Podcasts about central maine power

In today's episode, Bob'nJoyce discuss the impact OD/HR practitioners have shaping culture and transforming organizations. The spotlight, much to her chagrin, is on Joyce and her impact first at Central Maine Power, and later at Hannaford and Delhaize. It underscores the importance of what great leaders do – drive positive change while focusing on the business and its people, and not on themselves. We are ending 2024 with episodes that inspire thought and positivity. Last week it was about the power of connection and community. This week it is about the work that makes it so. Kudos to my co-host and friend, Joyce Wilson-Sanford – who was and still is a force to be reckoned with. Come on in. Grab a snack. Welcome.

Episode 19: Central Maine Power Company, et al. v. Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, et al. Central Maine Power Company, et al. v. Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, et al., argued before Circuit Judge Lara Montecalvo, Senior Circuit Judge Jeffrey R. Howard, and Circuit Judge Seth Aframe in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit on October 9, 2024. Argued by Jonathan Richard Bolton, Maine Assistant Attorney General (on behalf of the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices, et al.),  Joshua D. Dunlap (on behalf of Central Maine Power Company, et al.), Paul McDonald (on behalf of Versant Power and ENMAX Corporation), and Timothy Woodcock (on behalf of individual voter plaintiffs). Statement of Issues Presented for Review, from the Brief of Plaintiff—Appellee Enmax Corporation and Versant Power: 1. Whether the district court abused its discretion by preliminarily enjoining enforcement of 21-A M.R.S. § 1064 (the “Act”), which bars all campaign spending of a domestic corporation if 5% or more of its stock is owned by certain foreign entities or such a foreign entity directly or indirectly participates in its campaign-spending decisions, on the grounds that the Act facially violates the corporation's First Amendment rights. 2. Whether the district court abused its discretion in determining that the Act is expressly preempted by federal law as applied to federal elections when the Act's plain text does not limit its application to state elections. 3. Whether the district court's decision enjoining the Act should be affirmed on two alternative grounds left unaddressed by the district court: (i) the Act violates the United States Constitution's “dormant foreign commerce clause,” Article I, Section 8, Clause 3; and (ii) the Act, as applied to Versant Power, violates its rights under the First Amendment. Resources: CourtListener case docket for Central Maine Power Company Institute for Free Speech amicus brief The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment. If you're enjoying the Free Speech Arguments podcast, please subscribe and leave a review on your preferred podcast platform. To support the Institute's mission or inquire about legal assistance, please visit our website: www.ifs.org

Central Maine Power Company v. ME Comm'n on Gov't Ethics and Election Practices

Downeast Mike Episode 118 *News & Commentary* Saturday, March 16th, 2024 Our Motto: Some of this is whimsy – some of this is true – the interpretation of it all is entirely up to you! Did you know? Downeast Mike contains no mean words! Just wholesome goodness from Downeast Maine. A Historical Literary Auditory Candy Store. Did you hear the bells on the door when you came in? In today's episode: A Central Maine Power Rip-Off (1979) A Gaza Grenade – Mid-East Peace Talks (1969) K-Mart: Broken Lamp Debacle (1979) Maine's Richest Man (1891) Two Maine Monster Tales Thank you for listening! Please send your birthday wishes, comments and requests to mike(@)downeastmike.com --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/frank-w-norwood/support

Welcome back to another insightful episode of the Trees & Lines podcast. On this episode, we are back at the Trees & Utilities 2023 Conference where we talked with Katie Manende, Manager of Vegetation Management at Central Maine Power, discussing her thoughts around how the industry can grow as a whole, what they are doing to protect their pollinators, and how they are evolving their technology as they grow as a utility. Have a listen, hope you enjoy!#vegetationmanagement #arborist #pollinators #power #utility #Maine

Ralph welcomes Toby Heaps, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Canadian magazine “Corporate Knights,” which ranks the world's 100 most sustainable corporations. And we welcome back Dr. Bandy Lee, psychiatrist and editor of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” to discuss Donald Trump's continuing hold on 30% of the American population.Toby Heaps is the CEO and co-founder of Corporate Knights, and Editor-in-Chief of Corporate Knights magazine. He spearheaded the first global ranking of the world's 100 most sustainable corporations in 2005, and in 2007 coined the term “clean capitalism.” Toby has been published in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Globe and Mail, and is a regular guest speaker on CBC.You see these stories happening all over the world, whether it's from the oil companies or the electric power companies, fossil power companies, or food companies, or real estate companies. And the ones who are going all in, investing big in the green economy and the more sustainable economy are, more often than not, the ones who are hitting the biggest numbers financially.Toby Heaps, Corporate KnightsWe don't want to just be doing a beauty contest or be subject to the latest headline. We're trying to do something that's reasonably rooted in evidence, and it can be defensible, and it can be considered fair. And we recognize that none of the big companies that we rank are perfect— they all have major issues, which is kind of the nature of the human condition.Toby Heaps, Corporate KnightsDr. Bandy Lee is a medical doctor, a forensic psychiatrist, and a world expert on violence who taught at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Law School for 17 years before transferring recently to Columbia and Harvard. She is currently president of the World Mental Health Coalition, an educational organization that assembles mental health experts to collaborate with other disciplines for the betterment of public mental health and public safety. She is the editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President and Profile of a Nation: Trump's Mind, America's Soul.Essentially, [Trump] did not have the capacity to have ideologies or policies. He can't think at that level. What he can do is to manipulate psychologically those who are vulnerably predisposed and those who have formed emotional bonds with him.Dr. Bandy LeeThese are the kinds of effects that we expect from having a person with severe mental symptoms holding an influential position and having lots of public exposure. We do have a propagation of symptoms. I've been calling this the “Trump Contagion” but what it really is is shared psychosis, which is a psychosocial phenomenon that's been researched and described since around the mid-19th century.Dr. Bandy Lee[Trump voters] are still with him. But they would never support a friend or a neighbor who lied all the time, who had power over them, who described things that weren't real about what was going on around them or what he did in the past, or who cheated his workers.Ralph NaderIn Case You Haven't Heard with Francesco DeSantis1. The United Autoworkers Union is on strike against the big three automakers. Just before the strike began, the Lever reported that General Motors claimed the union's demands “would threaten our ability to do what's right for the long-term benefit of the team.” Yet, for all their crying poverty, the Big Three “have reported $21 billion in profits in just the first six months of 2023,” and “have authorized $5 billion in stock buybacks.” The union's strategy is also worth touching on, as it is novel for this industry. Instead of all workers going on strike at once, the union plans on “targeting a trio of strategic factories while keeping 90 percent of its members working under expired contracts,” per Axios. However, this story notes the ways industry plans to strike back, notably by utilizing quasi-lockouts at active plants.2. In a nigh-unprecedented shot across the bow, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has issued a “‘writ of body attachment', directing the United States Marshals Service to take two corporate officials of Haven Salon + Spa in Muskego, Wisconsin into custody [after they] repeatedly failed and refused to comply with an enforced [National Labor Relations] Board order.” This followed years of opportunities for the corporate officials to settle this dispute and represents the strongest signal so far that the re-energized NLRB will use every weapon in its legal arsenal to protect workers. The Board's full statement is available at NLRB.gov.3. The Washington Post reports that since retaking power in Afghanistan, the Taliban has “all but extinguished al-Qaeda.” Yet buried within this story is a much more intriguing tidbit. According to this piece, “The CIA shares counterterrorism information with the Taliban,” per a senior Biden administration official. This official emphasized that this does not include “targeting data or ‘actionable intelligence,'” raising the question of what information exactly the CIA is passing along to the Taliban. 4. In Maine, voters are set to decide on a proposal to “turn the state's two big private electric companies—Central Maine Power and Versant—into Pine Tree Power, a nonprofit, publicly run utility,” per Bill McKibben in the Nation. McKibben points out that the private utility companies “sent $187 million in profits out of Maine last year—much of it to shareholders in such far-flung places as Qatar, Norway, and Canada.” Moreover, this move could lower rates by “an average of $367 per household per year.” Bernie Sanders has endorsed this effort, declaring “Power belongs in the hands of the people, not greedy corporations.”5. In an effort to combat food deserts, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has announced the city will explore the possibility of opening a municipally-owned grocery store. The announcement highlighted that “Historic disinvestment has led to inequitable access to food retail across Chicago, [which] have been exacerbated as at least six grocery stores closed on the South and West sides over the past two years.” This project would seek to provide healthy food for South and West side residents, as well as an economic anchor in these communities.6. From Variety: The California Senate has passed a bill to “grant unemployment benefits to workers who are on strike,” in a major win for the Writers Guild, SAG-AFTRA, and organized labor more generally. If signed, this will go into effect January 1st, 2024. Currently, only New York and New Jersey offer this safety net to striking workers.7. A story in LA Public Press traces the disturbing rise of so-called “Tenant relocators.” According to the story, “Lawmakers, tenants and tenant groups say that, across Los Angeles, landlords are buying rent-controlled buildings predominantly occupied by immigrants and using illegal tenant harassment to force people out so they can re-rent their units at market rate.” Further, “Organizers...say tenant harassment is so profitable that it has become an industry in its own right, and that the industry has spawned a profession: the tenant relocator, who cajoles or threatens tenants into leaving while their building falls to pieces around them.” This is yet another case showing the stunning lengths the rich will go to in order to acquire yet more wealth.8. In Atlanta, over 115,000 signatures have been collected and submitted calling for a referendum on the “Cop City,” project. Yet, when these signatures were submitted, the Clerk's Office refused to accept them, citing obscure deadline rules. Now, Georgia Senator Raphael Warnock is weighing in with a letter to Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens urging the City to “err on the side of giving people the ability to express their views,” the Atlanta Voice reports. This contentious project will likely continue to be a political flash-point going forward.9. Arundhati Roy, the world-famous Indian dissident writer, received a major European essay prize on September 12th. She used this opportunity to deliver an explosive speech warning of the danger posed to the world by “the dismantling of democracy in India.” Roy is explicit in naming “India's descent…into first majoritarianism and then full-blown fascism,” and goes into gut-churning detail concerning the plight of religious minorities in what used to be called the world's largest democracy. The full speech is available on YouTube.10. Finally, Yahoo News reports that back in 2015, “Elon Musk Stormed Into the Tesla Office Furious That Autopilot Tried to Kill Him.” Taken from the new blockbuster biography of the tech magnate, the story goes on to say that the Tesla autopilot, “thrown off by the road's faded lane lines,” steered into and almost hit oncoming traffic. This, the book argues, was due to Musk's insistence on removing light detection and ranging technology – better known as LiDAR – from his vehicles in an attempt to cut costs. Ultimately, the autopilot was not actually fixed; instead, Musk's chief of staff Sam Teller got the faded lane lines repainted. That may be a functional solution for the world's richest man, but personally, I wouldn't take my chances. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

