PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 19, 2024
Environmentalists and the state’s public advocate, looking for another tool to cut greenhouse gas emissions, have proposed legislation that would scale back expansion of natural gas in Maine. Gas utilities, business advocacy groups and legislative Republicans quickly pushed back. If passed, the legislation would bar the Maine Public Utilities Commission from approving gas utility proposals to provide service or serve a customer in a municipality outside of its service area, beginning Jan. 1, 2025. Jack Shapiro, climate and clean energy director at the Natural Resources Council of Maine, a backer of the measure, said its intent is to require gas users to “pay the true cost,” rather than “subsidize hookups on the backs of others.”