Why are you running for this office?

We are running out of cheap energy and cheap natural resources. We have nowhere to put our trash. We have stressed every bit of this planet and every bit of Maine past every conceivable limit. The rules by which we built this country and this state are no longer giving us the results we need. Our existing leadership cannot admit that and they will not change direction. They court catastrophe.

We cannot start too soon to return to sustainable limits. That means reversing quantitative growth and consumption. We must deal squarely with the ever rising inequalities of wealth, income and power. We need fair taxes, decent public health, and an economy that works for us all.

Lifeboat Maine is overloaded. I can see that. Lots of Mainers see it. That's why I am running for Governor.

To quote Abraham Lincoln, "We - even we here - hold the power, and bear the responsibility."

Maine can't wait.

In your view, what are the most pressing environmental issues in Maine today?

The most pressing environmental issues are growth, energy and natural resource depletion and the political and social consequences to which the former lead. We are not out of oil, we are not out of natural resources and we are not out of landfill space, but we are entering a period where they become much more expensive and where their continued overuse causes increasing and irremedial damage to our entire environment.

We have overrun the limits. Every day the planet has less for us to take, but we continue to grow exponentially. We need to begin the transition to a sustainable economy while we still can.

Please use this space to outline your activities/track record on conservation and natural resource issues, whether in elected office or as a community member. Are you a member of or active in any conservation organizations?

I have not been elected to office and am not active in any conservation organization. I have worked a good chunk of my life in solar and alternative energy fields and of late have been involved in efforts to restructure the role of large corporations.

Leadership in Environmental Management

If you are elected Governor, what criteria will you use in making appointments to head state agencies? To citizen boards and commissions?

In general and not only in the environmental agencies, we need to redefine state agencies and to break them up in order to decentralize and separate decision making power from technical assessment.

Decision making power and the resources (taxes, fees, etc...) belong with the smallest comprehensive unit. For a school that might be the neighborhood, for a dam the communities along the river, for air pollution everyone down plume. The communities need to be able to call upon the state agency for technical support without surrendering the decision making power to the agency. They need to know the technical advice they get is untainted by special interests and lobbyists and that the agency is working for the community.

What happens now when citizens oppose big boxes or trash incineration? The state tries to take away any citizen authority, because a big box or trash incinerator is "jobs" and growth. [LD141 and LD1481]

The Maine Fair Trade Commission is an example of a board done well and I would try to extend that model.

To protect our natural resources and the public health, state agencies must be adequately staffed and funded. How will you ensure that the agencies responsible for protecting Maine's most valuable assets are able to carry out their missions?

The environment, public health and distribution of wealth, income and power are all intimately intertwined. In a nutshell, in our current society, growth leads to increases in inequality and that inequality degrades public and community health and the environment. The pie is only so big and the powerful interests too often get their way at the expense of the less powerful.

Decentralization and changes to tax policy can level the field. At another level, departments like DIF&W should be funded from the general fund [vs license revenue].

In any case, if we wish to protect our natural resources and public health, we must reconsider our physical growth and consumption. Merely increasing the budget of the agencies charged with protecting natural resources and public health will not help otherwise.

As Governor, will you protect the integrity of the regulatory process, ensuring that actions are undertaken openly and with appropriate public input?

Decentralization and the separation of technical assessment from decision making is a first step.
Philosophically, the "progressive" movement - where more and more power has been given to the state to regulate - has failed. Lobbyists and special interests have found too many ways into the legislature and the agencies themselves. Oftentimes the agencies themselves are conflicted in their missions.

Toxic Threats to Maine People and Our Environment

New information continues to emerge about the health effect of poisonous substances used to manufacture common consumer products. Will you support legislation to limit Maine citizens' exposure to toxic materials and to require the use of safer alternatives?

We don't need more "new" information. We need to change the rules. Limit is not enough. We need to stop entirely a range of dangerous and unknown pollutants. On the one hand, we should adopt the precautionary principle in our regulations. On the other we may need to challenge the Commerce Clause; trash might be called an item of commerce now, but that does not make the mercury and dioxins produced from its incineration any less toxic. We should not be burning trash or construction debris.

Maine needs to adopt a "recycle everything" policy. No more of those plastic chicken wrappers.

According to the Maine Center for Disease Control, the number one environmental health threat to Maine children is exposure to lead paint, found in old houses and apartments. What steps will your administration take to clean up lead paint?

My guess is that lead paint is the bigger threat where it is found in combination with low income and/or incautiously done owner rehabs.

Thinking practically, meeting the challenge of energy and resource depletion means investing a good deal in our housing stock. Upgrading our housing stock will be necessary and the best place to start is with the worst housing.

It should not be possible to sell a building with lead paint or inadequate insulation.

Mercury, a potent toxin that affects the developing brain, is found in high levels in Maine's freshwater fish, resulting in consumption warnings issued by the Maine Center for Disease Control. Will you support efforts to reduce the presence of mercury in Maine's air and water?

Absolutely. We need to recognize that the economic costs of *not* stopping the spread of toxins like mercury continue indefinitely. That is a long term public health issue.