In this episode, Maine State Senator Nicole Grohoski discusses an upcoming ballot measure that gives Maine voters the opportunity to replace the state's unpopular for-profit utilities with a nonprofit public utility.(PDF transcript)(Active transcript)Text transcript:David RobertsMaine's two big investor-owned power utilities — Central Maine Power and Versant Power — are not very popular. In fact, they boast among the lowest customer satisfaction scores of any utilities in the country, perhaps because their customers face some of the nation's highest rates, suffer more and longer outages than average Americans, and pay more to connect rooftop solar than ratepayers in almost any other state. This November, Mainers will vote on a radical alternative: a ballot measure to replace the two for-profit utilities with a single nonprofit utility that would be called Pine Tree Power. Maine and many other states already have lots of small nonprofit municipal utilities, but this would mark the first time a whole state with existing private utilities decided to make them public en masse.Naturally the utilities are opposed and have dumped $27 million and counting into a campaign to crush the measure; supporters have mustered just under $1 million. To discuss this David vs. Goliath fight, I contacted one of its champions, Democratic state Senator Nicole Grohoski. We discussed why she thinks a public utility would perform better, what it would do for clean energy, how it would be governed, and what other states can learn from the effort. With no further ado, Maine State Senator Nicole Grohoski. Welcome to Volts. Thank you so much for coming.Nicole GrohoskiThank you so much for having me. I'm thrilled to be with you today.David RobertsI am super excited to talk about this issue. There's a lot of ins and outs I want to cover, but maybe let's just start with a brief history of this thing. So the idea here is, as I said in the intro, to replace Maine's two big investor-owned utilities, Central Maine Power and Versant Power, with a single publicly owned main utility called Pine Tree Power. Tell me who first had that idea? Where did it first pop up? I know it was legislation and then it got vetoed. Just tell us a little bit about how we got to where we are now.Nicole GrohoskiThe history is really interesting, and I'll try to not spend too much time on it, but I think it's really important to start with the reality here in Maine as a backdrop. So a couple of things that are important to know for listeners is that we, as Mainers, find that our electricity isn't really affordable or reliable and our utilities aren't trustworthy. So we have, for many years running now, the worst customer satisfaction in the country, some of the highest rates in the country for electricity, and those just keep going up. We have experienced a 20% increase this summer, with another increase coming in January.And we also have the most frequent outages in the country. And there are a couple of other reliability metrics that we're not doing so well on, including the length of outages and how long it takes to restore power. So basically what we see here in Maine is that the status quo of these for-profit multinational corporations is just not working for us. About a tenth of our residents in Maine received disconnection notices earlier this year because they just couldn't afford to pay their bills. And it's not working for companies or big corporations that really rely on low cost and reliable electricity to compete.So that's kind of the background. So a number of us were wondering, does it have to be this way? Is there an alternative to worst of the worst? We are Maine, we are very proud and independent, and we like to be leading, but this is not the way that we wanted to be leading. So there was a lot of grassroots pressure. In 2017 we had a big storm, and the power was out for days. But at the same time, there was a billing fiasco, which resulted in billing errors for over 100,000 customers, which is in a state of 1.3 million people, that's a very big percent.So there was a lot of pressure, a lot of phone calls to legislators, to the Public Utilities Commission, to the public advocate about these utilities. And so I think that really planted a seed for a number of folks. Specifically, Maine's first public advocate pointed out to some members of the legislature, including Representative Seth Barry at the time, myself, and a few others, that there were other options and that the financial and local control aspects of those options might be really helpful for Maine. So we started meeting in 2019 with the previous public advocate, economists, labor, legislators, people that were part of a group called CMP Ratepayers Unite.And that's when we formed this idea of creating a consumer-owned utility for Maine that would be non-profit and similar to the ten other consumer-owned utilities we have in Maine. I don't know that we had a name for it at that time, but we do now call it the Pine Tree Power Company. So those were the early days. And then to sort of fast forward, the Legislature commissioned a study which was done by London Economics International in 2019 to learn more about the economics and also legal pathway here. Then, of course, 2020, everybody knows what happened then, things kind of went on pause. And then in 2021, we wrote a bill. And that bill passed in both chambers in Maine with bipartisan support. As you mentioned, the governor did veto that bill.David RobertsAnd that bill was to create the utility or to put the question to voters.Nicole GrohoskiThat bill put the question to voters, and it's very similar to the language that we'll be voting on this November. So we did revise the language based on some feedback from the governor, and that is the language that is now in front of us to vote on this November, November 7. And in order to get the question on the ballot we had hundreds of volunteers working together to collect around 80,000 signatures in total, which is a little bit above the requirement needed to get a question on the ballot in Maine.David RobertsI'm a little curious why — this is a Democratic Governor Mills. What was her rationale? I mean, I guess I can imagine her rationale for opposing the public utility, but what was her rationale for opposing asking voters what they thought? Did she have a good rationale?Nicole GrohoskiNot in my opinion. I'm sure in her opinion it was great. But we read the veto letter for the most part. There was very little in there that was substantive. Some of those minor changes that we made are all things that we would have happily made in advance had we had outreach from her office about them. You know, the unfortunate thing with governors in Maine is that we have yet to elect one that has campaigned using our clean elections, publicly funding campaign option, which is something that most legislators use. So you can draw your own conclusions there about the — money in politics may have been at play.I can't say for certain.David RobertsYeah, we should just make a note here because a couple of podcasts we've done here on Volts are about state laws prohibiting utilities from using ratepayer money to lobby and pay off politicians. Maine does not have one of those laws.Nicole GrohoskiWell, we actually did just pass a law. We were one of four states earlier this year to be sure that ratepayer dollars are not going for lobbying. You know, industry membership, group memberships.David RobertsOh, interesting.Nicole GrohoskiYou know, Edison Electric, for instance, Chambers of Commerce, et cetera. So that is a new law. It will be in effect in about a month. So we'll see if that improves things.David RobertsJust in time or actually just a smidge too late. So the bill of particulars here then, against these two utilities, as you say, they have really low ratepayer satisfaction scores, lots of power outages, more than usual, higher rates, some of the highest rates in the country. Like every state, Maine has a Public Utility Commission that is meant to regulate its utilities. That has members appointed by the governor or elected? I'm not sure how it goes in Maine.Nicole GrohoskiIn Maine, the commissioners are appointed and then subject to Senate approval.David RobertsSo why not just use the PUC to sort of get these utilities in line? That seems like it would be the sort of first order of business.Nicole GrohoskiIt's a great question. I mean, I think everyone kind of wants to default to using the systems we have in place, but I have a couple of thoughts about that. Our Public Utilities Commission I do think is full of folks who are hardworking and really trying to get under the hood with utilities. But there's a lot of information there that the utilities really understand best. And so when you have questions, you're going to ask the utilities and there is sort of a long term back and forth relationship there. Some people might call how that turns into regulatory capture sometimes.Additionally, we do have the ability to fine the utilities if they're not performing up to snuff and that has happened. It doesn't happen that often, and the most recent fine, I think was around $10 million. At the same time they had a significant rate increase and are pulling out over $100 million in profit every year. So it's not really proportional and we could theoretically increase those fines a bit. But there is hesitance. I think the legislature has interest in doing some of that but the utilities are of course not interested and I think we would see another veto pen action is my guess.But all that being said, this effort to create a consumer utility has led to a lot of us just digging down into what is the history of utilities in this country and regulation. And what we found is that utilities are natural monopolies so it makes sense for there to be regulation because there isn't competition. But the folks who sort of started the effort to create public utilities commissions were those who were going to be regulated. And so there has been this hand in glove relationship since the start around the regulators and the regulated.David RobertsIt's not ideal.Nicole GrohoskiThat's probably a subject of a whole other podcast but —David RobertsIt doesn't work quite like you would want it to.Nicole GrohoskiExactly. And additionally, I would say I have recently been talking to folks in other states and other people have served as public advocates. And what I find remarkable is the backflips and cartwheels that we go through with regulation to try to outfox the utilities when, by no fault of their own, the investor owned utilities are created with their number one mission to be maximizing repair profit. So it's like we could keep trying to think of creative and clever ways to balance this out. But at the end of all of it, I keep coming back to the fact that we don't have our roads, which are critical to our economy and our safety and our way of life in the private sector; and nor are our schools, nor is our military.Why does it make sense for something as important as our electricity grid to be subject to for-profit motivations?David RobertsListeners will be rolling their eyes right about now because this is something I say I find a way to say it almost every episode no matter what we're talking about. But utilities, they are structured such that they make money insofar as they spend money. So all they really want to do is deploy more big infrastructure. And so as you say, like PUCs find these elaborate Rube Goldberg mechanisms to sort of beg and plead with them to do things like efficiency or distributed energy, know on and on, inter, regional transmission, name it, all of which are sort of just counter to the basic incentive.So as you say, you can spend the rest of your life coming up with more and more elaborate ways to try to trick them into doing something against their interests. But at a certain point you just got to grapple with the central issue which is that they're set up wrong, they're set up badly, they're set up to not want things that are in the public interest and at a certain point you got to just deal with the root cause. Anyway, sorry to go off on my standard canned rant there. So then a skeptic will say these two utilities, just so people are clear about this, these are not vertically integrated utilities.These are just distribution utilities. They just have wires, they just distribute power. They do not own generation. They're dealing with a certain set of supply issues, a certain set of power plants, a certain geography. Maine is very heavily forested which is a nightmare for transmission lines for all the obvious reasons. So it just has a sort of set of things that it's dealing with. And so I guess the skeptic is going to ask what reason do we have to believe that given the sort of same resources that Pine Tree, a public utility, would perform any better?Nicole GrohoskiWell I think we have a lot of evidence that it would because we already have ten consumer owned utilities in Maine. Just for an example, there is one that's called Eastern Maine Electric Co-op. That's a traditional co-op. It is more rural than most of Maine. You might find it interesting that it is serving about 1.2% of the state's load in kilowatt hours but it is in an area that's twice the size of Rhode Island. Now EMAC, which is in rural downeast Maine is directly adjacent to the territory of Versant that I live in and the cost for delivery in EMAC is nine cents and the cost for delivery in Versant is 13.1 cents per kilowatt hour.So I don't think that's just some kind of magical happenstance that when you take profit out of the equation you're just paying less. We know that together CMP and Versant are sending out about — was last year was $187 million a year in profit. So I think if Mainers are in charge of our utility we can decide do we want to use that money to lower rates? Do we want to use it to reinvest in the grid to increase reliability? And I think it would probably be a mix of both of those things.David RobertsAnd that amount of money you think is material enough that it would show up as improved performance, show up as measurably improved performance?Nicole GrohoskiI do think so. I mean I think for your listeners, while Maine is large and rural we do have 1.3 million people. So, when you sort of divide those numbers out it does make a difference. And we've had some independent economic analysis that shows us that Mainers would be saving on average $367 a month, excuse me, a year, because of the fact that we're basically going from expensive rent for the grid to a lower cost mortgage. So I think it's easy to explain it to folks in terms of, like, "What's better when you're looking for housing, dropping your money down a rent hole, black hole for the rest of your life, or swapping out to a mortgage where you've got a lower interest rate than what we see now with the guaranteed return on equity that happens for our for-profit utilities."David RobertsYeah, this was another piece I wanted to ask about. So part of why you think this will be cheaper for ratepayers is just you take that huge slice of profits that are going, as you say, out of state to the owners of these utilities and keep that in state and that alone will buy you some better service. There's also the issue of investor-owned utilities expect and want and are guaranteed relatively high rates of return on their investments and often resist making investments if the rate of return is lower than that. But as you say, a public power utility can be more patient with its capital, right?Can make investments with lower returns as long as they pay off eventually, right?Nicole GrohoskiYeah. So we see here in Maine that the utilities are getting a ROE of 8% to 12%. And we know that firstly that's kind of astounding because it's not all that risky. Most people are paying their bills.David RobertsCrazy. It's guaranteed. It's huge and it's guaranteed. It's wild what it is. This is like the safest business on the planet as being a regulated utility.Nicole GrohoskiCouldn't agree more. And on the flip side, the Pine Tree Power Company can access low-cost capital through revenue bonding at 3-5%. So when we think about paying off that debt over many years with compounding interest, when we think about the fact that our grid really isn't ready to electrify our economy and experts expect it's going to need to be, increased two to three times. Now is the right moment in time, I think, to move away from high cost, low-risk investment to low cost, low-risk investment before we literally triple our grid.David RobertsTell us a little bit about how the utility would be governed or structured and what implications you think that might have.Nicole GrohoskiI love this question. I am a public servant and so I believe in local governance and people getting to vote and go to public meetings and have a say and all that is built into the ballot question. So the Pine Tree Power Company would have elected board members and there are seven of them, one for each grouping of five Senate seats, state Senate seats. And those members then turn around and appoint six members who have specific expertise in things like utility law and management, concerns of workers, concerns of economic, environmental and social justice, things like that, that we really want to make sure those folks are at the table.And this group of 13 people, they serve six-year terms each of them. And of course, there's like a little bit of a lead-in time because they'd all be elected at once, where some of them served shorter terms at the start. But point is, they are people in our communities. They have to be living in Maine. They have open meetings that are subject to freedom of access laws. And in order to best serve the public, I think they would be doing a lot of public outreach. And that's something that in talking to managers and board members from other consumer utilities in the country, I've been really impressed with how much local engagement they have. I think Sacramento Municipal Utility District, they said they're hosting 1300 community meetings a year.David RobertsGood grief.Nicole GrohoskiA couple a day on average. But they have, I think they said 95% customer satisfaction. So people feel like they're valued, their experience matters and they also have a plan to get to 100% clean energy by 2030. So our Pine Tree power governance is very much in the spirit of "It's a public good. It should be publicly governed."David RobertsThere's a little bit of a controversy in Maine a few years ago. I don't remember all the details, but it was about a big transmission line that would have brought hydro from Canada down through the woods of Maine. It was fought and I believe killed by popular resistance. And there was a lot of, at least nationally there was a lot of talk of like here again we have environmentally minded locals blocking things for environmental reasons, but in a short-sighted way that's going to be worse for the environment overall. In the long term, they're NIMBY's. We've got to figure out a way of dealing with this problem, et cetera, et cetera.So this leads to my question, which is: if you have a governing board that is elected by local people, and it is the local people who are often the source of the NIMBYism, do you not have some fears? That this would lead to a more NIMBY rather than less NIMBY operation of the utility, which is going to be difficult when, as you say, this is the time when every state everybody needs to be increasing and bolstering their transmission systems. Do you worry that local control is going to translate into more rather than less NIMBY opposition to new lines?Nicole GrohoskiI'll put it in a way that I think makes sense to me as a person in Maine who's intimately familiar with what you laid out, which is at the root of that decision, was a fundamental lack of trust in Central Maine Power. A trust that it would be doing anything in our best interest, that it would be giving us appropriate benefits, that it was really after anything more than profits. And so I think it wouldn't be true that as soon as Pine Tree Power was created that everyone would immediately trust the company. But I do think it would be a fresh start.And on top of that, with elected and appointed leaders spending time in communities and just energy literacy, I think in general would increase because it's something we would be talking about more if we had to elect the board. I'll say I think that people's interest in energy policy has gone through the roof this year compared to where it was in the past. And people are asking just really great questions, a new curiosity around electricity that I hadn't seen before growing up here. So I think that the outcome would actually be that folks would feel like they had a say in how the transmission was cited, who was benefiting if we remove the profit motive.Imagine if that money that would have gone to profit was actually going to community benefits. That might really change how people feel. And I think that here in Maine we are sort of skeptical of what's being pushed on us by people from away, quote unquote, is a saying we have. I don't always love it, but it is accurate in this case. You've got Central Main Power, owned by Avangrid, then owned by Iberdrola, based in Spain, telling us, "Oh, we've got this great deal for you." And people are skeptical of that. So I think we have a greater chance actually of doing transmission right and in a way that people can accept if there was this broader community process and a lack of for-profit skepticism that comes naturally to us here.David RobertsOne of the criticisms of the two existing utilities is that they're kind of slow-walking clean energy in particular. So I wonder if you could just say a word about what that means and why and how we think Pine Tree would be better on that score. Because it's not obvious. These are just wires utilities, right? So they're not dealing directly with clean energy generation. So what are the issues around clean energy and how will Pine Tree be an improvement?Nicole GrohoskiSo, historically, we have seen that the utilities do spend a lot of time and money in the State House, not just behind the scenes, but also right out publicly testifying against clean energy bills. Now, that has slowed in recent years, but certainly in the previous gubernatorial administration, that was a very common practice.David RobertsIf I could just pause there, I guess I just don't fully understand why, like, if you're a company that's just running wires, what's it to you?Nicole GrohoskiRight back to the return on equity question. So, these utilities make more money when they build transmission lines than when they upgrade the distribution system. They get a higher rate of return, right? So it is in their best interest to continue with the model of large far-off generation facilities compared to local rooftop solar type solutions or microgrids or battery storage. So that's the first part of the problem, I think. And secondly, I think some of these utilities just really are not very nimble. They're sort of in the business that they've been in for a long time and thinking about how to create a dynamic grid that has time of use rates that actually work, for instance, or bidirectional power.We have had smart meters in this state for over a decade and I can't see how they're being used in any kind of smart way. I mean, people are still calling the utilities to let them know the power is out.David RobertsIt's just baffling to me. Like, if I'm in the utility business, this is like my time to be a hero, you know what I mean? After 100 years of sleepy operation in the background, all of a sudden the world is calling upon me to be cutting edge and be the hero and save the world and instead, I'm just going to "I just want to keep doing things the way I've been doing." I don't know, people are disappointing.Nicole GrohoskiNo comment.David RobertsYeah. So I read in one of the stories about this. One of the opponents of this measure said, quote, "The people behind this proposal have no actual plan to lower rates, improve reliability and enable a swifter energy transition." The implication being that the fans of this measure just think that making the utility public is going to be sort of automagically, make everything easier and cleaner and cheaper, but there's no actual plan to do so. Is there a specific plan for how Pine Tree would operate and how it would do these things? Has anyone modeled out sort of you know what I mean?Is there more than just hope that the structure will do the work for you?Nicole GrohoskiWell, I think that the person who said that spent some time cherry-picking certain things in the ballot language but missed the bigger picture here, which is we have to start by saying yes on November 7 and then at that time then we have an election for the board of directors and it goes on from there. But until that time the Maine Public Utilities Commission cannot compel the utilities to give over their very private data to do that kind of in-depth modeling that is going to be the very next task for the Pine Tree Power Board once it exists and that is spelled out in the ballot question. You know, these utilities, I'm just going to be level about it: They don't have a plan either.And I can tell you that because the legislature last year had to pass a law requiring them to do integrated grid planning and think about how is it going to work to increase renewables on the grid, to increase demand as people install more heat pumps and use electric vehicles. They're not doing that or if they are doing it they're not doing it in any kind of way that is transparent or subject to review. So I think it's like a great bait and switch tactic.David RobertsAren't they supposed to create integrated resource plans? I thought that was something that all utilities had to do.Nicole GrohoskiI think they have some planning, but it is clear from the way that the interconnection queues are looking, the very high cost they're pushing onto developers for even just what turns out to be basic grid maintenance, there isn't really — maybe they have something that says "plan" at the top, but I'm not sure that all the nuts and bolts are actually there.David RobertsYeah, I meant to hit on interconnection before because that's one of the critiques also is that they are slow-walking interconnection of distributed resources, etc. Presumably they're doing that, or at least they say they're doing that to protect the grid. Do we have reason to believe they're slow-walking that on purpose such that Pine Tree could substantially speed up the interconnection queue?Nicole GrohoskiWe do have reason to believe that specifically because of all the complaints that we've received as legislators. We did ask the Public Utilities Commission to look into this and they hired the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, or IREC, to do a study. And the IREC findings were basically especially around Versant, which is in eastern and northern Maine. These guys are some of the worst actors we've ever seen in the United States. They are requiring things that they can't justify why they're requiring them, and we can find no reason from an engineering perspective to require them. And your listeners might find it fascinating to know that for Versant customers, the average cost of interconnecting your rooftop solar to the grid is $10,000.David RobertsJesus.Nicole GrohoskiThat is not normal is what I'm told. Another great story that I've heard from a couple of constituents is that they need a transformer upgrade to interconnect their rooftop solar. Okay, that might be true, and that upgrade is going to cost you $1,000 - $1,500. But we can't get the parts for two years.David RobertsOh my goodness.Nicole GrohoskiNow the same solar installers that are working in my area are also working in CMP's area Central Maine Power. Because I live my district includes both, and the installers are saying "CMP says they can get it in two months." So then I asked my constituents "Can you file a formal complaint at the PUC using this process we had to create because this is such a rampant issue?" And when they do that and go through the whole process, then that transformer has arrived and been installed within two to three months time. So I don't know what to say about it.I can only say what I see from the outside and the experience that I have heard about from people that pick up the phone and call me. But it seems shady to go from two years to two months.David RobertsLet's grapple here with what is probably the biggest and most difficult issue around all this, which is say Maine voters say yes to this, and it goes forward. Basically, it would involve the state of Maine buying these two utilities assets from the utilities, and depending on who you believe those assets are worth anywhere from $5 to I think CMP is now saying it could get up to $13 billion. So that's a big public expense. So how's that going to get financed? Who's going to pay it? How long is it going to take to pay it? Have we thought through in any detail how that process works?Nicole GrohoskiYes, definitely. And that was a big part of what the London Economics analysis included was that legal analysis of what that purchase price process would look like. We also have been able to look at this transition as has happened in other communities in the country, and we created an expedited and refereed process to determine the purchase price. And all told, from this fall to switch over to Pine Tree Power, we expect it to take three to four years. What we know from the LEI study is that this is a completely legal and constitutional effort. It's helpful to remind folks that because these are actual monopolies, they only have the right to be doing business because we give it to them.And in the Maine statutes, it literally says the PUC can take it away.David RobertsYeah, I mean, of course, again, this drives me crazy. I'm reading articles about this and of course, just once I'd like there to be a good argument had in public instead of idiots. But all the Republicans are now saying "This is a communist takeover of private business by the state. It's Communists. Why don't we call it Chinese electricity?" I've read, some of the dumbest quotes.Nicole GrohoskiAre you in the comments section?David RobertsNo, these are legislators. This is not even I mean, there's barely a distinction anymore. But like, the Republican legislators are saying this now. So it's worth just emphasizing the point that you just made, sort of drawing a line under it, which is these businesses have been granted a monopoly by the state and granted guaranteed returns by the state. So of course the state can take that back. Of course this is legal. Like if the state grants, the state can take away if the state is granting it on the grounds that it will be of service to the state's residents and it's not anymore, then of course the state can take that monopoly back.It's just crazy viewing. It's not like Maine is going to go take over the potato chip industry.Nicole GrohoskiWe have no interest in that.David RobertsThis is not a normal business. Utilities are not normal private businesses. They are state basically state created entities. And so of course, the state can uncreate them if it wants to. Sorry, I know that will not have any effect at all on the dumb things Republicans say about this.Nicole GrohoskiWell, I do want to clarify. We do have some really strong Republican support, from certain legislators as well as just regular folks. I mean, that was the greatest thing about collecting signatures for this initiative, which I did and my family did and many other people I know was that when you remove it from a debate in a state house, regular people just get it. They get that this is really important to our economy to have an electricity grid that works for us and for our health and safety. And they also understand that maybe this is not a place for profits.And I've had folks wearing Birkenstocks and folks wearing MAGA hats sign the petition because I think Maine people are really resilient. We are proud of our ability to solve problems and I think the majority of us believe this is something that we can do and that we probably could do it better than some far-off foreign monopoly.David RobertsAnyway, I interrupted you. You were talking about how these giant bills are going to get paid. Basically you say it's going to take about four years to do all the work, to transfer everything over. Would the $5 billion or however much it turns out to be, be paid off over those four years or how will it be financed?Nicole GrohoskiNo. So we did meet with some municipal bond banks. This sort of acquisition, like in the case of Long Island, has been paid off over a long period of time. And that's how we're able to see the rate reduction. You know again, similar to renting versus owning. I was able to buy a home. My mortgage is less than my rent would be, but I am still paying it off. And even with the interest, it's still less. So we have the ability through revenue bonding to borrow that money backed by the ratepayers, not actually by the state government and the general fund, but by the ratepayers.We have the ability to borrow that money, and then pay it off over time, and borrow more as we need to build out the grid.David RobertsWould it being a public utility enable it to draw on state money? Because one of the points a few pods ago we were talking about a new offshore wind bill that would draw money from state coffers rather than from ratepayers. And one of the sort of arguments and defense of that is taking tax money from state taxpayers is much more progressive than taking it from ratepayers. Basically you're getting a much more progressive source of funding. Is there any talk of Pine Tree being able to draw on state money or would it still just operate as a utility and get all its money and revenue and stuff from ratepayers the same way a private utility would?Nicole GrohoskiThe enabling statute has it separate. I think that that is really important, especially to our union workers because they had concerns about becoming public sector workers and what that would mean for their right to strike, for instance. So we have ensured that they are private sector workers.David RobertsOh, interesting.Nicole GrohoskiWhether or not a future legislature might say we're able to maintain that and have the utility doing efficiency programs that are paid through the taxpayer dollars versus ratepayer dollars, I can't predict. To your point about regressivity, one of the things that is required in the bill language for the Pine Tree Power Company is to establish lower rates for low income residential customers in the first five year plan. So we are trying to address that challenge that you're absolutely correct. It's the regressive funding structure, unlike taxation.David RobertsAlso, one of the criticisms of these utilities is that they're sending all these cutoff notices, they're cutting off people from power, which is bad for all obvious reasons. But is Pine Tree going to pledge not to do that? And if it doesn't do that, where does that money to cover those people's rates come from? Because that would seem like an additional expense because whatever you might say about cutting people off, it does save the utilities money.Nicole GrohoskiRight. Well, we do have what's called the Arrearage Management Program here in Maine and that does help folks get out of arrears and that is ratepayer funded program. So that is a somewhat fiscally progressive approach to that. You know the details of that program are probably more than you'd want to know. But the long and short is if you get back on track then some of your debt will be just forgiven. But it's not forgiven by the utilities, it's forgiven by your neighbors.David RobertsRight. Well, would Pine Tree pledge not to cut people off? Like, is that part of the campaign here or how would it treat cutoffs ?Nicole GrohoskiYou know, it's a good question that surprisingly I don't know if anyone has posed to me it is not in the legislation one way or the other. I'm of the belief that if rates go down and we could have rates that were income stratified to some extent, that the amount of disconnection notices that we saw earlier this year would go way down just economically. But I think it would be really a decision of the board. And then I'm also not sure if the Public Utilities Commission if there are any rules on the books because this utility, unlike a lot of consumer utilities in the country, is regulated by the Public Utilities Commission as if it were an investor owned utility.So, there may be specific rules about that already.David RobertsYeah, I would just think though, if you're trying to sell this, making this public rather than private, one of the things you could sell is like we think this is a public right to have electricity on some level.Nicole GrohoskiThe one other thing about it that just comes to mind is that a couple of years ago during COVID, people were especially concerned about the disconnection notices, not knowing if they were going to be receiving a next paycheck but we were told that the disconnection notices were necessary in order to provide certain assistance. So the utilities said, "Oh don't worry, we're not actually going to disconnect anyone but we have to do this to get them into this next program." So, I don't know if that would come into play here but I'm not convinced that the utilities wouldn't have ultimately shut the people off but that was a way that they spun it at least.David RobertsOne more kind of semi-technical question that's a little bit of a side thing but is of interest, I think, to Volts listeners. One of the provisions in the IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, is that it makes some of the tax credits direct pay, which means you don't have to pay taxes to get it back. You can get it back directly as a check and one of the categories of entities that would qualify for this is tax-exempt entities. So I wonder, has anyone done any thinking, and maybe this is too in the weeds but done any thinking about what advantage it might pose for Maine to have its utility be tax-exempt, whether it will benefit from the IRA through that.Nicole GrohoskiIt is something we're thinking about because we were excited to see that direct pay provision sort of leveling the playing field for publicly owned generation which is another topic I'm very interested in, but I think it remains to be seen. In the case of Pine Tree Power, it is not allowed to own generation and it may be permitted to own some storage as is necessary to maintain the grid functioning. So I'm not entirely sure that that direct IRA provision would help in this case but what I think it does is sort of change the paradigm a bit there that may then also shift to other things. If the federal government says let's have an ITC or PTC for transmission lines, the next step might be —David RobertsPraise be.Nicole GrohoskiWell, let's make sure we set it up the same way we've just done with generation. Yes, I think it's a really important conversation even if it doesn't have a direct immediate effect on the Pine Tree Power Company.David RobertsInteresting. As I think anyone could predict just from what we've said so far, even knowing nothing else about it but what we've said so far, I'm sure people could predict that the private utilities in question are not excited about this happening and have mobilized to prevent it from happening. So tell us a little bit about the campaign against this. Is it as hysterical as one would predict?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, I mean hysterical is one word for it. Deeply troubling is another phrase that comes to mind. But these are utilities, like I mentioned, about the amount of profit that they make and that's just off of their Central Maine Power and Versant holdings. But Central Maine Power is just a small, small fraction of the entire Iberdrola conglomerate. So, yeah, we have seen them spending a lot of money against the campaign. They've put $27 million toward the campaign, both utilities, as of the end of June. So we expect to see more of course.David RobertsNot a small amount in a small state.Nicole GrohoskiNo. And honestly, talking to my neighbors, people are very upset by it. They're kind of irate that they're the people whose power goes out and doesn't come back on for a couple of days. They're the folks who had to spend $10,000 for a generator which isn't part of a clean energy solution last I checked. And there go the utilities putting $27 million toward just running ads.David RobertsYeah, I mean, are they experiencing it as a flood of ads? I mean, $27 million must allow you to kind of dominate the airwaves.Nicole GrohoskiYes, the airwaves are definitely bought up, as far as we can tell. And they have just their two donors, which are the utility parent companies, which are Avangrid and Enmax.David RobertsAre they funding 100% of this?Nicole Grohoski100%, yes. And these utilities, lest they tell you how amazing and green and climate-friendly they are, they are gas utilities, Avangrid and Enmax anyhow. And then on the flip side, we are a smaller organization. We don't have Mainers' pockets to pickpocket on a regular basis.David RobertsI'm guessing you guys haven't hit $27 million yet. How much money have you have?Nicole GrohoskiYou're closer to around a million, I think. And that's over 1000 donors, most of whom are just regular donors giving what they can because they understand these differences. And also I think the big difference is the utilities are putting out a lot of fear, doubt, scare tactic type ads. And on the flip side, what we're offering people is something different and something positive, something that we can all lean into and make sure that it succeeds because it would actually be ours. So I think that's resonating with folks.David RobertsWhat are the scare tactics specifically? Are they saying this will be expensive or what?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, expensive. I mean, you quoted some of their numbers and it's laughable. They're like, "Oh, we're going to get $13.5 billion." Well, they're worth $5.4 billion. That's what they pay taxes on. That's what they filed their official paperwork saying. So I think especially as we learn more and more about how decrepit certain portions of this grid are, they'd be lucky to get a little bit over that. So that's one of them. "Is there a plan? We don't have a plan, but do they have a plan?" is another one. You know what, a lot of it is just to my sensibility is a little insulting to Maine people.You don't know what you're doing, that kind of thing. Meanwhile, we're going to keep the line workers who are doing the work and we're giving them a retention bonus because we value their expertise, because they're the ones that actually know how the grids work, not the CEOs and the CFOs.David RobertsYeah, it is historically pretty easy though just to I mean, when you're fighting against change, you barely even need arguments. You know what I mean? You can just say "Booga booga booga change" and you're halfway there, it seems like.Nicole GrohoskiWell, I think that's why we're in such a unique position in Maine because while that can be kind of an initial gut reaction, I think people here are curious. We've certainly seen plenty of campaigns where one side was outspent a lot by the other and it didn't make a difference. We have led in other policy areas. Ranked choice voting could be one recent example. Clean elections one of the only states that splits our electoral college votes. So I think Maine people, I think we're interested in things that are different if they make sense to us.David RobertsWhere is the public on this? Do we know do we have enough polling or survey data or what have you to know kind of what the level of support is or where the public is on this? Do we have a barometer? Do we have a measure here?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, I think the most recent public polling was probably a couple of months ago. But what it showed was there were people that were solidly in each camp but a lot of undecided voters and it really put us in a dead heat in terms of the people that were decided. And what I think is interesting is folks are not being swayed by Central Maine Power and Versant ads mainly because we don't trust them. They have not been good faith actors.David RobertsAre they creating fake groups like "Mainers for puppy dogs and grandma"?Nicole GrohoskiYes, Maine Affordable Energy is one of them. Yeah, so they sound pretty good, but all you have to do is google that and you find out pretty quickly, because of our disclosure rules, that's 100% utility funded.David RobertsTo the extent that the public supports this, are they viewing it as primarily a green thing, a thing about clean energy? Or is it primarily " Screw these out of state —," you know what I mean? Like a Maine pride kind of thing. Is it a reliability? Do you know what it is about this that the public has taken from it? What it is the public is supporting when the public supports it?Nicole GrohoskiThat's a great question and it does vary depending on the person and their interest and maybe even where they live in the state because the utility rates are the worst where I live compared to all the other districts in the state. So it depends. I think if you're a person who tried to interconnect and you got told you have to wait two years and $10,000, then it might be about greening the grid. But I think for a lot of folks underlying whatever their specific reason might be, it is that question of trust. I think about this all the time we have aggressive clean electricity goals, but 50% of our carbon emissions in this state are coming from vehicles and we are the most heating oil dependent state in the country.So we've got to get people onto the electricity grid in order to have any hope of cleaning it up. But it's really hard for me to knock on someone's door and say, "I really hope you'll consider changing your whole house over to heat pumps, even though we have below zero temperatures sometimes. Or I know that the power went out for a week last year, but would you consider an EV?" So I think that in order to make this transition work, we have to have utilities that people trust and that are providing just basic service. People should not have to think as hard as they're thinking about if their electricity is going to be there for them.David RobertsYes, that's such an important point. And so generalizable too, like if electrification is the thing, then people have got to trust the institutions in charge of electrification and they do not have much public trust these days. So that's an interesting argument in favor, I think, of making utilities more accountable, more public. What about the other big argument against one of the big scare things is you have to buy all these assets, which is like a big bill, a big one-time bill. The other scare story is that utilities are going to immediately sue, that this is going to get mired in the courts, and that it's going to take 4, 5, 6, 7 years to even get it all settled, and until then it will be chaos and no one will know what's going on and blah, blah, blah.So realistically, what's your view of, say, voters approve this in November? What is your view of sort of how that plays out and when and how the inevitable legal wrangling gets resolved?Nicole GrohoskiBasically, the Pine Tree Power Board will offer a certain amount for the utility infrastructure. I don't expect that the utilities will accept that on first pass you're buying a used car, you don't just take the first price. Right. So we would expect some negotiation, but if that doesn't work, then it will go to the courts. And there is a refereed process that's spelled out in the legislation in the Superior Court that then can be appealed to the Supreme Court in the state of Maine. But there are timelines set up. So it cannot go on for years and years and years, because at some point, if you lose or win a case, that's it.You have one appeal. I think it's funny that this argument is coming from the utilities because if there are any lawsuits and if it got dragged out, as they say, even though we've protected against that to the best of our ability, that's coming from them. That is a choice that they are making.David Roberts"Don't make us do this."Nicole GrohoskiYeah, so it's kind of ironic but additionally, one of the things that comes up is how do we know the utilities will continue to invest in the meantime? And it's like the best parallel I could say to that is if I'm going to sell my house, I don't just stop fixing things before I sell it. I keep it up in really good shape. And in fact, utilities would have an incentive to invest more because usually they don't just sell it for exactly what it's worth. There's usually a multiplier. We expect it to be like 1.5 times.So we actually have increased the oversight capacity of the Public Utilities Commission to ensure that there isn't any of that sort of last-minute gold plating going on, because that is actually what we'd expect, not the further disrepair scenario.David RobertsOh, so you think if this goes through, they'll plow a bunch of money into high dollar upgrades just to boost their price that you have to pay for them?Nicole GrohoskiThat's what I would do if I were them. Fortunately, we're going to keep an eye on that on behalf of Maine people. But if you are able to invest a million dollars here and in two to three years time make $1.5 million because that's the multiplier that the courts assign, that's pretty good.David RobertsYeah. So what's your timeline in your head then? What do you envision? At what point is there just the one public utility operating and all this is behind us? Were you willing to predict?Nicole GrohoskiYeah, we're looking at fall 2027, so four years from now, and that includes having the elections for the board members next year. So that's the first major hurdle, which I think is exciting, especially because living in one of the more rural parts of Maine, we don't always feel here that our interests are represented at the Public Utilities Commission, which is folks from southern Maine. And I think this geographic component is really compelling to, you know, so that's our first step. And then basically we have to get a lot of information. I mean, the board would have to get a lot of information from the utilities in order to know what purchase price they should put forward, what's the business plan, what does the revenue bonding look like, and make sure they can secure that financing through a large municipal bond market.So that takes time and we want to make sure we do it right. On the other hand, doing nothing is also a risk that I think sets people in my generation and folks younger than me behind economically and environmentally for decades. So a couple of years to do it right is definitely worth it.David RobertsOkay, final question then. I can see lots of Maine-specific reasons why one might argue that this is a good deal; these utilities are particularly bad, Maine has a particular set of problems, it has a particular sort of public culture, a culture of participation and a culture of civic engagement, et cetera, et cetera. Lots of Maine-specific reasons why you could make the case for this. I wonder, to what extent do y'all have your eyes on other states and trying to make this the beginning of something bigger? Like, do you believe that taking private utilities public is a good idea across the board?Is that something you'd like to see become a national trend or are you just purely focused on Maine? How do you think about the influence this may or may not have on other states?Nicole GrohoskiI think that all the issues we've had in Maine are what led us to looking around for solutions, but it is a structural imbalance that we have with the regulated monopolies when they're for profit. So, I do think it is something that is exportable to other states. We people in our coalition have been working with and talking to people elsewhere in the country who are looking to make a similar transition also elsewhere in the world. It's kind of interesting. The Scottish power is also owned by Avengrid, which owns Central Maine Power, and they are looking to become a public, truly public utility over there.So, in doing this work, we've found a lot of interest for that business model change. And I think as we become another case study, we are standing on the shoulders of other case studies that have happened in this country. And as we become another one for folks, I think that we'll see some opportunities arise. And I would like to see that because I want every American to be able to afford their electricity and to be able to have clean energy and not a lot of hurdles to getting there, because we are literally all in this together as a country and as a world with our climate crisis.David RobertsThat seems like a wonderful note to wrap up on. Nicole Grohoski, thanks so much for coming on and walking through this with us. It's super fascinating and I think it will be an example to the rest of the country one way or the other. However it plays out.Nicole GrohoskiWe're hoping that we're a positive "yes" example. We're working every day toward that. And I want to thank you, David, for having me on and talking about this topic, which is, I think, endlessly important and fascinating.David RobertsAgreed, agreed. OK. Thanks, Nicole. Thank you for listening to the Volts podcast. It is ad-free, powered entirely by listeners like you. If you value conversations like this, please consider becoming a paid Volts subscriber at volts. WTF. Yes, that's volts.WTF so that I can continue doing this work. Thank you so much and I'll see you next time. Get full access to Volts at www.volts.wtf/subscribe

