I was taken aback reading comments from District 12’s current State Representative in this paper. His stance does not align with the needs of our great district. The piece reads more like it was written by a lobbyist who represents wealthy investors and is focused on maximizing profits instead of taking care of the hard working people he represents. I understand every source of power directly creates jobs, but what gets lost is that Maine is the 12th most expensive state in America to operate a business, and this directly prevents jobs from being created that would otherwise dwarf these costs. This is not speculation, it’s fact.

To start, Rep. Grohman is dismissive of utilizing hydropower to address our energy challenges. The rest of New England has woken up to allowing hydropower to compete in order to achieve environmental objectives – while Grohman advocates for the status quo, where hydroelectricity is prevented by legislative fiat from being qualified as a renewable resource under Maine’s energy laws. He misses the point that it isn’t about giving any energy source a sweetheart deal; it’s about opening up competition and allowing the best clean energy options to prevail. What he does not make clear is that he voted against overhauling our ineffective renewable portfolio standard that will in turn cost our state $30 million this year without delivering anything to our state. He follows the orders of wealthy outsiders and pushes for changes that provide our wealthy citizens a way to lock-in above market contracts for their favorite energy source on your dime. He thinks that all of our energy problems are tied simply to transmission and distribution costs. He’s wrong. Instead of working to lower energy costs, the Legislature, led by the Energy Committee he serves on, has continually introduced fees that sound small but add up fast. Maine’s participation in a cap-and-trade program adds $15 million annually, our renewable portfolio standards will cost us roughly $30 million, and our efficiency programs cost about $30 million. He even worked to pass a bill that would add tens of millions in additional costs when our businesses already pay fees their competitors in other regions do not!

I totally support clean energy, but I can’t support deals that take advantage of the vast majority of Mainers. I’m not alone – even solar advocates nationally agree the approach is flawed.

Energy policy should not be complicated. As your State Representative, I’ll focus on lowering pollution AND lowering costs. Wealthy outsiders make it complicated to distract us while they make our energy bills higher. We need to be open to all energy sources and focus on getting our energy prices under control to attract new businesses to our state. In the meantime, private investors and entrepreneurs will continue making various energy sources more viable and everyone will win. Doing so, District 12 and the state as a whole, will be in a much stronger place to prosper.

— Matt Lauzon is an independent candidate for State Representative in District 12, which includes part of Biddeford.