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Advocates Tout Success of Regional Greenhouse Gas Program

Patty Wight
/
MPBN

WESTBROOK, Maine -- Environmental advocates gathered in Westbrook this morning to celebrate what they say is the success of a multi-state regional "cap-and-trade" program that seeks to reduce carbon dioxide pollution by placing limits on emissions from fossil fuel-burning power plants.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, is slated to hold its 25th carbon credit auction today.  

"These auctions are the source of revenue for states like Maine to use for whatever purposes they decide," says Dylan Voorhees, of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, "and we are reaping the benefits of the decision here in Maine to use the RGGI monies to invest in energy efficiency."

Voorhees says, to date, Maine has turned $30 million in energy efficiency investments into $250 million in energy savings.

Ed is a Maine native who spent his early childhood in Livermore Falls before moving to Farmington. He graduated from Mount Blue High School in 1970 before going to the University of Maine at Orono where he received his BA in speech in 1974 with a broadcast concentration. It was during that time that he first became involved with public broadcasting. He served as an intern for what was then called MPBN TV and also did volunteer work for MPBN Radio.