In November 2000, Scotty Wentzell was born with a serious congenital heart defect and a chromosomal disorder that causes physical and developmental delays. With the help of his parents, Lisa and Scott, and many organizations specializing in assisting people of many different abilities, Scotty has been able to go on amazing adventures throughout his life. Recently, Lisa co-authored a book with Heidi Bullen named, “A Dog and His Boy, The Adventures of Spillway and Scotty,” detailing the adventures of Scotty's life with his stuffed dog, Spillway. Listen to this episode to learn more about spreading a message of inclusion and acceptance through storytelling and book talks.   4:00 – Scott describes Scotty's birth.   8:08 – Scotty shares a message.   9:01 – Lisa explains how Spillway and Scotty met and how Spillway got his name.   11:33 – Scotty says how much he has enjoyed being on the book tour.   12:14 – Lisa talks about her career.   15:37 – Lisa explains how her mindset shifted to start writing “A Dog and His Boy” and sharing their story.  19:28 – Heidi shares how she got involved with “A Dog and His Boy.”  22:29 – Scott talks about what it has been like to watch Lisa and Heidi on their journey of writing this book.   26:46 – Scott shares his hopes for the book.   30:03 – Scott provides some details on the song that has been written about Scotty and Spillway.   32:10 – Heidi describes what it has been like doing book talks.   36:11 – Lisa reads a testimonial:  “Today was an absolute top moment of my career. It was one of those days that has proven I am doing exactly what I'm supposed to, where I'm supposed to, surrounded by the most amazing staff and students. We were able to create an environment where all our intensive needs students were accepted and successfully together to listen to an incredible story of friendship and acceptance for a full hour. We even got to share the story with our mainstream classes thanks to the power of technology. Inclusion matters. Everyone go out and support the amazing Lisa Wentzell, Scotty and Spillway. They have left a long-lasting impression on us and are the absolute sweetest.”  38:14 – Lisa, Scott and Heidi share some resources that have been helpful for them.     Quotes   “The kids just really take to Scotty and that's the whole point. We want them to be comfortable with Scotty. We want them to be comfortable with people like Scotty and not be afraid to go up to them and make a friend, have a friendship, so all the positive stuff that comes out of this makes you want to go back for more.” – Lisa Wentzell  “One of the ways we found out about a lot of the activities and organizations that we've engaged with, with Scotty is through other parents, other families and word of mouth. As much as we wanted to tell Scotty's story, we also wanted to shine a light on those organizations and let other families who might be in a similar position know that there is support out there, there are ways to do all these amazing activities no matter what your child's ability may be.” – Scott Wentzell   “I think the most important thing that we can do as educators is to teach children how important it is to include everybody, to make sure everybody belongs, to make sure you have empathy and you understand what other people are going through. I think as educators and us being able to go share this book with so many people and touching those lives of the children when they're young just makes for better human beings.” – Heidi Bullen     Links:   Listen to Karl Stand's episode on The PR Maven Podcast to hear more about Sugarloaf    Claudia Diller: https://www.claudiadiller.com/index.htm   Central Maine Power: https://www.cmpco.com/   Equip for Living Foundation: https://www.equipforliving.org/   Maine Adaptive Sports and Recreation: https://www.maineadaptive.org/   Special Olympics: https://www.specialolympics.org/   Best Buddies Maine: https://www.bestbuddies.org/maine/   Riding to the Top Therapeutic Riding Center: https://www.ridingtothetop.org/   Pine Tree Camp: https://pinetreesociety.org/camp-home/pinetreecamp/   Portland Wheelers: https://portlandwheelers.org/   Special Surfers: https://www.specialsurfer.org/   The Woodshed at Kennebec Cabin Company: https://thewoodshedmaine.com/   The Studio: https://thestudioportland.com/     About the guests:      Lisa and Scott Wentzell moved to Maine full-time in 1993 when they both took jobs at Sugarloaf. By the late 90s, Lisa was the accounting manager and Scott was the marketing director. When their son, Scotty, was born in November of 2000 with a serious congenital heart defect and what they would soon learn was a chromosomal disorder that causes physical and developmental delays, they decided to move to the Portland area to be closer to his doctors and the services he was going to require.   Lisa became a full-time mom with a career caring for Scotty, while Scott held positions at Thos. Moser handcrafted American furniture, James D. Julia Auctioneers and Maine magazine before his current position at WEX. Lisa and Scott are dedicated to assuring Scotty enjoys all that life has to offer. Lisa recently co-wrote a book with Heidi Bullen called, “A Dog and His Boy, The Adventures of Spillway and Scotty.” With the book's success, Lisa and Scotty's purpose now is to share their empowering message of inclusion, acceptance and friendship.   Heidi Bullen is a National Board Certified third-grade teacher at Crescent Park Elementary School in Bethel, Maine, and a published author.      Looking to connect:  Lisa's email: lisakwenzell@gmail.com     Scott's email: scottwentzell17@gmail.com   Scott's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottwentzell/   Scott's Twitter: @scottwentzell   Scott's Instagram: @scottywentz    Heidi's email: bullenh@sad44.org     Instagram:  @spillwayandscotty  Website: www.spillwayandscotty.com  

