LePage’s wasted energy on energy

Gov. Paul LePage departs after testifying before a U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on hydropower. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

Gov. Paul LePage departs after testifying before a U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on hydropower. Jonathan Ernst | Reuters

For Gov. Paul LePage, reality has only a very generalized connection to what he says and does.

When 300 workers lost their jobs at Verso Paper in Jay, following the loss of 500 jobs in Bucksport, the governor used the devastating news to push his agenda to prop up fossil fuels and import power from Canada.

The governor has talked about the need to lower energy costs a lot. It’s good politics.

Energy prices are high and everyone feels them, whether they are an industrial manufacturer or a homeowner.

But the governor’s policy initiatives have not matched his words.

As Speaker of the House Mark Eves said in a letter to the governor: “Your rhetoric on energy, Governor, is all talk. And it is talk that ignores the facts.”

While energy prices are part of the story for Verso, there’s a lot more to it.

The company is laying off 37 percent of its total national workforce. Along with the workers in Jay, 310 workers are losing their jobs as the company idles a plant in Wickliffe, Ky.

Verso is clear about its intentions. With demand for coated paper declining, the company is shutting down paper machines to reduce overall capacity.

The machines make coated paper. There’s too much coated paper on the market. The company is reducing production to better match demand.

For someone who comes from a business background like LePage, you would think the rules of the market place would be clear. The company is trying to match supply with demand.

Verso also cited a couple of other factors, including a strong U.S. dollar that hurts international exports and increased imports from Europe, Canada and Asia, where paper production is sometimes subsidized.

Finally, the company cites energy prices and property taxes in Maine, property taxes LePage would have raised had Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature not stopped him.

From the earliest days of his administration, LePage has promoted a myth that there is cheap hydropower available from Canada and all we have to do is ask for it.

It’s simply not based in reality. While Canada does have an abundance of hydropower, particularly from Hydro-Quebec, the country’s heavily subsidized energy producers don’t give it away. They sell it, and they sell it to make money.

It’s not a charitable enterprise.

As the Press Herald reported in 2013, Hydro-Quebec’s export rates are on par with wholesale market prices, which in New England are pegged to natural gas.

“It’s just a mistake to believe that it’s possible to buy cheaper power from Hydro-Quebec,” Gordon Weil, an energy consultant, told the paper.

At nearly every turn, the governor’s energy policy has favored imported energy, including natural gas and Canadian hydro, at the expense of locally produced, clean and renewable wind and solar power, and energy efficiency.

Earlier this year, the governor pressured the Public Utilities Commission to cancel long-term contracts with two wind energy projects. The result: Higher electricity costs. (Disclosure: I work with renewable energy industries in Maine, including wind, solar, biomass and Maine-based hydropower. I worked with one of the two companies affected by the contract cancellation.)

The two contracts were expected to save energy consumers in the Maine between $32 million and $73 million.

The governor’s concern for high energy prices evaporates when it comes to renewables. He’s blind to the facts and lets ideology alone be his guide.

Further, the governor has worked remarkably hard to undermine the state’s energy efficiency programs, which help consumers and industry reduce costs.

LePage went to extraordinary lengths to cut $38 million from energy efficiency — cuts that were eventually overturned by the Legislature.

The governor’s hostility toward renewable energy and efficiency is hurting our state and is punishing consumers.

A new report from Citi GPS examined the cost of a continued reliance on fossil fuels compared with the transition to cleaner, sustainable energy.

The costs of the low-carbon approach are similar to a status quo approach, but the avoided liabilities are enormous. The report finds that from a financial standpoint it makes no sense not to take action.

While he preaches revolutionary change, the governor’s policies are actually business as usual, with his thumb on the scale for gas and oil at the expense of other types of energy.

In his zeal to push ideologically driven policy preferences around energy and taxes, LePage tried to use the loss of jobs in Jay for political advantage.

It’s crass, and it ignores reality.

David Farmer

About David Farmer

David Farmer is a political and media consultant in Portland, where he lives with his wife and two children. He was senior adviser to Democrat Mike Michaud’s campaign for governor and a longtime journalist. You can reach him at dfarmer14@hotmail.com.