Some midcoast-area residents waited for over four hours to testify in support of Rep. Bruce MacDonald's bill to limit carbon dioxide emissions from coal burning power plants in Maine. The public hearing got started a little after 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28 in the Natural Resources Committee.

Representatives of the Maine Medical Association, the Maine Audubon Society, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, the Conservation Law Foundation, and the Back River Alliance joined with townspeople from Alna, Damariscotta, Edgecomb, Westport Island and Wiscasset to encourage policy makers to close what MacDonald says is a loophole in Maine's laws regarding carbon emissions. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce joined with coal industry representatives in opposing the bill.

MacDonald, D-Boothbay, submitted the bill, "An Act to Require Capture and Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide Emissions from New Coal-powered Industrial Facilities in the State," to prevent the development of any new coal burning power plants in Maine without strict oversight by the Department of Environmental Protection. The bill establishes carbon dioxide pollution emission standards for gasification facilities, coal-to-liquid refineries and major new power plants in Maine.

"I ask you to support this effort to allow our Department of Environmental Protection to set emission standards for the most dangerous climate changing gas, CO2," said MacDonald in his written testimony. "The bill sets achievable goals, provides reasonable timelines for the DEP to promulgate rules, and gives the Legislature the final say over whether the rules they ultimately do provide are the correct ones to protect our environment, here in Maine, and for the global environment."

The proposed legislation would require the Maine Board of Environmental Protection to establish, within 18 months, strict new CO2 emission standards for gasification facilities and for new power plants that exceed 25 megawatts in capacity. In the interim, the bill would require that CO2 emissions from gasification facilities and major new power plants be no greater than emissions from existing technologies, such as natural gas power plants and petroleum refineries. The bill also encourages the industry to develop means to capture and sequester CO2 to reduce emissions of it and other greenhouse gasses.

"With what we know now about climate change and the contribution of carbon intensive fossil fuels, especially coal, in hastening the process, we should not be building new carbon intensive facilities unless we are able to capture and sequester that CO2," said Norma Dreyfus, a pediatrician speaking on behalf of the Maine Medical Association.

Last year MacDonald joined with local fishermen, real-estate professionals, environmental organizations, and other citizens of Wiscasset and surrounding towns to express his concerns about the impacts of the proposed coal gasification plant at the former Maine Yankee nuclear power site.

"Maine, as you know, is a local control state," said Karl Tarbox of Wiscasset. "This means that a coal gasification developer can build a facility in any town which has transmission lines and favorable ordinances. Yet global warming is a global issue, which knows no municipal boundaries."

"Even with Maine's new Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative law, under current cap levels there are enough surplus allowances to allow for construction of one or more major new coal power plants in our region," said MacDonald. "There are no CO2 limits for gasification facilities or refineries. We need to close these loopholes to protect Maine's quality of place."

More information about the bill is available at http://janus.state.me. us/legis/LawMakeWeb/summary.asp?ID=280027687 .