Ben’s back, and the gang discusses some exciting housing bills working their way through the legislature and the absolutely wack-a-doodle number of disconnection notices that have been going out to Mainers from Central Maine Power and Versant; and we’ll hear from some MPA staff about canvassing, why it matters, and why you should do it.… The post Podcast: CMP and Versant's furious flurry of disconnection notices first appeared on Maine Beacon.

President and CEO of Central Maine Power, Joe Purington sat down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute on Wednesday, March 1. About Joe Purington Joe Purington was appointed President and CEO of Central Maine Power (CMP) in September 2021. CMP serves approximately 646,000 electricity customers in an 11,000 square-mile service area in central and southern Maine. The appointment brings Purington home to Maine and to CMP where he began his career in utility operations.

President and CEO of Central Maine Power, Joe Purington sat down with Portland Press Herald CEO Lisa DeSisto for a conversation at The Roux Institute on Wednesday, March 1. About Joe Purington Joe Purington was appointed President and CEO of Central Maine Power (CMP) in September 2021. CMP serves approximately 646,000 electricity customers in an 11,000 square-mile service area in central and southern Maine. The appointment brings Purington home to Maine and to CMP where he began his career in utility operations.

Esther, Cate and Ben talk about what people can do when the weather is this cold (Beacon coverage and resources), and what Central Maine Power is doing to explain away its rate increases. Also, bills in the legislature to protect and expand the legal rights of trans people, and a preview of the paid family…

Ian Meng is Professor of Physiology and Director of the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence for the Study of Pain and Sensory Function at the University of New England. Ian's path into science was inspired by a college class, and he's now studying pain and the eye. Ian will be one of the 5 Minute Genuis(TM) speakers at the 2023 Maine Science Festival (www.mainesciencefestival.org) on March 24th, 2023, 7:30pm.Our conversation was recorded in January 2023.Save the date: 2023 Maine Science Festival: March 22nd-26th, Bangor (and area), Maine. This episode is sponsored by Epstein Properties~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival and Maine Discovery Museum. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. The Maine Science Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum

Gov. Janet Mills introduced her proposed two-year budget this week, and Esther, Cate and Ben offer their initial thoughts. Also, we chat with MPA lobby team member Rafael Macias about what the lobby team’s all about, and take a look at the competing referendum questions around a consumer-owned utility, and who all is behind them.…

Shawn Laatsch is the Director at Versant Power Astronomy Center at the University of Maine. Shawn deeply dedicated to the public understanding of astronomy and has lived and worked throughout the United States and Europe pursing this work. Our conversation was recorded in October 2022.One note: this is last new episode for 2022; we'll be back in January 2023 with all new conversations about Maine science with the people who do it!~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival and Maine Discovery Museum. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. The Maine Science Podcast is hosted and executive produced by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum

With decisions made on legislative leadership and referenda signatures being submitted, what’s next for politics and policy in Maine is becoming more clear. On this episode of the Beacon Podcast, Esther, Ben and Mike discuss the Our Power referendum, the selection of Rachel Talbot Ross as Speaker of the Maine House and more. Ask a…

Rachel Schattman is an Assistant Professor at the University of Maine and her research uses skills and techniques across social and lab sciences. Rachel and her team work with specialty crop producers and agricultural advisors to identify and address production challenges, with a focus on climate change adaptation. Our conversation was recorded in October 2022.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival and Maine Discovery Museum. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum 

Kaitlyn Haase is the Research Analyst for Kinotek, a startup that is using technology to assess body movement. Kaitlyn's work centers on understanding kinesiology, the application of technology, and how to assess the data that comes from that merger. Kaitlyn was one of the remarkable people from VEMI Lab at the University of Maine who presented at the Maine Science Festival. Our conversation was recorded in September 2022.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival and Maine Discovery Museum. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum 

Kat Allen is an Assistant Professor School of Earth and Climate Sciences, and has a  Cooperating Appointment at the Climate Change Institute. Kat studies the ocean, both in the geologic past and in the present. Some of you may recognize her from the 2022 Maine Science Festival Headliner Event, The Warming Sea - an exploration of hope in the face of the climate crisis. Kat was part of our introductory panel, and her presentation provided fantastic context for the rest of the evening. You can see Kat at The Warming Sea on the MSF YouTube channel at https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoUtjF9XPKP0zO5NsgYLU4SMGmzeNPJN9.Our conversation was recorded August 2022.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum 

Habib Dagher is the founding Executive Director of the Advanced Structures & Composites Center, a National Science Foundation funded research center housed in an 100,000 square foot laboratory with over 350 full and part-time personnel. Habib and his team have been responsible for some remarkable innovations in composites, off-shore wind, and bridge technology - to name just a few. The center has worked with over 500 clients world-wide, including 150 Maine-based companies, and has received top national awards for its research. In October 2015, Habib was recognized as a 2015 White House Transportation Champion of Change as the primary inventor of the composite arch bridge system. He holds 80 U.S. and international patents with 8 additional patents pending.More information about the Bridge in  Backpack: https://www.kleinfelder.com/project/bridge-in-a-backpack-technology/Habib was part of the 2021 online forums, in a session about "Off Shore Wind from the UK to Maine." The video of that forum is on the MSF YouTube page: https://youtu.be/hI4lECVXCKI.Our conversation was recorded August 2022.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum  

Amara Ifeji is currently a student at Northeastern University AND the Director of Youth Engagement and Policy for the Maine Environmental Education Association. Amara found her love of the environment and science at an early age, and has reached an understanding of how policy, science, and advocacy can all play a role in improving the world around us. In recognition of her work, she was awarded the 2021 National Geographic Young Explorer Award–one of only 24 youth in the world. Our conversation was recorded in early July 2022.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum 

On the podcast this week, Esther Pew, Ben Chin and Mike Tipping discuss the federal decision to forgive student loan debt, the court ruling on the CMP corridor and 2022 record-setting rate of overdose deaths. Plus: Blues, bargains and bake-offs are our rays of hope. Ask a question or leave a comment for a future…

Han Tan is a plant geneticist who's research is focused on one of Maine's most important crops: potatoes. In this conversation, we cover Han's science journey, how he uses CRISPR, and how potato research is different than the work that's been done in corn. We spoke in July 2022.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     Instagram© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum 

Lindsay Ware is a wildlife ecologist who has merged her love of wildlife ecology with her passion for dogs. Lindsay is part of a small but growing group of scientists who are partnering with dogs to assist with endangered species identification and conservation. Our conversation was recorded in June 2022.For more about Lindsay's work: https://www.sciencedogsne.com/ ~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org at our donation page. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Festival Store - https://bit.ly/MSF-store© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum  

Patrick Breeding is a Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Marin Skincare and a Co-Founder of Dermarus. A biotechnology entrepreneur, Patrick developed his interest for the blue economy working with Lobster Unlimited. He earned his B.S. in Biomedical Engineering in 2017 and completed his M.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Maine in 2020. Throughout college, Patrick became passionate about biotechnology research and commercialization in various fields, spanning drug development, skincare, marine bioresources, medical education and sports performance innovation, and has followed these passions toward a career of doing 'cool stuff that matters'. Patrick presented at the 2019 Maine Science Festival. ~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted, edited and produced by Kate Dickerson; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org either at our donation page OR by getting some MSF merchandise through our online store. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Festival Store - https://bit.ly/MSF-store© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum

Seth Benz is an avid educator and ornithologist at the Schoodic Institute in Acadia National Park. Seth's work focuses on bird migration, phenology studies, and public participation in scientific research. Our conversation was recorded in May 2022.Links to the citizen science tools mentioned:iNaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/eBird: https://ebird.org/home~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org either at our donation page OR by getting some MSF merchandise through our online store. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Festival Store - https://bit.ly/MSF-store© 2022 Maine Science FestivalA program of the Maine Discovery Museum

Anne Lichtenwalner, is an Associate  Professor of Cooperative Extension and the School of Food and  Agriculture, and cooperating faculty in the Honors College as well as  the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine.  Since 2008, Anne has been the director and diagnostician  for the University of Maine Animal Health Lab (UMAHL), a member lab of  the Northeast Wildlife Disease Cooperative. She is involved in research  about, and service to, Maine animal industries.  ~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Hosted by Kate Dickerson; edited and produced by Scott Loiselle; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org either at our donation page OR by getting some MSF merchandise through our online store. Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Festival Store - https://bit.ly/MSF-store © 2022 Maine Science Festival  

Luci Benedict is an Associate Professor of Chemistry, and Director of Quality Control Collaboratory at the University of Southern Maine. Luci is an analytical chemist who has worked in the area of environmental pollutants and now focuses her research and work in the fermentation area - in particular the craft brewing industry. The 2022 Maine Science Festival program of events is online at https://www.mainesciencefestival.org/march2022.Tickets ($25/$10 students) for the 2022 Headliner: The Warming Sea - an exploration of Hope in the face of the climate crisis. (thewarmingsea.me) - March 19, 2022, 7pm, Collins Center for the Arts are on sale now!~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Edited and produced by Kate Dickerson; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker.If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org either at our donation page OR by getting some MSF merchandise through our online store.Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Festival Store - https://bit.ly/MSF-store © 2022 Maine Science Festival

Phoebe Jekielek is Director of Research for Hurricane Island Center for Science and Leadership. Her current research focuses on farming scallops, and she's using eDNA as one of the tools to help analyze the aquaculture farm they have at Hurricane. Phoebe is pursing her PhD at the University of Maine, working in the Leslie Lab and being co-advised by Heather Leslie of the Darling Marine Center and Nichole Price of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. If you want to email Phoebe and get photos/videos of scallops, she can be reached at phoebe@hurricaneisland.net.~~~~~Tickets are now on sale for the 2022 Headliner: The Warming Sea - an exploration of Hope in the face of the climate crisis. (thewarmingsea.me) - March 19, 2022, 7pm, Collins Center for the Arts.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Edited and produced by Kate Dickerson; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker. If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org either at our donation page OR by getting some MSF merchandise through our online store.Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Festival Store - https://bit.ly/MSF-store © 2022 Maine Science Festival

On the Beacon podcast this week, Esther, Cate, Ben and Mike discuss the fate of voting rights legislation in Washington, new campaign finance reports in Maine and the latest pandemic public policy. Plus: Reflections on MLK Day and an Olympic bobsled update. Ask a question or leave a comment for a future show at (207)…

Sarah Gabrielson is a Research Navigator at the Barbara Bush Children's Hospital, where she works with clinicians and others who are doing research that will improve healthcare delivery and results. Her healthcare background is in nursing and public health, both providing a solid foundation for her current role.~~~~~Tickets are now on sale for the 2022 Headliner: The Warming Sea - an exploration of Hope in the face of the climate crisis. (thewarmingsea.me) - March 19, 2022, 7pm, Collins Center for the Arts.~~~~~~The Maine Science Podcast is a production of the Maine Science Festival. It was recorded at Discovery Studios, at the Maine Discovery Museum, in Bangor, ME. Edited and produced by Kate Dickerson; financial support from Central Maine Power; production support by Maranda Bouchard; and social media support from Next Media.The Discover Maine theme was composed and performed by Nick Parker. If you want to support the Maine Science Podcast and/or the Maine Science Festival, you can do so at our website mainesciencefestival.org either at our donation page OR by getting some MSF merchandise through our online store.Find us online:Website - Maine Science FestivalMaine Science Festival on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Podcast on social media: Facebook    Twitter     InstagramMaine Science Festival Store - https://bit.ly/MSF-store © 2022 Maine Science Festival

In today's jumbo-sized episode (we tried y'all), we celebrate all things infrastructure with reviews for Fort Lauderdale and Miami, as well as Central Maine Power. We also lose our fucking minds a little. FREE PUB TRIVIA made by ME this FRIDAY at 7:00 PST, twitch.tv/criticeveryone. Chill to join, no login needed, just pull up the quiz site and enjoy 6 rounds of utter madness with some fellow listeners.  If you like the show, PLEASE TELL A FRIEND? That's our advertising for the moment. Buy our shirts and cups: https://www.designbyhumans.com/shop/CriticEveryone/ Yell at us: foreveracritic@gmail.com Tweet at us: @CriticEveryone Allow conspiracies to fester with us: Facebook Fan Page: https://www.facebook.com/Everyones-a-Critic-2327696304154655/ Listen to the other great shows on our network: https://xraypod.com/ I did really hug Tommy Wiseau once.     

