Maine loses $15M for energy efficiency, heat pump loans
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is canceling $20 billion nationwide in grants and other sources of funding authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act.
March 13, 2025
Stephen Singer
Portland Press Herald
EXCERPTS
Efficiency Maine Trust, the quasi-state agency that administers energy efficiency programs and disburses heat pump incentives, has lost access to about $15 million in federal funding that would have doubled its capacity to draw private capital for energy efficiency and clean energy programs.
It’s one of more than two dozen nonprofit groups and agencies in the U.S. that the Trump administration has targeted by freezing and later canceling their assets to claw back $20 billion authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act, a signature climate measure signed by former President Joe Biden in 2022.....................
Lee Zeldin, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administrator, said the fund is characterized by “material deficiencies which pose an unacceptable risk to the lawful execution of these grants.” By placing the money in a bank, the Biden administration hindered the EPA’s oversight ability, he said.
In addition, the FBI said it has “credible information” that the accounts have “been involved in possible criminal violations,” specifically fraud.
A spokeswoman said Efficiency Maine Trust will not comment on the Trump administration’s actions, but confirmed that its $15 million grant is at stake. Two other organizations with offices in Maine — United Way and Habitat for Humanity — were cited in the FBI memo and did not respond Thursday to requests for comment about the future of their funding...............................
Attempts to eliminate the Greenhouse Gas Reduction funding are in line with other environmental policy changes by the Trump administration, such as halting zero-carbon funding for wind power, and promises to expand drilling for oil and natural gas.
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2025/03/12/politics/washington/epa-...
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Comment
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Comment by Willem Post on March 14, 2025 at 2:52pm
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When is the Maine government finally going to lay off the excess bureaucrats involved in electric cars, trucks and buses, heat pumps, charging stations, windmills, solar panels?
The only worthwhile activity was and still is sealing and insulating buildings, and have tighter building codes
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Comment by Thinklike A. Mountain on March 14, 2025 at 10:47am
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U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick: Trump Wants No Taxes for Americans Earning Under $150,000 Annually
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/u-s-commerce-secretary-how...
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Comment by Dan McKay on March 14, 2025 at 9:58am
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The heat pump program is more a program to gather taxpayer money from the federal government than an efficiency program. Crude Oil prices down below $70 per barrel and Maine electricity prices continue to rise, a good part of the increase is funding Efficiency Maine .
Maine as Third World Country:
CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power
Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.
Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********
(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/
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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law
Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future
"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."
https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/
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