This is What the Man Running Efficiency Maine Does with Ratepayers' Money, Wastes It
Efficiency Maine Trust and similar agencies in three other states accuse the Environmental Protection Agency of illegally blocking billions of dollars intended to help reduce greenhouse gas pollution in a lawsuit filed in federal court.
The agencies said the EPA's termination of $20 billion for lending to clean energy and efficiency programs was unlawful and unconstitutional.
The money, through the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, was included in the Inflation Reduction Act approved by Congress during the Biden administration.
The complaint alleges that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin made unsupported claims that the program is wasteful and fraudulent to support its termination.
State agencies further accused Citibank of breaching its contract with them by failing to pay out funds they requested from their awards. Funding for the program was deposited in the bank to be disbursed to a network of "green banks" across the country.
"Citibank has wrongfully withheld the award funds plaintiffs have an immediate right to possess," the states said.
The lawsuit was filed March 19 in a Washington D.C. federal district court. Efficiency Maine was joined in the case by the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, Illinois Finance Agency and Minnesota Climate Innovation Finance Authority.
The complaint was filed after a federal judge blocked the EPA from terminating the program in a separate lawsuit brought by the Climate United Fund and other financial groups awarded money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
Efficiency Maine is unable to access $25 million held at Citibank, according to the complaint.
Executive Director Michael Stoddard said that having the funding frozen has caused some confusion in the marketplace and could chill activity by vendors and consumers.
The quasi-state agency offers rebates, loans and other incentives for energy efficiency home projects including insulation, weatherization and heat pumps.
Losing the funding will not have an immediate impact on the agency's programs and it has resources to continue offering rebates, Stoddard said in an email.
But its loan programs are likely to be disrupted if the federal funding is cut off entirely. The agency has enough money in a revolving loan fund to last the next year or so, Stoddard said. Unless it gets the financial infusion it expected, it would have to suspend loaning money until the fund is replenished with repayments, he added.
Losing the funding long term "could significantly undermine our ability to help Maine consumers access energy efficiency projects," Stoddard said.
Citibank and the EPA declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation.
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Maine as Third World Country:
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Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT
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(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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