New Mexicans are facing some potentially big changes when it comes to the state's electrical utility, thanks to a proposed merger between PNM Resources and Avangrid, the U.S. subsidiary of a Spanish power company, Iberdrola. If the merger goes through, Avangrid would buy PNM Resources, which includes Public Service Company of New Mexico and Texas-New Mexico Power. According to the Santa Fe New Mexican: “The proposed merger is an $8.3 billion deal with a total of $4.3 billion going to shareholders and Avangrid paying off $4 billion in PNM debt.” How the merger might play out in New Mexico—and what the consequences might be—remains to be seen. But the company has been operating in Maine for more than a decade, and not without controversy. Environment reporter Laura Paskus talks with Bangor Daily News reporter Caitlin Andrews to learn more about Avangrid and Central Maine Power. The Line Opinion Panel reacts to a push at the Capitol to allow retired police officers back on the force, while still collecting pension benefits. Our panelists share their concerns with such a plan, like the potential impact on younger officers. Plus, what impact possible incentives could have to make this a feasible solution to help departments struggling to fill open positions. Line Opinion Panelists: Rebecca Latham, CEO, Girl Scouts of NM Eric Griego, former state senator Tom Garrity, The Garrity Group Guests: Caitlin Andrews, reporter, Bangor Daily News John Waconda, Indigenous Partnerships Program Director, Nature Conservancy

On this episode of Building Local Power, John Farrell, Director of ILSR's Energy Democracy initiative, speaks with Representative Seth Berry, House Chair of the Maine Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Technology. Farrell and Berry discuss how consumer ownership of the electricity system could prioritize service, reliability, and clean power. Their conversation also touches on: Berry's background in energy policy work. Recent developments in Maine, including the legislature passing a bill which would have created a consumer-owned replacement for the private utility Central Maine Power / Versant. The bill was then vetoed by the governor. Why the legislature felt compelled to take action regarding Central Maine Power, including the company's high costs, poor customer service and reliability, lack of accountability, and absentee ownership. How the fight for consumer ownership will continue in the state.   “Important concept here: the utilities profit more when they build more. That is the fundamental truth of the US investor owned regulatory system, the more you build the more you make.”   Related Resources Our Power Maine Maine House Bill 1708 Mainers Consider Putting Electricity, Internet in Local Hands (Episode 103) Is Energy Still a “Natural Monopoly”? (Episode 104) Should Big Utilities Pay for Their Bad Choices? — Episode 124 of Local Energy Rules The Role of Antitrust Law in Creating Energy Justice — Episode 127 of Building Local Power ILSR coverage of Green Mountain Power A summary of the Bluefield and Hope SCOTUS decisions that laid the framework for utility regulation and compensation: Utility Rates: Fair, Just and Reasonable A helpful chart of utility return on equity (ROE): Gearing Up for Grid Modernization Transcript Jess Del Fiacco: Hello, and welcome to Building Local Power, a podcast dedicated to thought provoking conversations about how we can challenge corporate monopolies and expand the power of people to shape their own future. Jess Del Fiacco: I am Jess Del Fiacco, the host of Building Local Power and Communications Manager here at the Institute for Local Self Reliance. For more than 45 years, ILSR has worked to build thriving, equitable communities, more power, wealth and accountability remain in local hands. In this week's episode, ILSR Co-director, John Farrell interviews Representative, Seth Berry of Main. Seth actually joined us on the show a few months ago, and today he'll catch us up on the movement toward public power in Maine. With that, I'm going to hand it off to John and Seth. John Farrell: Well, welcome to another edition of Building Local Power, a podcast of the Institute for Local Self Reliance, where we confront the issues of corporate concentration and the solutions that allow communities to advance and control their future. John Farrell: Joining me today is Representative Seth Berry, he's in the House Chair of the Legislature's Joint Standing Committee on Utilities, Energy and Technology in Maine. He's been working on some terrific legislation that we've been following and I'm so glad that he can join me today. Seth, welcome to the program. Seth Berry: It's great to be with you, John. Big fan of all your work. John Farrell: Well, I often ask guests when I start our conversations, what has motivated them to be interested in the energy sector. I feel like the issue that you're working on, which is around this concept of ownership of the transmission grid in Maine, was probably more thrust upon you from what I understand of the different challenges that have come up and the complaints that consumers have had. But did you have an interest or a history of working on energy issues before this became such a central issue in Maine? Seth Berry: I did, actually. I'm 52-years old, grew up in Maine, and came of age during the '70s when energy was very much talked about for somewhat different reasons. Climate change was something that a few people w...

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco Today we speak with Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis on the latest court decision against the Tribe in the historic Penobscot River Case, a modern day territorial taking by the State of Maine and a threat to the Tribe’s cultural existence in its sustenance fishing waters. We also look at current legislative efforts to reform the Maine Indian Land Claims Settlement Act to recognize Wabanaki Tribes sovereignty as equal to other Tribes within the United States, And we look at Penobscot Nation's opposition to mining in Maine, and the Central Maine Power corridor, the so-called New England Clean Energy Connect. This Sunday, August 1st, Tribal leaders and activists will hold a Rally for the Penobscot River and Wabanaki Sovereignty from 230- 6pm at the Bangor Waterfront Park, on the Penobscot River. Guest: Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis Today’s program was co-produced by WERU FM/RadioActive and Sunlight Media Collective. Sunlight Media Collective co-producers/host included Lokotah Sanborn, Dawn Neptune Adams and Meredith DeFrancesco. Sunlight Media Collective, documents and presents issues affecting Indigenous people from Wabanaki perspectives, highlighting the intersection between environmental justice and Tribal sovereignty. The post RadioActive 7/29/21: Penobscot River Case Decision, Efforts to Reform Settlement Act, Opposition to Mining & NECEC, Rally for Wabanaki Sovereignty first appeared on WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives.

This week on Maine's Political Pulse: The national implications of efforts to sideline Hydro-Québec from an upcoming ballot initiative on Central Maine Power's controversial transmission project. That and the latest from the Maine Legislature and Congress.

Sue Ely, Climate and Clean Energy Policy Advocate and staff attorney for the Natural Resources Council of Maine explains why NRCM believes Central Maine Power’s 145 mile high voltage transmission line, a project planning to carve a 150 wide path through the Maine North woods in order to transfer Canadian hydro power to Massachusetts is a bad deal for Maine.

Sue Ely, Climate and Clean Energy Policy Advocate and staff attorney for the Natural Resources Council of Maine explains why NRCM believes Central Maine Power's 145 mile high voltage transmission line, a project planning to carve a 150 wide path through the Maine North woods in order to transfer Canadian hydro power to Massachusetts is a bad deal for Maine.

Every two weeks, Advocacy Communications Director Colin Durrant speaks with advocates and experts to bring you a quick, concise summary of the latest news and information you need to know about Maine’s environment. In this episode Colin speaks with Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim about a study in contrasts. On the one hand, there’s General Motors’ bold commitment to a clean energy future with a huge announcement to go all electric with their cars and trucks, and on the other, Maine’s largest utility, Central Maine Power, failing in a colossal way in doing its job of helping solar projects connect to the grid.

Opponents of Central Maine Power’s proposed transmission line through the state’s western woods delivered more than 100,000 petition signatures to the secretary of state on Thursday, in their second bid to give voters a say on the project’s fate.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has awarded Central Maine Power a permit for the controversial transmission line the company wants to build through Maine’s western woods. The 145-mile line would carry hydro-electricity from Canadian dams through western Maine and into the regional power grid, to serve a contract with Massachusetts utilities. The corps permit requires mitigation for wetland and other ecological impacts, and it is one of the last approvals the project needs. Project manager Thorn Dickinson says the company is moving ahead now, with contracts worth $17 million already awarded to Maine lumber mills to make mats to protect job-site ecosystems from construction traffic, and a contract with a Wisconsin-based clearing company. “Northern Clearing was another big award,” he says. “They are going to be the big first push on the project. They are going to be developing all the access roads to make sure everything is effective and safe, and they are going to be making the first

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco First Nations Impacted by Hydropower, Penobscot Nation and Herring Pond Wampanoag Speak Out Against CMP Corridor a) Less then three months before a referendum question would have been on the ballot aiming to reverse state agency approval of the so called New England Clean Energy Connect, or CMP Corridor, Central Maine Power’s parent company, Avangrid, succeeded in blocking it the courts. This election day, however, opponents are collecting signatures again on a re-worded citizen’s initiative aimed toward bringing it to voters the following election cycle. While those who promote and profit from hydro power tout it as a clean energy, the facts bear out differently in terms of environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas emissions and methyl mercury contamination, and on the health and rights of the Indigenous People whose communities are effected by dam construction and subsequent flooding. The proposed CMP corridor, a 145 mile transmission line slated to bring electricity from Hydro Quebec through Maine to Massachussetts, has received stiff opposition from local Maine communities and the Penobscot Nation. b) On Wednesday, October 28th, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Sierra Club Maine and the Appalachian Mountain Club filed a lawsuit challenging the Army Corps of Engineers for an inadequate environmental assessment of the project and for refusing to require a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). A groundswell of the public in the state, as well as Congressman Jared Golden and the Penobscot Nation all requested an EIS be performed, but the Corp declined this past summer. A document obtained by the groups in the suit, under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that the Army Corps and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) have identified major issues with the CMP corridor, including the company’s claims about the proposal’s impact on the climate. c) Members of First Nations in Canada have been campaigning heavily these past months through in person tours and other means to express their opposition to transmission corridor projects in the Northeast United States that would increase the impacts of hydro power development on their communities. Today we hear from an educational web event organized by Northeast Megadam Resistance Alliance and Sierra Club Maine and a press conference aiming to bring the voices of First Nations people to the Conference of Northeastern Governors and Eastern Canadian Premiers last month. Guests: Meg Sheean from Northeast Megadam Reststamce Alliance Amy Norman, Nunatsiavummiuk Inuit, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador Land Protector Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis Herring Pond Wampanoag Chairwoman Melissa Ferretti Today’s program was co-produced by WERU FM/RadioActive and Sunlight Media Collective. Sunlight Media Collective, who documents and presents issues affecting Indigenous people from Wabanaki perspectives, highlighting the intersection between environmental justice and Tribal sovereignty.

In a devastating blow to opponents of Central Maine Power's controversial powerline proposal, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled Thursday that a ballot initiative designed to scuttle the $1 billion project is unconstitutional. The ruling all but ensures that the referendum will not appear on the November ballot, leaving the project's many detractors to continue the fight on the permitting and legislative front.

Canadian energy giant Hydro-Quebec says it will offer Maine a cut-rate deal on a slice of the electricity carried by a powerline that Central Maine Power wants to build through Maine's western woods. The rest of that supply is contracted to serve customers in Massachusetts.

The state’s Bureau of Parks and Lands has signed a revised deal with Central Maine Power to lease a public parcel for the utility’s controversial power line through western Maine. It makes some key changes, but opponents say under the state constitution, the lease still needs to be approved by a two-thirds majority of the Legislature.

It is dusk of a late summer day and you are standing quietly on a shoreline. There are bits of gnarled tree roots washed ashore here and there, pebbles, and small patches of mossy green vegetation at the lip of the water. The long vista you're observing is a mixture of green and gold and blue, with the orange-red of the setting sun casting long shadows over the water of the quiet lake. There are trees as far as the eye can see, covering the rolling hills. If you stay very still and listen attentively, you might hear the sound of people laughing at their camps, of an outboard motor slowly cruising along in the rapture of the moment. It is a timeless place, a place of deep beauty. People might work hard and save for years for a moment such as this, far from the crowded city, a place where the angels come to play. But if you wait a while and let the last light of the setting sun fall away to the West, wait for the stars to turn on one by one in the darkest and brightest night sky you've ever seen, if you listen for the long lonesome call of the loon and feel the night air grow colder, you might also hear the sound of people, of cars, of tractors and children laughing, of radios on front porches and dogs barking. You have to hear it with the soul's ear, but if you listen, the sound is there: for this is a place where memories linger, a place that, if not haunted, is certainly trying to be. Places are a lot like people. They are born, they slowly grow and take on shape and purpose, they find a way to thrive in the world, and they change, adapt, and continue. But some places, a very few, like people, die. Some simply just cease to be and die a natural death. But some places are murdered. Such is the place you are viewing in your mind's eye - it is the victim of a premeditated crime, committed for money, leaving the corpse to rot underneath the shallow waters. This is Flagstaff Lake, the fourth largest lake in Maine,a state with over six thousand lakes and ponds. But before the 1950's, this 20,300 acre lake didn't exist. Before that, there were the towns of Flagstaff Village and Dead River Plantation, home to families, houses, stores, farms, schools, and churches. Children laughed there, the seasons ran their courses, people fell in love, married, grew old and were buried there. Life was anchored in this place. This was home. Today, it is an extremely shallow man-made lake and below the waters, memories linger. You can almost hear it, if you have an imagination. People needed power to drive the future. Factories, farms, and businesses all were bursting to grow into something more, to bring jobs and prosperity to even the most far-flung and isloated residents of the land. Electricty was on the minds of everyone who witnessed its possibilities in the few places in America where it was generated. Like so many emerging technologies, it became a revolution, and like many revolutions, there would be casualties. The man who set the machinations into motion had profit on his mind. His name was Walter Wyman and the company was the Central Maine Power Company. Wyman was a pioneer in electricty production in Maine. As early as 1899, he and his partner began producing electricty for the town of Oakland. Over time, he set his sights on all of western Maine as a kind of kingdom of power. Wyman looked at the state of Maine's electrical power production, which was scattered and unorganized. He began to change all of that by purchasing one small electrical producer after another, creating a single power-producing entity, Central Maine Power. Wyman knew that electricty would soon drive the engines of civilization, even in the smallest, most remote areas and he was going to control the means of production. In the early 1930s, he began acquiring other companies, growing his business. In 1936 the federal government instituted the Rural Electrification Act and provided money to those people and companies who could bring electricity to the isolated rural areas of the country. Wyman wanted his share of that money. He wanted to become Maine's premier electricity producer. Ultimately, he would need to harness hydro-power and the flow of the mighty Kennebec River. He looked at the map of Western Maine and saw an existing lake, a much smaller body of water called Flagstaff Pond. With the area's vast woodlands and rivers leading to the larger rivers, it was no stretch of the imagination to see a hydro-electric dam that regulated the water flow of the North and South Dead Rivers into the larger Kennebec. Wyman embraced the idea and began by purchasing parcel after parcel of land and burning the forests to the ground. His plan was to create a vast resevoir of water, the future Flagstaff Lake, to drive the turbines and create one of the largest electrical companies in the northeast. But Wyman had a problem. In 1909, in an effort to preserve Maine's natural heritage and keep it wild and open, the legislature passed the Fernald Bill. It prohibited companies that produced electricity in the state from selling it outside of the state, banning its export.That was a problem for Wyman who had plans. The law was almost repealed, but the voters of the state chose to keep it. Frustrated, he didn't let the Fernald Law stop him from building the capacity for power generation in the state, even while building the largest hydroelectric dam in the northeast, the Wyman Dam at Bingham. He had too much power - literally - to sell in Maine. If there was no one to buy his power, that meant that Wyman had to create places that needed it, so he heavily invested in Bath Iron Works, Keyes Fiber in Waterville, shoe companies, and textile mills. He even created the Maine Seaboard Paper Company in Bucksport - a mill that had no way of producing its own power. If he couldn't export power, he would invest in businesses that needed his power right in the state and profit from selling his power and from their products, which could be exported legally. Wyman was, after all, a business man with plans. And if a business stops growing, it begins to die. But what of the towns of Flagstaff, Bigelow, and Dead River Planation? The people knew what he was doing. They saw the smoke from the fires, talked to the people who sold off their land to the speculators, understood that change was on the horizon and it was coming to take something away. Central Maine Power sent letters, went door to door,applied legal pressure where it was needed to get things moving and soon people began to succumb to the idea that their town was going to be taken from them. First, it was a farm here,a home there, but then businesses sold out, and larger and larger pieces of land were owned by the company. The townships were dissolved. Most folks took the money and moved away to places like Eustis. Some even had their homes transported like mobile homes. They dug up the dead and put them somewhere else. Some few people held on and refused to take the power company's checks for their homes. Many of those people simply lost everything, because with their permission or without it, Walter Wyman and his company would have their way, as they always did. In July of 1949, about 300 people met in the village one final time before it all was taken from them. As they met, they were surrounded by a an empty forest of tree stumpage, all cut and removed so that the reservoir for the nearly completed Long Falls Dam could be free of debris, as it created the largest man-made lake in the state of Maine. They must have been quiet; their past was being taken from them, even if they had cashed Wyman's checks. The outskirts were already empty,the buildings all future ghosts just waiting for the inevitable. The school had already been razed to the ground. The church would be flooded, as would all of the other houses, under water and lost to their sight. There was nothing to celebrate. It was like gathering together for a kind of execution. Within a year, everything would be gone. In 1950, the Long Falls Dam was completed and the last people in the villages and towns witnessed the rising waters. It was a slow death, they say, as it took weeks for the waters to fill the 20,000 acres. All those places they knew so well, the houses that sheltered them, the fields that fed them, the lawns where the children played, even the graveyard that honored their revered dead, all were erased from human sight for the march of progress. In order for Walter Wyman to provide the power that would eventually be exported from Maine to Boston and places south, this quiet, rural place would need to go, and with it, the heritage of hundreds of ordinary people without the money that bought influence. The Fernald Bill would be repealed, people would move on and these places, now underwater, would eventually be forgotten until finally, only a few survivors who grew up there, can recall the streets, the lights in the corner store at twilight, the sound of the radio and people rocking on their porches on a hot summmer night. They say that Benedict Arnold, on his march to Canada, stopped at this place and put up a flag. When he left, the flagstaff remained, replaced by a trapper who found it. From that moment on, there had always been a flagstaff in the town. It was its namesake. In the end, when they flooded the town, they let it stand and for awhile, it poked above the waters as a maker, a kind of gravestone, for the town whose life was taken from its people and its people taken from it. If you go onto the lake today and stand on the shore, search as you will, you will not find that flagstaff. But if you take a moment, especially at dusk or in the early morning and stare for awhile over the calm waters, you just might discern the outline of a barn roof,of a stand of trees, or even a church steeple. Stories are all that are left and when the last resident of these places passes away and is buried in some other town's cemetery, then legends will begin to grow. The story of a murder - something ostensibly done for the good of the many - that cries out, the drowned village that whispers from under the waters - remember me… REFERENCES Dead River Historical Society https://sites.google.com/site/deadriverareahistory/home/the-flooding-of-flagstaff “Walter Wyman and River Power Power” https://www.mainememory.net/sitebuilder/site/815/page/1225/display MUSIC CREDITS "Collapse" by Myuu (Creative Commons) "Edge of Life" by Myuu (Creative Commons) "Strange New England Theme" by Jim Burby PHOTO CREDITS Dead River Historical Society Maine Historical Society Picture of Flagstaff Lake - by Mlanni98 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77135333