Stopping airborne toxins from out of state will be difficult and will require creative solutions.

Conservation of Maine's Special Places

Please share your vision for the future of Maine's north woods. Do you support the opportunity to preserve Katahdin Lake, adding it to Baxter State Park?

Like the waterfront, like the mountains, ownership belongs here in Maine and not out of state. We need policies that encourage local ownership and local control of local resources. In that context, we need to explore a North Woods Preserve while it is still possible.

My understanding is the Katahdin Lake area still includes old growth forest and that it is big enough, esp when added to Baxter, to preserve some real wilderness. That should be done.

Will your administration stand by the Memorandum of Agreement signed with the national Park Service in 2002, the River Driver's Agreement negotiated in 2003 and manage the Allagash Wilderness Waterway for "maximum wilderness character?"

Absent something better, yes, my administration would support the Agreement.

Does the Agreement need to be changed? As recent activity in the Legislature shows, "wilderness character" in the midst of growth, even slow growth, might be untenable. Are the surrounding communities behind the Agreement as it stands? They must be. Is it possible to evolve long term policies to reclaim at least some parts of the Allagash as real wilderness? Those would be some of the questions to answer before considering changes. I do not know the answers.

Development pressures continue to escalate, even as land values skyrocket. Do you support the Land for Maine's Future program? What is your strategy for fully funding this popular and successful program?

Land for Maine's Future needs to focus first on those areas of Maine where development pressure is greatest.

The issue, once again, is growth. Unless we reign in growth, growth and sprawl will gobble all our land and water. There is no way to fully fund this program short of checking growth.

Clean Water, Fisheries, and Healthy Aquatic Ecosystems

Competing uses of water is an emerging issue in Maine. How do you propose to reconcile the competing uses of our waters -- by industry, anglers, paddlers, developers -- in both surface bodies (rivers, lakes and ponds) and in the ground?

Water is an input AND an output, a resource and a sink. It is part of our commonwealth, not a commodity. As we grow, water will come under increasing pressure from countless sources. We need to reduce our use and to reduce the waste we put into our waters.

Please outline your vision for management of Maine's coastal waters.

We need to restore our coastal resources. This will not always be possible; some habitats have been transformed and will not regenerate. Projects range from recovering fish stocks to separating storm and sewer waste water - and every project is monumental in its own way.

Particularly with coastal waters, we will often be at odds with the feds and international community.

Encourage local ownership and control.

Maine Communities and Wildlife Habitat

Sprawling development patterns fragment wildlife habitat, threaten our natural resources and undermine Maine's special character. What steps will your administration take to stop this trend?

We need to require public transportation for developments. Subdivisions under 40 acres need to be reviewed as any other subdivision. We can implement tax policies such as increasingly steep energy taxes for those people who use more energy.

Maine's Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife derives most of its budget from hunting and fishing licenses. Many citizens feel the Department is inappropriately oriented toward meeting the needs of "consumers", i.e. those who hunt and fish. As Governor, how will you ensure that the DIFW meets the needs of all citizens and all forms of wildlife?

DIF&W is another example of a department combining revenue, specifications and decision making. Break those roles out. Pay for IF&W with General Fund.

Air Quality, Energy and Global Warming

What steps will your administration take to address energy costs and help to avert global climate change?

Maine 2020 - 10% less fossil fuel per year, and solar systems on half our homes by then, statewide public transportation. Fossil fuel free by 2020.

Rebuilding the interurban - or something like it - doesn't make sense now economically, but it makes less sense not to do it while we still can. An in-place public transportation system will change development patterns and the sooner the better. There needs to be community-to-community public transit and public transit along denser strips.

We must stop using fossil fuels; that will happen sooner or later one way or the other. We must install as much solar energy as we can while we have other fuels to do so.

We need to encourage community investment cooperatives in specific areas: solar heat and photovoltaics, battery recycling, wind and public health among them.

All energy sources have both advantages and drawbacks. Please describe how you will approach balancing those issues, including determining sites.

The most important energy source is LESS. Dramatically less.

Solar, wind and biofuels will have to be decentralized. Siting will be a community decision - the community depending on the scale affected.

As an example of what does not work: the FPL dams, chopping up the eels, exporting power over grid interconnects funded by Maine rate payers. What could work: those same dams owned by local energy cooperatives, required to protect the marine life, powering Maine communities, photovoltaics on many homes connected to a local grid.

Please outline steps your administration will take to emphasize energy conservation.

We are already finding ourselves with less energy and natural resources. The question is how do we make the transition to low energy and low resource economy.

We need a strong commitment to make sure we all come through whole
- rich and poor.

We need steep energy taxes. Those using the most energy should be paying the highest tax rates. Those using a little might be untaxed. We might expand that to water and waste.

We need required courses in all our schools and colleges about energy, economics and resources. Homebuilding, recycling and gardening.

We will have to accomplish this within legal and economic structures that push us otherwise. For example, television ads urging us to purchase bigger cars and live beyond our means are every bit as out of line as tobacco advertising.

This will be difficult work.