I love spending time with my grandchildren in Maine’s beautiful landscape, and the effects of climate change on our amazing state trouble my heart. There are already obvious signs of warming just outside my doorstep: ticks infesting fields, more rain and ice in the winter, shorter skiing seasons, more extreme storms, coastal erosion, no shrimp season.

As part of the eldest generation, I feel a moral obligation to protect future generations by doing what we can right now to address the root cause of climate change: carbon emissions. The biggest single source of carbon pollution comes from power plants.

I am buoyed by the good news that EPA’s Clean Power Plan slashes power plant carbon pollution substantially (by 30 percent of 2005 levels by 2030). This is a big step in the right direction. Further, the Power Plan uses a market-based proposal that each state can adjust to its unique needs. Thanks to already being a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, Maine will be able to stay on track and comply with the Power Plan goals. Importantly for Maine, finally the rest of the country will have to catch up and clean up the air they send north and east to our backyards.

The EPA Clean Power Plan is the most important next step we can take to address climate change and air pollution for generations to come. Please join me in urging Sen. Susan Collins to fully support EPA’s Clean Power Plan in Congress.

Nancy C. Anderson
Cumberland

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