It is dusk of a late summer day and you are standing quietly on a shoreline. There are bits of gnarled tree roots washed ashore here and there, pebbles, and…

Crisis can bring about interesting times….  And it’s in times of crisis when, as employers and leaders, you need to step back, be sure you are focused on the right priorities, and then lean in to support your team.  Now more than ever, workers need to know that their leadership is committed to their health and safety.  Intentional regular communication is a critical part of balancing the immediate response to any crisis with workplace safety, and worker wellbeing.  Planning for crisis communication, meeting people where they are, and the delivery are all critical parts of the communications puzzle.  This is Peter Koch, host of the MEMIC Safety Experts Podcast and in this episode I speak with Michael Bourque, President and CEO of MEMIC.  Drawing from more than 30 years experience developing and delivering messages with employees, peers, and external contacts, Michael discusses concentric circles of communication planning and lessons learned from supporting workplace teams through challenging times.  Check it out on your favorite podcast platform or at www.memic.com/podcast. *** Peter Koch: Hello, listeners, and welcome to the MEMIC’s Safety Experts podcast. I'm your host, Peter Koch. Crises can bring about interesting times and it's times of crisis when as employers and leaders, we need to step back, be sure that we're focused on the right priorities and then lean in to support our team. Now, more than ever, workers need to know that their leadership is committed to their health and safety. Regular communication is a critical part of balancing the response in any crises, workplace safety and worker well-being. [00:00:30] I'm your host, Peter Koch, and on the phone with me today is Michael Bourque, president and CEO of Main Employers Mutual Insurance Company, or MEMIC. And we're going to dig into the communications puzzle as it relates to employees and workplace management during a crisis. Hey, Mike, welcome to the podcast. Michael Bourque: Hey, thanks, Peter. It's a crucial topic and a perfect time to be talking about all of this, that's for sure. That's sort of our everyday right now. Peter Koch: Yeah, it is our every day. I think things are changing rapidly and kind [00:01:00] of getting used to this new normal is pretty challenging. So I'm really excited to have you here today and you're experience at MEMIC as a communicator has gone on for quite a while, and you've been involved in communications at MEMIC since its inception. And even prior to you being at MEMIC, you were in a position that had you working in communications as a reporter. So the first question I want to throw at you today is before you came to MEMIC, [00:01:30] what did your time as a reporter teach you about communicating in a crisis? Because that might be a critical setup to some of the things that we talk about going on in the podcast today. Michael Bourque: Well, you know, I think one of the things reporters always learn is that when a reporter calls, sometimes that means it's a crisis automatically to a lot of people who you don't think you want to hear a reporter on the phone, especially if you have a hint that there's something that may not be perfect that you're about to talk about. But the biggest [00:02:00] mistake that people make in talking when something seems like it might be a little bit wrong is clamming up, not saying anything, because, I mean, you know, as soon as you hear somebody say no comment, if you hear that, you think, all right, there's something wrong, there must be something wrong. They wouldn't say no comment if they would be able to comment. And if that was true and you know, of course, the truth is most people are just being conservative and trying to be smart, maybe saying, I don't want to say anything until I have all the facts. I don't want to make a mistake. [00:02:30] But that in and of itself says something. So, you know, one of those first lessons is that you have to communicate. Now, there are different ways to communicate. I can't talk about that right now. But this sort of no comment, tightlipped, nope, refused to talk to you. That generally is something that will start to stir the pot and maybe end up getting you in more trouble than when you started. Peter Koch: Yeah, that makes sense. I've had that experience before in a past life, having [00:03:00] a reporter call me or an attorney call me and then getting into that position where I'd just clam up. I have no comment at this time. And initially that didn't set me up for great communication later on, I thought it was the right response initially, but then interestingly enough, the questions came from the other employees that I was with, the management group that I was with that were wondering what was going on. [00:03:30] Like they didn't have the information either. And I was putting out a message of no comment, which was protective, but it wasn't communicative. It didn't really talk about what was happening to the extent that I could. It didn't set up my team for, really a good relationship with the information and understanding what was going on. Michael Bourque: Yeah. I think, I mean, you know, it's one thing when it's a lawyer that's sometimes that is the time to be quiet. But, you know, somebody is sort of digging for something [00:04:00] in particular or you don't have the information. But I think in general, when you have something that is already external to some degree, you know, you can't stop information from flowing if it's started to flow. You have to be responsive to it. And that means responsive is sort of what the what the perception is that's being built already. Sometimes if something difficult has occurred and then you refuse to talk about it, then the assumption is, well, there must be something even more wrong  [00:04:30]than you're willing to speak about. Peter Koch: Sure. Do you have any examples in your history where that tactic really turned around to either bite you or the individual or the group that made that no comment? The silence instead of presenting some better information for the question. Michael Bourque: You know, not in my personal career [00:05:00] experience other than as the reporter, you know, asking an organization about something and having no comment and saying, OK, well, I'm going to ask somebody else. And then getting further comment from somebody else who is probably less official and maybe even had less information about exactly what had occurred inside the organization. I won't bring up the company, it was a company. It actually did involve a workplace injury, a significant one that had occurred at a press actually, at a printing press. When I was a reporter. [00:05:30] And so that was an example of it turned out they got more information out. And then a group of employees who wanted to talk about it and was not good news for that employer, they could have they could have stopped it. If we just had a conversation at the outset. Peter Koch: Yeah, it probably would have been able to manage the information flow and also get the message, the important message out instead of any message out. And I think that's a key point to consider [00:06:00] here when we're talking. What is the important message? So as we think about providing information or communicating with employees in a crisis, trying to understand what the important message is. So not only what do you want them to know, but what did they need to hear in order to be able to manage their own position, their own place and the things in their life that surround the situation at that time? Michael Bourque: Yeah. I mean, we sort of look at a [00:06:30] grid of stakeholders who are the stakeholders who needs to know who, and then what, what message they need to hear and messenger who delivers the message actually matters as well. Is it a close, trusted supervisor? Is it the CEO of an organization? Is it somebody external? I think those are all considerations to make. And you really can sort of draw up a plan pretty quickly if you think about it from that perspective. Peter Koch: Yeah. I think one of the takeaways there is to have a plan. I mean, crisis is going [00:07:00] to come up. We're living in the time right now where this is really unprecedented. How are you just communicating at all? So instead of doing this together in the studio at our office, we're doing this over the phone, communicating over quite a few miles at this point in time using technology. So even communication today is different in the way we do it and not just the message but having a plan. So if crisis happens, what do we think about, what do we want to talk about, who makes [00:07:30] the decisions, who delivers the message? Those are all good parts to have in that particular plan. So let's talk a little bit about your experience here at MEMIC when you were the senior vice president of external communications. I think that was the correct title. Is that right? Or just vice president of communications Michael Bourque:  It was External Affairs was officially the title. It included communications, lots of communications. Peter Koch: Lots of communications.  [00:08:00]So how did your time as a reporter sort of form your tactics on communicating to the external groups and also to internal groups about different news and things that were happening. So how did your time as a reporter inform your process of communications? Michael Bourque: Well, that's a good question. My time as a reporter, it was a little bit different way to think, but it sort of it evolved over time as I came in. I mean, certainly I had an understanding [00:08:30] of how the media works and how people hear about things and how people deal with bad news and good news. But it's received you know, one of the theories that I sort of quickly adopted, when I came to MEMIC was that of the idea of concentric circles of communication. So it's part of the stakeholder model, but it really is thinking about your various audiences as they move out from the center. And one mistake that organizations often made in those days and [00:09:00] you know, they're better and better at it now, all though not all of us are great, was forgetting the employees in that part of the concentric circle. You communicate with your senior management. You communicate with your board of directors who are all really close, those sorts of things. But the next line is really your employee group, and they can be, ultimately, they will amplify your message outside from what they hear. So the value that they provide. Plus what the news means to them is usually a lot [00:09:30] as stakeholders who are that closely tied to an organization who may have to execute some of what it is that the future may hold. They really are important, and you can't forget them. And so thinking about employees next and then thinking about policyholders, customers, injured workers, agents, those next close partners, and then sort of the larger world inclusive of public policymakers, you can never forget that you're also communicating within a certain environment and that's a stake holding group. That cares [00:10:00] very much about how you operate as an organization, as an insurance company we're highly regulated. So talking to our regulators about things that are happening on a daily basis, I've already spoken to Superintendent Insurance last Monday. As soon as we went to this home part of this pandemic policy. So things like that I think are important. So that perspective, I guess I don't know that I developed that as a reporter, but I very quickly saw the benefit of that when I came to [00:10:30] work for MEMIC. Peter Koch: So that's a that's a really interesting tactic on considering communications, those concentric circles and looking at how your organization or what your organization interacts with. So like you said, your team and then not taking for granted that the team that you communicated with is going to get the message out, but really making the plan, to, OK, Who is going to deliver the message? What message is going to be delivered? When is it going to be delivered and how [00:11:00] is it going to get out beyond in those circles that that connect to your company but are not directly related to the internal workings of the company? Michael Bourque: You know, there's always an informal network that occurs. It's absolutely right. You have to create a plan and feed those people, whether it's you know, people call talking points in the industry now. But I think essentially, what are we hearing from the top or from the management? And what does it mean? And so if you have that group, feel well-informed, trusted [00:11:30] and in a good frame of mind, they will then help amplify your message out into the field, into their contacts. If you miss that step, that can be really problematic. Peter Koch: Absolutely. Funny. As I was  preparing for this I was thinking about some of the communications challenges that I've had over the years, both here at MEMIC and at other organizations where I've worked and either having been the one to receive the message and [00:12:00] then deliver the message further down or the one to have to create a message and then deliver it out. And there has been some times where I've made the mistake of assuming that when I delivered the message, whether I created it or I was the receiver and then had to pass it on, would assume that the people that I was passing it on to would deliver it to the next circle, that next group that they would touch. And sometimes forgetting that they had a touch point to some of those [00:12:30] other concentric circles outside of our organization. So talking to some of the employees that might have a connection with an outside service group that might be coming in or a distributor or another partner within the organization or outside of the organization that they would communicate. So we give them, we gave the employees, or the department group a message, but we didn't really talk about. So where [00:13:00] does this message go from there? Like, what parts of this are appropriate for you to share with the people who are tangentially associated with our organization? Michael Bourque: Yeah, no, that's usually important. And that's sort of partly what you talk about, about having a plan and being deliberate. I think you really do have too. And none of us is perfect at this. There's no question it's hard. But having a plan upfront and then realizing, OK, this  circumstance is different than what we planned for, but we [00:13:30] have the elements of the plan here. Let's put it into place. You know, this pandemic, I think is a perfect example. While certainly there have been all of us look at the idea of what it means, what a pandemic would mean. I certainly didn't have a real sense of what it would mean to be essentially having everybody work from home. I didn't know what social distancing was until three weeks ago. And, you know, we're all finding that out now and how that works. So you can create a plan. But the [00:14:00] events on the ground often change or are different than what you might have envisioned. And you got to be able react. But you do have to start with at least, have a plan. Peter Koch: Yeah. Yeah. You're not going to be able to have everything written down for every circumstance. But again, having that plan, talking about what those circles are and then having a process to develop the communication, I mean, maybe that's a good place to go now is too, OK, so we're in a crisis, whether it be a small crisis or a large crisis or an outside [00:14:30] crisis that's currently affecting the particular business or even family structure that you're in. How do you develop the message? Like, what do you think about when you have to develop a message that you have to deliver to employees or people that you're responsible for and you care for? Like what are some of the things that you got to think about when you start putting together a message? Michael Bourque: Well, one of the things that particularly in this [00:15:00] crisis is putting yourself somewhere as close as you can into the shoes of the person who you're communicating with. What are the things that they need to hear? What are they worried about? What are they concerned about? What don't they know that they wish they did? And it's sort of meeting the people where they are and having that understanding, I think is hugely important. I mean, you know, we all could go on and regurgitate what we hear on the news to share with employees about this is what's happening in this pandemic. And, you know, we have this many [00:15:30] cases in this state and this is the governor all this and this. That's all great. But the truth is the method of communication needs to be human. And so you need to meet the people where they are and be a human being yourself. I think that's hugely important. And that's something that I certainly have tried to do. And as we work through this, because this one in particular is personal in nature, in that people are at home dealing with kids, dealing with elderly parents, that they may be worried about dealing with neighbors, that they're concerned about. If you only come forward, only [00:16:00] to acknowledge that there's a work challenge. Then you're missing a lot and you're not showing the perspective that you need to. You know there are other crises that may really be just about work. Something that's occurring at work. And yet the other thing you have to think about is people are obviously always thinking about what does that mean to them? What if the company fails? Do they have a job? Do they have, you know, what is their future look like? And so I think always putting yourself in the shoes of the person who's [00:16:30] receiving the messages is an important start. Peter Koch: That's a great point. Meeting people where they are and taking some time to think about where they are. So who are your employees? Where do they come from? What are some of the things that they're going to need to know? Again, having a conversation with a policyholder just last week actually about what was happening, and I was on a conference call or a video call with the director and a number of their employees. And [00:17:00] the reason I was on the call was to provide some information about the virus and what to do and how to manage it. And it was really interesting to hear some of the questions that came out that reflected where people were. There was one particular person who worked in the mailroom and her concern was how long does the virus last on any surface? Like, what about the packages that we is it different on cardboard, than it is on a tieback mailer than it is on bubble wrap than it is on something [00:17:30] else, like how do I manage that? And then someone else was talking about the social distancing. If I have to interact with somebody, how far apart do I need to stay? What do I need to do? Do I need to wear a mask? Those pieces. And then there are questions about, well, I have to go home and I'm like, my mother or father is living with me. And how do I manage that? I don't think I've been exposed. But how do I manage that particular [00:18:00] challenge? So understanding where they are and my initial message to them was sort of clinical, like I had a plan, I had a presentation. We're going to go through here. The facts. Just the facts, ma'am. But it really turned into a conversation about. So how do you manage? How do you take these facts and bring them into your own work life? And then recognizing that this might have a potential impact to your home life, too. And then the park [00:18:30] director was pretty awesome about this particular thing. And he had a couple of themes that sort of wandered through. And the first part was, stay calm, like, don't panic. There's some facts around this that we can get our arms around and we can come up with our own plan for not only prevention and protection but keeping going. So meet people where they are and stay calm, sort of understand what that what that message should be. So you put that message together, you've got [00:19:00] it in your head, you're thinking about it. You put it out there and you get some response. You get some response with emotion. So how do you manage? How do you manage that? Because that's real. That's people are going to come back at you with, well, what about me or what about this or here's this emotional response. How do you deal with that as a communicator, especially in crisis situation? Michael Bourque: That is a that's a really great, great question, because it happens. It's exactly what happens that people are emotional. We're emotional individuals, very [00:19:30] emotional beings. And so in our fight or flight response is not far from the surface. And that's just deep seated. That's, you know, that's in our genetic makeup. I think one of the more important things is we have to understand that even if we know exactly what the logic of a circumstance is, if you're met with great emotion, your facts don't matter. They really don't. They can easily be superseded by the emotion of a circumstance. So that's [00:20:00] sort of an example of the meeting people where they are understanding that you have to acknowledge people's fears or concerns or even anger in some cases. Having people understand something like that is the first step in being able to have a deeper conversation and communicate. But if you tried to make the emotion seem as though it doesn't matter, the response back will just be louder, and you won't get to really deliver the message that you are hoping to deliver. So, you know, the place where I heard it described is [00:20:30] in cases where an organization, say a manufacturing facility might be looking to site a new plant and they want to put it in an area where there there's some people who are living and they make some sort of material that people don't know about. But sounds dangerous. It sounds chemical. And you can say, look, you can eat a pound of this stuff every day and you will be fine. You can say that over and over. But the neighbor who has a new interaction plant about to be put next to them, who has a five-year-old and a seven year [00:21:00] old at home, they may not believe it. And, you know, you can't just feed them science and expect them to say, OK, well, all right. Since you told me that, that's fine. I got that. That's not how it works. And I think that's really an example that, you know, that brings it home for me. Peter Koch: Yeah, that's a really great example. And so hard to deal with. So you as the communicator, might be really excited about the message that you're going to present. But the person that's hearing the message is actually hearing it as a crisis like this is a crisis of [00:21:30] I chose this place because of these things and I've got this family life that I'm trying to manage. And all of a sudden, they hear this message of, hey, you're going, you're going to do what you're going to make what near who I've got. I've got kids. And then to recognize their emotion or their reaction to the message is, is really legitimate? Like you said, and it's not personal. And I think sometimes as the person delivering the message hearing that [00:22:00] and it can be delivered in a very personal way, but you need to be able to take it maybe not as personal so that you can acknowledge the legitimacy. Because as you said before, you know communication is just it's a human thing. We have to do it. It's something that we're created to do, to communicate with each other in different ways. And when your communication is being challenged by someone else in a very emotional way,  [00:22:30]you can come across very defensive in that way. So acknowledging that they have fears. And then once you acknowledge that they have fears. How do you help them along with those fears as a communicator in a crisis? So how do you get them maybe not to put the fears aside, but to recognize that something might be done? So what are what do you do with that? Michael Bourque: Yeah. You just made a really great statement [00:23:00] there not to put the fears aside, because if you find yourself convincing people to put fear aside, that's a way of resisting it as opposed to acknowledging it. And I think, you know, really putting yourself there, I think to the degree I mean, in this pandemic, I think we're all in this together. And so maybe it's a little bit easier to acknowledge that there are things we all don't know, concerns that we all have. We all are worried about people. I think to the degree that as a leader, you can share your own humanity [00:23:30] in this kind of a crisis. That's important. And so I think some of that ability to provide some insight into your own sort of humanity as you're making this, I think that does allow you to then pivot to the OK, so we do know this, but here are the things we all have to know. Here are the things we have to do. Here's where we think this is going. You know, it's a matter of trust. You have to have developed some trust with people so that in a time of crisis that they believe what they're hearing from you. We're [00:24:00] talking here about a crisis communication. The truth is, if you haven't communicated or don't communicate normally on some sort of regular basis, you may not have had the opportunity to build the trust that you're going to need in the trust bank when something like this happens. So those are all ways that you are prepared and able to then share the information in ways that it will be heard. And then beyond that, the basics of good communication sort of are important. You got to tell the truth. If you don't know [00:24:30] an answer, you've got to say we don't know where we're working on finding this. We need more information about this. Thinking that blustering your way through something is not a way to go. There are some people who were good at it and have survived, but it's a pretty high wire act and not something I would recommend. But I think those are sort of the fundamentals for how you move forward. Peter Koch: Yeah, those are those are great points. I hadn't really thought about this in this way, like preparing [00:25:00] for this as crisis communication, but then you bring up the point where when you communicate in a crisis, you are cashing in from the trust bank. You are reaching into people's lives and asking them to trust that the message that you're providing is true to the extent that it can be to the extent of your own knowledge, because we're only human. I mean, you think about the information that came out within the current pandemic here two weeks ago. We're living in a different [00:25:30] world or even three weeks ago or four weeks ago. All this is not going to happen. It's not going to change us. It's not going to do anything. We're working in this particular form. And then all of a sudden where we are now, the message has changed, or the situation has changed. So, yeah, realizing that all of our communication, especially as a leader, whether you are a business owner, where you're the president or the CEO or you're a supervisor or you're a parent leading your family, [00:26:00] you are all in a place where that ongoing communication is critical for you to establish trust in a good two way process for communication so that people feel comfortable with asking you the question. So if they're comfortable asking you questions outside of the time of crisis, they're certainly going to be a little more vocal during the time of crisis and will possibly ask better questions at that time. So maybe less emotional questions and maybe [00:26:30] more realistic questions as we come down to it, because it's all pretty, pretty critical as we go forward. Let me take you back to that conversation that I was having last week with that group, one of the parts that the park directors kept talking about again. Just stay calm but remain informed. So one of the messages that he put forth and he asked me to talk a little bit about, too, was while acknowledging that we don't have all the answers, like [00:27:00] you were saying before, Michael, but where to find it? Like, where do you go to find your information? So, you know, today, if we're talking about the pandemic, where do you go to find your information? Well, you want to go to the most reliable source you can, which might not be social media, which might not be the news source that you're looking for, might not be your next-door neighbor. It might need to be the CDC or the W.H.O. to find some current accurate information to be [00:27:30] able to keep yourself informed so that you can check to make sure that the message that your leader is giving you is founded in facts as well. So it helps you trust when the leader can say, hey, this is where I'm at, here's the information I have. Go check it out at these places, because this is where we're working on for our plan with our information. So remain informed was a key theme that sort of worked through. So meeting [00:28:00] people where they are. Michael Bourque: I think that remain informed. I think that is also really important. And on the one hand, if you develop trust, you can be a source for your employees, and you hope that you are. But you're absolutely right about needing to be able to reflect where it comes from, because I'm not an epidemiologist and I should not pretend to be ever. And so whether it's CDC, either in your state or the CDC nationally or it's some state [00:28:30] governments, I think have done a very good job. You know, we happen to be recording this here in Maine. And the director of the state's CDC has gained really great respect. People didn't even know who his name was before this crisis started. And he's proven to be smart and calm and really informative. And I think he's developed his own cult following probably as a result of this. But he's clearly a smart man who thinks about these things and has [00:29:00] thought about. This is not something he's just doing off the cuff. He has a plan. He's thought about it and he knows how to provide the information. And while he's a doctor, he also understands how to reflect. He has the empathy to deal with an individual person who may be a call-in person, somebody calling in on a radio talk show. So, you know, those are those are some we're seeing some good examples, actually, of the kind of communication that is necessary in a crisis like this. Peter Koch: It's a really great example. And [00:29:30] again, going back and looking at when you're preparing your message, where is your information coming from? The person delivering the message should rely on not just themselves, but think about as a team effort, use that executive team or the team of supervisors that might be around you to help understand the facts and then deliver those facts in a way that can be that can be ingested by the people who are listening to you, again meet [00:30:00] the people where they are. Recognize and legitimize the fears that they might have. Provide them with the facts and where to find more information about the particular crisis that we're in. And certainly it's easier if the crisis is going to be longer, but if it's not, even if it's in a short-term crisis, it could be a fire. It could be a power outage or an environmental emergency that's shorter lived than what we're dealing [00:30:30] with right now. It might be harder to find information, but still there's going to need to be a place where people go back, can go back too and find additional information about that. So whether you're the message deliverer, the team that's helping provide the message, or you are the message receiver. Being able to know where those trusted sources are pretty key. What else is there to communicating in a crisis? What other. What are the things are important to keep in mind when you're [00:31:00] communicating to your employees in a crisis? Michael Bourque: One of the others, I think, is frequency. I think you have to develop some kind of a cadence that is certainly much more frequent than you would under normal circumstances. I think particularly within a fast-moving crisis where things are changing, facts are changing all the time, that that's important. An example I remember that actually goes back to here in our home state of Maine. 1998 was a time when we had a terrible ice storm that shut out power for a large percentage of [00:31:30] people statewide in the organization, Central Maine Power, which had both the president and the communications director. Communications guy was a guy named Marcus Kennion, and he was on the radio every single morning explaining where they were, where the workers were. The progress they were making and acknowledging people's challenges every single day. And he became sort of a mini celebrity over that period of time because he had showed empathy in his way of speaking. He [00:32:00] didn't speak like a corporate titan from an energy company. He spoke like your neighbor. And he understood communication is hugely important. Peter Koch: I remember that I wasn't working for MEMIC at the time. I was working for a different company and we were personally out of power. My wife was seven months pregnant at the time. Power's out. Not really sure when it's going on, going to happen, but I remember listening to him every day. And well, as I reflect now, kind of compare [00:32:30] and contrast with some of the things that helped me assuage my fears were that they're out working. We're bringing other people in. There's teams coming from other states. They're in these areas. And again, acknowledging that he gets it. People are out of power. This might be extended. We're working as hard as we can to get it out. You know, his family didn't have power either. There were personal things that allowed me to connect with the message that was important. And [00:33:00] it kind of made me get behind the crews that were out. They were two streets over from where I was live. And we didn't have power. They were working over there, and I was like, cool, they're over there. They're working. They're working hard. They're doing great. And it put a different spin on it rather than being in the dark about it. Pardon the pun about what was going on during that timeframe. Michael Bourque: Yeah, no, I think that was it. And it was held up as an example of really smart response. And it [00:33:30] was it was good for those reasons. They had facts. They were moving in the right direction. And they acknowledged the concerns of individuals and they were human about it. And there was a human scale. So I think that's just really important elements. They're fairly simple when you think about it. And yet it's easy to be overwhelmed by the depth and scale and the change. We've all seen here in the last few weeks. But, you know, it comes down to those sort of fundamentals. Peter Koch: Yeah, absolutely. [00:34:00] Making me think back again at that conversation last week, there were two more points. And you touched on one of them, that human side of every crisis that there is and that the importance to stay connected, to get connected with your fellow employees, to get connected with people, especially like now, when we're not able to have the same connection, like I'm not able to have the same connection with the policyholders that I typically come [00:34:30] to instead of being face to face with them on a regular basis. We're communicating by email and phone a lot, which changes the relationship, but at least there's some connection there with them to get them to know that, hey, I'm still there to help you and they're still there in the event that there's a challenge that they can reach out with me, but, you know, remain connected with your coworkers as well, which is just as important to check in on your community members to make sure that you're [00:35:00] connecting with the other people around you, that that connection of whether it be an audio connection or visual connection is a really important part of our humanity. And to remember that crises challenges our humanity. And we want to, we want to remain essential to those things that make us human. That connecting peace back and forth. An important part. Michael Bourque: We're social animals. You know, even if, you know, some of us may like things quieter and, [00:35:30] you know, we all have to interact. And those are important to us. And so while we can't do it the way we have, I think, you know, one of the beauties of technology is that it is allowing for communication face to face, even when you are miles and miles apart in a fairly easy way. And I think these are things that we're all take manage of and have to continue. And, you know, one of my messages to my senior team recently has been, this is not a time where you can communicate enough. There's [00:36:00] no such thing as over communicating at this time. You really are going to be in touch with people all the time and it's going to be hard because there's a lot to do. Peter Koch: Yeah, that's a really good point. The cadence and frequency of communication and in times of crisis has to be more than in other times. And I think you said it in one of your emails that if you're you know, if your team is not tired at the end of the week, or I could be remembering that from another piece that I remember. But if your team isn't tired [00:36:30] at the end of the week about trying to communicate to their staff, then you might not be doing enough. You might think that your job as a manager on the floor might be really tiring, but trying to manage the communication's piece on a continual basis in times of crisis is even more challenging as a manager or supervisor and you're going to be tired or are going to be mentally exhausted at the end of the day or the end of the week because of the continual messages [00:37:00] that you have to put out and maintaining that consistency of message, recognizing that people are going to hear it. Trying to understand what the response is going to be. And then to be prepared for that inevitable response when it comes back. There's one more side of this. We've been talking a lot about the communications part and making sure that we can all talk to each other or communicate in terms of crisis. And it sort of ties into the cadence of communication. But it's the vigilance [00:37:30] that's important in times of crisis. And I think as a leader, whether, again, supervisor, presidents, CEO, doesn't matter who you are, if you're leading people, it is time to be vigilant, to make sure that the message that you put out is consistent, is delivered in the right way, is put out at the right frequency, and you have the right information. Don't put out a message that's going [00:38:00] to have the same information as you did last week if you haven't conferred or corroborated that that information is still accurate. So you want to make sure that you're not communicating just to communicate, but you're communicating for a purpose. Michael Bourque: Yeah, no, I think that's true. And you talked about vigilance. You know, I think vigilance covers a whole bunch of things at this point. But because we're working in different ways, things like workplace safety, all of those, because we're in new environments, different places, all of us. We may [00:38:30] take our eye off that ball. But it's the time, actually, to tell people that not to be afraid to remind people of those, because as we always talk about, safety is not something you just do a few days a week or even a few times a month when you have a safety meeting. It really is something that happens all the time and much the way communication needs to have the regular sort to be part of your everyday, certainly reminding yourselves that things are different. And that means you sort of have to focus a little more on each task. Each thing you're doing, whether [00:39:00] you're at work or working from home. Michael Bourque: That's great. Really great point that there are things out there that exist in the workplace other than the current virus epidemic that we're having that can still injure you, that can still put you out of work, that can still put you at a disadvantage overall. So remaining vigilant is important in those pieces. And to remind your staff that are, actually give permission to your staff to pay attention to those [00:39:30] hazards and exposures that you have beyond just the hand hygiene and social distancing that we have in place right now. So what do you wish that you had known when you first started out that you know now? Michael Bourque: I do think that some of it is around understanding the humanness of reactions and that understanding that emotion truly does rule us as individuals in so many ways, [00:40:00] and, you know, I was always somebody that would say, well, the logic tells me this, and so therefore this is the answer. And I think really sort of feeling okay about expressing that, that we feel like we don't need to sort of unmask any of ourselves in order to be able to communicate to a larger group. But the truth is that every communication ultimately is a one to one communication. When I send a message out to 500 employees at MEMIC, it's to one [00:40:30] single individual who sees it, reads it, receives it in the way that they think about things within their environment. And that's where the messages and so understanding that. And if I was having a communication with somebody across my back fence with my neighbor, it would be different than if I send an email. In the end, you can't necessarily think of it in that way. You really do have to think about those individual interactions and that just because it's a big announcement doesn't mean that it has to happen in some formal way as though you're standing with a flag behind [00:41:00] you and at a podium. That's not normal communication. That's not necessarily effective communication. Peter Koch: I think where there's so much that we could talk about on the communications side, but we want to talk about some key points on crisis. We did discuss those. We talked about making sure that we're meeting people where they are understanding sort of that tactic of concentric circles of where the message is going to go and who's going to receive it and who should be putting that message out. Acknowledging the emotion that's going [00:41:30] to be there to help people, to stay calm, to get connected, remain informed and then be vigilant are all concepts for communication in the crisis. And this should all role into a plan that as any business you should have or even as a supervisor, you could take a smaller chunk of that. And if there is a crisis like an employee injury within your department, how do you manage that? You can scale it up or scale it down depending [00:42:00] on the circumstances. So I really do appreciate your time here today. We're right about at the end of our podcast time. Is there anything that I should have asked? But I didn't ask so far that you want to you want to touch on? Michael Bourque: No, I think you did a great job, Peter. And I think I read the summary you just gave I think is really useful information. I hope people took notes when they heard you go through that list, because I think that really is the essence of what we're talking about. And I think there's a lot of great stuff. If [00:42:30] I had that list 20 years ago, life would be easier. So I'm going to write it down after I get off the phone. Peter Koch: Right on. I'm going to write that down, too. I really because a lot of that list came for what you were talking about. So I've learned a lot in this conversation today. And again, I really appreciate you taking the time to join us and talk about crisis communication today. Michael Bourque: You're welcome, Peter. Nice to be with you. And be well, thanks. Peter Koch: I appreciate that. And to all of our listeners out there, I thank you again. Today, we've been speaking about communicating with employees at times of crisis with Michael Bourque, president [00:43:00] and CEO at MEMIC at the MEMIC's Safety Experts podcast. If you have any questions for Mike or like to hear more about our particular topic on our podcast. Email me at podcast@MEMIC.com. Also, check out our show notes at MEMIC.com/podcast, where you can find links to a new safety blog about communications as well as our entire podcast archive. And while you're there, sign up for the safety net blog so you never miss any of our articles or safety news updates. [00:43:30] And if you haven't done so already, I'd appreciate it if you take it a minute or two to review us on Stitcher I-Tunes or whichever podcast service that you find us on. If you've already done that, well, thank you, because it really helps us spread the word. Please consider sharing the show with a business associate friend or family member who you think will get something out of it. And as always, thank you for the continued support. And until next time, this is Peter Koch reminding you that listening to the MEMIC Safety Experts Podcast [00:44:00] is good, but using what you learned is even better.  

