economy as it relates to public policy? What are some levers we could pull here?

Harrington: The first thing we need to do is break away from this “green agenda” that is driving electricity prices so high. What we’re seeing in Maine is a climate-first model. I think Republicans would focus on an affordability-first model.

If renewable energy is the most cost-effective way to bring energy to Maine, I’m all on board; but that is not the case. We need to put affordability first. The most cost-effective energy measures should be the ones that we’re using. That’s not what we’re seeing. We’re seeing policies that are driven for wind and solar that are driving up costs.

We should be looking at expanding hydro and new emerging technologies like nuclear and hydrogen fuel cells. There are a lot of different options we could be looking at that would drive down costs.

Stewart: A lot of the same people that oppose commonsense things like increasing the volume of cheap, clean forms of energy like hydro or nuclear are also the ones who are putting forward and pushing wind and solar across New England states. What do you see from your vantage point on that?

Harrington: If we’re going to reduce costs — and as you know, Democrats in Maine and across the country like to constantly point to the price of natural gas — I think one of the biggest things we can do in Maine, in conjunction with other blue states, is expand the pipeline capacity for natural gas into New England. That would lower costs for heating, for our industrial users and for electricity ratepayers.

They constantly go back to the price of natural gas. That, too, can be corrected and is being driven by Democrat policies in other Democrat states.

Stewart: Sen. Harrington, thank you for joining us this week to talk about the contrast between Republicans and Democrats here in Augusta on energy policy. Thanks for fighting the good fight down in the Energy Committee. We appreciate all your work there and thanks for being with us this week.

Harrington: Thank you. I hope the people of Maine see Republicans are fighting for them with real policy changes, not just words.

Senator Harold “Trey” Stewart III represents District 2, which includes communities in Aroostook and Penobscot counties. He is the Senate Republican Leader and a member of the Legislative Council.

Senator Matthew Harrington represents District 33, which includes the communities of Alfred, Lebanon, Sanford and Waterboro. He is the Assistant Senate Republican Leader and serves on the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee and the Legislative Council.

Text edited for clarity and brevity.