Friends of Merrymeeting Bay’s first presentation of its 27th annual Winter Speaker Series will focus on Maine’s looming public electric utility question, Question 3.

The talk features former State Rep. Seth Berry, co-founder of Our Power, an organization geared toward passing Question 3. FOMB’s Winter Speaker Series presentations are again being held via Zoom and are accessible via hyperlink at the top of the FOMB website, fomb.org. This event takes place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 11.

On Nov. 7 (or sooner for early voters), Mainers will decide whether the state should buy its private electric utilities.

Berry, a Democrat, ran seven times for state legislature — winning each time in a typically conservative district. During his service, Berry was elected House Majority Leader by his peers, and chaired several top legislative committees. Seth also co-founded Our Power, a Maine-based movement to replace the state’s two investor-owned electric utilities with a not-for-profit, consumer-owned utility that advocates say would help attain the state’s climate goals, cut costs, and improve reliability. Opponents argue the buyout would be far too expensive and wouldn’t guarantee improvements in reliability or affordability.

FOMB hosts its Winter Speaker Series October through May on the second Wednesday of each month. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic and ability for participants to attend from outside of the area, the series continues via Zoom.

The FOMB Nov. 8 presentation, “Endangered Species-Now More Than Ever!” features Tara Thornton, deputy director of the Endangered Species Coalition. This event takes place at 7 p.m. with the Zoom registration link available at fomb.org a week or so prior to the presentation.

Speaker Series presentations are free, open to the public. Visit www.fomb.org to see speaker biographiesfull event schedulesvideo recordings of past presentationsbecome a member, and learn more about how you can help protect Merrymeeting Bay and the Gulf of Maine.

For more information, contact Friends of Merrymeeting Bay at (207) 666-3372 or edfomb@comcast.net.


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