Chief Political Correspondent Steve Mistler and Senior Political Correspondent Mal Leary spoke with Host Irwin Gratz on this week’s episode of Maine’s Political Pulse. And on the Pulse this week: breaking down Maine's role in a Super Tuesday that reshaped the Democratic presidential primary. Also — why a potential referendum over Central Maine Power's transmission project is taking a nasty turn. Get caught up: Unpacking Maine's Super Tuesday Results Maine Voters Turn Out In Force To Decide Party Primaries, Vaccination Referendum Maine exit polls (via CNN) Late support lifts Biden; Sanders keeps his base: Takeaways from Super Tuesday exit polls (via ABC) 2 Democratic strategists on how Biden gained momentum for Super Tuesday Bernie Sanders' Call For Young Voters Isn't Working Out The Way He Planned Mainers Vote Against Religious, Philosophical Exemptions For School-Mandated Vaccinations Maine PUC Rejects Sale Of Emera Maine To Canadian Company Opponents Of Transmission Line Project Say

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco On Tuesday, the Maine Land Us Planning Commission (LUPC) followed staff recommendation and voted 5 to 2 to approve the site law certification for Central Maine Power’s highly controversial New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) corridor project. The NECEC will now proceed to the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Before the vote, some LUPC commissioners expressed concern with the project and the pressure their commission received from Central Maine Power to accelerate their process. Today we hear some of the commissioners statements and an interview with LUPC Regional Supervisor, Bill Hinkel. Today we also look at efforts to reform Maine’s waste law at the legislative and agency levels. On Friday January 17th, the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee will hold a work session on waste bills held over from last session, including LD 401 An Act to Preserve State Landfill Capacity and Promote Recycling. On January 13th, representatives of communities impacted by landfills will deliver a petition to the Maine DEP to amend its rules to provide an accurate definition of Maine-generated waste and to require consideration of impacts on environmental justice when determining the public benefit of licensing landfills. Guests: Betsy Fitzgerald, Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) commissioner, Machiasport Jay May, LUPC commissioner, Mapleton Bill Gilmore, LUPC commissioner, Freeman Twp Bill Hinkel, LUPC Regional Supervisor www.maine.gov/dacf/lupc/agenda_items/010820/slc9_Memo_Draft_Decision_Document.pdf e) Hillary Lister, Don’t Waste ME Today’s program was co-produced by WERU FM/RadioActive and Sunlight Media Collective.

About the guest:   Laurie Lachance is Thomas College's 5th president and the first female and alumna to lead the college in its 125-year history.   From 2004 to 2012, Laurie served as president and CEO of the Maine Development Foundation. Prior to MDF, Laurie served three governors as the Maine state economist, and before joining state government, she served as the corporate economist at Central Maine Power Company.   A frequent author and speaker on leadership, education and the economy of Maine, she holds an undergraduate degree from Bowdoin College, an MBA from Thomas College and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Laurie was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2014 and has been the recipient of several awards, including being recognized by Maine Magazine as one of the 50 Mainers Charting the State's Future and making the Mainebiz NEXT list as a trailblazer in her industry. In November 2018, Laurie was inducted into the Maine Business Hall of Fame.   Laurie chairs the board of Educare Central Maine, is a trustee of Foxcroft Academy, is a board member of Educate Maine, served on the New England Board of Higher Education's Commission on Higher Education and Employability, and was elected to the Board of Maine Employers Mutual Insurance Company (MEMIC) in June 2018.       In the episode:        3:10 – Laurie describes how she bought a pair of high heels and a woolen suit, then practiced interviewing before getting a job at Central Maine Power after graduating from Bowdoin College.   5:20 – Nancy mentions how she and Laurie earned their Master's degrees at the same time at Thomas College.   7:58 – Laurie shares how she became the president of Thomas College.   12:18 – Laurie says that overall she would not do anything differently, but she would have taken better care of herself and suggests that others do that, too.   14:56 – Laurie talks about being the first woman to take on many of the roles she has had throughout her career and how expectations have changed.   17:02 – Laurie shares that her network grew on its own to start but then she began intentionally building her network.   18:16 – Laurie shares how her network helped her keep her appointed position when Angus King was elected.   22:18 – Laurie shares how there were not a lot of women in leadership, proving to be an obstacle with few role models.   24:00 – Nancy and Laurie talk about positioning Thomas College for the future.   30:30 – Laurie talks about attracting students and donors in order to measure success.   33:40 – Nancy mentions how two members of the Marshall Communications team, Whitney Raymond and Emma Dimock, have graduated from Thomas College.   36:09 – Laurie and Nancy talk about the work ethic of Thomas College students and today's generation of students.    38:02 – Nancy and Laurie discuss the ad for Thomas College describing how graduates got where they are today from their Thomas College experience.   40:03 – Laurie shares how she advanced in her career because of her network.    43:28 – Laurie shares how she loves reading and how that has helped her learn about an industry that she wasn't familiar with.   48:26 – Laurie shares her parting thought; focusing on the importance of building relationships.     Quote:          On getting her MBA "It is not easy, but it gave me a real appreciation for how hard it is to be an adult learner and to put yourself through those paces. But, it's one of the best investments you can make in yourself.” —  Laurie Lachance, President of Thomas College      Links:         Website: www.thomas.edu  Dirty Dog Mud Run  The Art of Possibility by Rosamund Stone Zander   Thrive by Ariana Huffington   Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg     Looking to connect:          Email:  laurie.lachance@thomas.edu   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-lachance-56552655/  Twitter: @Thomas_Top_Dog 

When I was a young boy living in Caribou, Maine, back in the 1960s, we had two rocking chairs in our living room. I spent a lot of time in that room, playing with my Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars on the floor, building with my Lincoln Logs, and generally lost in sweet illusion. Life was sweet and completely innocent and I was the master of my own imagination. But something happened. Something I did a lot of the time, without thinking, has haunted me up to this day. It was something I knew nothing about, something that I couldn't possibly have guessed. You see, when I was lying there on the floor, my foot would invariably find its way to the leg of one of those rocking chairs and then, without the slightest thought, I would start that empty chair a rocking, back and forth. The rhythm soothed me and gave me a sense of peace. Then, one day, my mother was walking through the room and saw what I was doing, rocking that empty chair with my foot, and she stopped cold, dropped the clothesbasket she was carrying, spreading its contents all over the floor, and she cried, “Tommy! Stop it!” I looked up at her, confused. What was I supposed to stop? Stop playing with my toys? I didn't think, couldn't possibly have imaged, what caused her so much concern. “Stop rocking that chair with your foot!” I stopped. But then, like any kid might, I asked “Why?” She looked at me with wide eyes and said quietly, in a voice that was a warning, “Never, never, ever rock and empty rocking chair. It's bad luck.” “But what will happen?” I asked, still confused. “When an empty rocking chair rocks, it means that soon, someone will die.” And a million thoughts ran through my mind. I thought back to all the times I rocked that empty chair and in the simple faith of my youth I wondered, “How many people have I killed by mindlessly rocking the empty chair?” I never did it again. Even though I know better now, even though I realize that it was only my mother's belief in a superstition that gave me many sleepless nights, even though I am educated and know better, I still make it appoint never to rock an empty rocking chair. Just in case… Ghost stories aren't usually easy to research. They don't happen to several people at once. They never occur when you have a camera or a recording device. I have seen one ghost in my life, which I will not discuss here, not yet at least, but I am certain that if I had such a device in my hand at the time, the last thing I would have done would have been to have the presence of mind to point it at the apparition. Besides, ghosts exist in the corner of your eye and at the very edge of your hearing. They care little for our modern devices. So when trying to research a good ghost story, you won't find the kind of documentary evidence that would make a skeptic happy. No. People who tell their stories don't usually want to and often only do so after someone pleads with them to share, to get it off their chest, so that they won't feel like they're so alone. It does a person little good to share an experience that they can't explain and that keeps them on the very edge of being considered a fool by the world because, yes, once, perhaps more than once, they saw something that they cannot possibly explain. And then you listen and even though you know better, there's something ancient deep down inside you, something innocent and even though you know better, you can't stop yourself from listening…and believing. Such is the story of Tina and Kenny Lusk of Waterbury, Connecticut, two professional pilots who moved into a charming Victorian home in Waterbury in the spring of 1990. As they were signing the papers, the seller of the house, an elderly fellow who had lived in it for years, gave them a quiet warning about a ‘disturbing presence' within, and to expect to experience it at some point. But a story is only a story and after a year of living in the house with no sight or feeling of such a thing, the Lusks must have shrugged it all off as the imagination of an old man and nothing more. But then there was the rocking chair in the attic… People who have lived in houses they claim are haunted will tell you that there are usually places within the house where they experience cold air or the hair raising on the back of their heads. It could be a room, a corner, even a closet. In the case of the Lusk home, it was the attic. This was a Victorian house, so the attic was full of odd corners and dark exposed wood. People often leave things in the attic that they don't want, and when they move, they don't bother to take them with them. These things are all that remain of the people who have lived and passed through before. They are a reminder that someone came before. So it was with this place – a rocking chair, some clothing hanging on a bar, sundry items, toys and cookware. A window on either side of the space let in enough light to waken the shadows and…something else? Ken was in the attic for a moment to store supplies when, in a moment of silence, from the corner of his eye in the corner of the attic, he saw the empty rocking chair left there by the previous owner, begin to rock by itself. Ken moved toward it to discover how such a thing was possible but as got close, it abruptly stopped. “I just kind of shrugged it off at first,” he explained in Charles Robinson's The New England Ghost Files, “I attributed it to a draft passing through and left it at that.” Then the presence the previous owner had hinted about began to truly stir. Preparing for bed one evening, whatever was in the attic began to make itself known to them. Thumping sounds would be heard and Ken would climb the stairs to the attic only to find everything quiet and as it should be. It happened at odd, unpredictable intervals. In early August, 1991, things became even stranger and more unsettling. One afternoon while playing with the dog in the yard, Tina looked up to the attic and saw something that should not have been there, something…other. A dark figure was moving strangely in the attic, twisting and twirling in front of the window. “The figure seemed to be dancing,” she recalls, “I couldn't make it out well enough to tell if it was a man or a woman but it was twirling and throwing up its arms in a dance.” She ran inside and told Kenny what she had seen. She was beside herself with fright. Together, they went upstairs to see if somehow, someone, a stranger, was dancing in front of the window in their attic. They found nothing. Ken's response was to shrug it off, to dismiss his wife's experience as nothing more than a wild imagining. Tina recalls, “He told me that I was letting my imagination run wild because of what the seller had told us. Still, I didn't see how he could take it so lightly, considering that he himself had heard those strange thumpings in the attic late at night. But I guess he wasn't ready to accept the idea of a haunting. He's a very rational person. As for me, “she remembers, “the figure I had seen in the attic window was very disturbing, although Kenny was able to half convince me that I had probably just seen a moving shadow up in the window, maybe a draft rustling through some old dresses hanging in the attic.” The Lusks were pilots and one of them was often gone while the other remained at home with the dog. Three months after Tina saw the strange dancing form in the attic window, Ken was away on a flight and she was alone in the house. Repainting some of the rooms, they kept their painting supplies in the attic and one afternoon, Tina reluctantly made her way up the stairs to get the paint. She recalls the effect visiting the attic had on her that afternoon. “ “While I was up there, I couldn't believe how nervous I was getting,” she recalls. “My whole body was shaking. Still, nothing unusual happened., and I went back downstairs feeling a little more relaxed. I got more and more relaxed each time but on my fourth trip to the attic, all of that changed.” She was more relaxed. Of course there was nothing there, nothing at all. So it was with a light heart that she began to gather the color of paint she needed. As she bent over to find it, she heard a strange, light tapping noise coming from the far corner of the attic, where an old Raggedy Ann doll sat propped on a chair. Tina's words speak of a nearly unutterable fear. “When I looked in that direction, I saw something absolutely bizarre. You are going to think I'm crazy, but…well, the arms of the stuffed doll were clapping and moving frantically, like some invisible force was manipulating them. I just froze and stood there in absolute terror. Then, a few moments later, the doll came flying in my direction, like something invisible had picked it up ad thrown it at me. At that point, I rushed out of the attic screaming at the top of my lungs. When I got downstairs, I ran out of the house.” She went to the house of a friend and calmed down. She decided not to tell her husband about her experience, fearing that he would lightly brush it off again as nothing more than her imagination. When he returned later that evening, Tina returned to the house but never left his side. The next day, something would happen to Ken that would make him change his mind about his wife's wild imaginings. He would meet…her… Ken was a hobbyist, a maker of models, and he went to the attic to look for his model airplane glue. He had to move boxes and search, so he was up there for some time. He was rummaging through a box when he happened to look up. What he saw there defies explanation. He remembers, “I suddenly saw the strangest thing. I was…well…an elderly woman slowly crawling across the attic floor on her hands and knees. I just stood there sort of dumbfounded. As she crawled past me, she turned her head and grinned at me strangely, and then she proceeded to crawl on all fours toward the attic wall. When she reached the wall, she passed right through it and vanished. And then, for just a few moments, I could hear this strange muffled chuckling coming from the inside of the wall. It was the most frightening thing I have ever experienced.” The couple began to think about leaving the house, but they were not the kind of people to leave without at least knowing why. The rappings continued. They avoided the attic. They had a friend who worked for the historical society and had access to a lot of local history. What they discovered seemed to at least align with what Ken saw in the attic on that afternoon. Tina recalls, “We found out that one of the home's original owners, an elderly widow named Mrs. Bouchard, went insane and starved herself in the attic in either 1878 or 1879. We were at a loss about what to do. We even talked to our priest about it, but he didn't want to get involved.” Whoever…or whatever…was taking refuge in their attic, it continued to make itself known. An oil paiting they had stored in the attic was torn and defaced. Tina's sister, Catherine, had been visiting and ran from the yard screaming when she clearly seeing an elderly woman looking down at her from the attic window. Some houses can't seem to keep an owner. You've probably known of a place, perhaps near your own house, that keeps going up on the market every year or two. There are places that seem like they can't hold a family. Something pushes people away and out. Kenny and Tina sold their house in July of 1992 to a businessman from Rhode Island who himself moved out and put the house back on the market in 1993. Is it possible he saw the ghost of Mrs. Bouchard crawling across the attic floor, too? They say that a house doesn't shelter you for long periods of time and then just let you pass – it retains a part of you, a kind of residential memory. But here's the thing. We will never truly know the story, the full, unadulterated story of the house in Waterbury with the spirit of a mad woman lingering in the dark corners of an attic. Charles Turek Robinson interviewed the Lusks in November of 1992, again in December and once more in February of 1993. He relates the events of the couple as the first of his ghost files in the seminal work on ghosts in New England, The New England Ghost Files. In an author's note to the book, he explains that he has changed the names of all persons in the book and replaced them with pseudonyms to assure privacy and anonymity. The book is a particularly frightening compendium of tales gathered from interviews throughout New England. Most of those interviewed would not have agreed to have their experiences recounted in book form unless their names were changed. Mr. Robinson has passed away, so it is unlikely that we will ever know who the Lusks really are and whether or not this entire tale is nothing more than a creative exercise in fear. That's the thing about ghost stories. They take place in quiet, out of the way places with only one or two people to experience the ineffable. It wouldn't be a ghost story if you could tear it apart, dissect it bit by bit, analyze every minute detail and find a way to explain it away. No, a ghost story is a lonely thing, a bit like a ghost itself, to be experienced by a few, in the lonely dark of an evening, far from the light, far from any explanation except that somehow, something remains long after it should, and it waits there, in the corner of the attic, for a new tenant of the house below. LINK - The New England Ghost Files on Amazon Music for this Podcast MYUU Living in the Dark MYUU Collapse MYUU Cold Shivers

Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco a) Today we hear from the Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project in Portland on support work for the over 200 asylum seekers, primarily from the war torn Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, recently arrived in Maine, and the impacts of federal and state policy. This week the Maine Senate failed to vote on legislation that would have restored cuts made by the LePage administration to safety net programs for documented immigrants and asylum seekers, including food stamps, MaineCare and General Assistance. Governor Mills still has the power to mobilize funds for General Assistance. b) We also hear an update on the status of so called New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), the proposed Central Maine Power high voltage, highly controversial 145 mile transmission line corridor which would bring electric power form Hydro Quebec in a swath through Maine to Massachusetts markets. Theres has been concerted and growing opposition to this mega project from a wide swath of communities, groups and individuals concerned with environmental impacts on wetlands, waterways and habitat and concerned with democratic and local control. Guests: Julia Brown, Immigrant Legal Advocacy Project For more information on volunteering and donations: Maine Immigrants’ Rights Coalition Translators needed in French, Portuguese and Lingala. Matt Wagner, NO NECEC www.facebook.com/groups/279944929428517/ Today’s program was produced with the Sunlight Media Collective. c) A number of bills that would have potentially impacted the project were presented in the legislature at the end of this session. One bill, would have required a study to examine claims that the NECEC would benefit efforts to address climate change. Two others would have given local governments and municipalities power to approve transmission line projects and the taking of land through eminent domain. These two bills, LD 1382 and LD 1363, both passed the full legislature, but were vetoed by Governor Mills, who has thrown her full support behind the CMP project The climate study bills received a majority of votes, but as “emergency” legislation criteria, did not receive enough votes to be implemented. The NECEC project is still seeking permits form the Department of Environmental Protection, the Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC) and the Army Corps of Engineers. Impacts by Hydro Quebec operations on Canadian communities, including First Nations, will be examined in a future program.

NRCM supports LD 640. This bill would require the Maine Department of Environmental Protection to pursue an independent investigation of Central Maine Power’s claims that its proposed power line would reduce greenhouse gas emissions. On March 15, 2019, NRCM’s Staff Scientist, Nick Bennett, delivered testimony in support of the bill in front of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources. This episode features Nick’s testimony. (And here's a note from Nick: "At 22:00, I said Seabrook but actually meant Pilgrim. Thanks for understanding!")

CMP Transmission Line’s Claims to Impact Climate and New Report on Trump Climate Rollbacks Producer/Host: Meredith DeFrancesco Today we look at a new report by the NYU School of Law’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center that outlines the potential cumulative impacts of the Trump Administration’s proposed climate policy rollbacks. www.law.nyu.edu/sites/default/files/climate-and-health-showdown-in-the-courts.pdf And we look at Central Maine Power’s proposed transmission line through Maine, its potential impacts and claims that it will beneficially address climate change. We look at the impacts the CMP line would have on 263 wetlands, 115 streams and 12 inland waterfowl and wading bird habitat area, brook trout and other wildlife habitat, through cutting and herbicide application. We also examine the greenwash claims that the project would positively impact climate change and how Hydro Quebec’s power would block Maine generated renewable power from grid access, including solar. Guests: Neela Baerjee, Inside Climate News, Washington DC reporter insideclimatenews.org/news/06032019/trump-climate-regulations-rollback-cost-health-emissions-clean-power-plan-cars-oil-gas-methane Nick Bennett, Natural Resources Council of Maine, staff scientist CMP Transmission Line Proposal: A Bad Deal for Maine

Central Maine Power wants to build a transmission line through Maine’s treasured North Woods. In this episode we’ll tell you why it’s bad for Maine’s environment and people. NRCM’s Clean Energy Staff Attorney Sue Ely walks you through our concerns, shares updates about the review process, and lets you know how to get involved.