Contacts: Amy Eshoo (415-246-8050) amy@maineclimateaction.org and Francis Eanes (814-421-4528) francis@mainelaborclimate.org
AUGUSTA, ME – In an open letter delivered today, a coalition of labor and environmental organizations urge Gov. Janet Mills to collaborate and partner with the Wabanaki Nations as the state moves forward on a clean, responsible and renewable energy future.
“We firmly support your goal to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2040 and carbon neutrality by 2045,” the letter reads. “Because of your leadership and the critical coalitions formed to ensure its success, Maine is poised to quickly become a worldwide leader in the offshore wind industry. To realize this success, the State of Maine, federal government, and the Wabanaki Nation must work together to ensure wind power projects are responsibly sited and developed.”
The letter also calls for “meaningful consultation” with the four Wabanaki Nations.
“We join with the four Wabanaki Nations representing five communities – the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik, and the Penobscot Nation – in urging the state to expand upon recent efforts to facilitate meaningful consultation with these Nations as this homegrown industry is developed.”
The letter applauds the governor’s work to make Maine a leader in the development of offshore wind power, the state’s climate action plan, and outreach efforts by the Maine Department of Transportation while also asking the Mills administration to “work with the Wabanaki Nation in the spirit of Article 19 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.”
The letter lists several concrete steps that the administration can take.
Signers of the letter include
Conservation Law Foundation, Phelps Turner, Senior Attorney
Ironworkers Local 7 Maine, Grant Provost, Business Agent/Industry Analyst
Maine AFL-CIO, Cynthia Phinney, President
Maine Audubon, Eliza Donoghue, Director of Advocacy
Maine Climate Action Now, Amy Eshoo, Director
Maine Conservation Voters, Kelt Wilska, Energy Justice Manager
Maine Labor Climate Council, Francis Eanes, Executive Director
Maine State Building & Construction Trades Council, Jason J. Shedlock, President and Laborers’ International Union, Local 327, Secretary-Treasurer
Maine Youth for Climate Justice, Elise Hartill, Administrative and Communications Coordinator and Ezra Sassaman, Advocacy and Organizing Coordinator
Natural Resources Council of Maine, Jack Shapiro, Climate and Clean Energy Director
Sierra Club Maine, Ania Wright, Legislative & Political Specialist
Union of Concerned Scientists, Roger Stephenson, NE Regional Advocacy Director
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Full letter can be read below.
August 30, 2023
Governor Janet Mills
1 State House Station
Augusta, Maine 04333
Dear Governor Mills,
We write to urge your administration’s collaboration and partnership with the Wabanaki
Nations to move forward together towards a clean, responsible, and renewable energy
future.
We firmly support your goal to achieve 100% renewable electricity by 2040 and carbon
neutrality by 2045. Maine also has a strong state climate action plan to meet these
goals, a plan we know will evolve to become more inclusive. Even with a doubling of
future demand due to the continued transition to electric heating and transportation,
offshore wind could provide more than half of the State’s electricity demand to meet this
goal. Because of your leadership and the critical coalitions formed to ensure its
success, Maine is poised to quickly become a worldwide leader in the offshore wind
industry. To realize this success, the State of Maine, federal government, and the
Wabanaki Nation must work together to ensure wind power projects are responsibly
sited and developed.
We join with the four Wabanaki Nations representing five communities – the Houlton
Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian
Township, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik, and the Penobscot Nation – in urging
the State to expand upon recent efforts to facilitate meaningful consultation with these
Nations as this homegrown industry is developed.
As Maine moves forward with the climate and economic opportunity offshore wind
brings, we know that success calls for a broad, inclusive and collaborative approach.
We saw that model in action as we worked with your administration on LD 1895. While
not intentional, however, not all parties felt consistently heard or particularly welcome
during these discussions, and we as a state are still not meeting the full definition of
inclusivity as we weigh the benefits and impacts of this nascent industry, especially as it
relates to the Wabanaki Nations.
As you know, we are extremely proud to have worked tirelessly to partner with your
administration in crafting consensus legislation that will operationalize offshore wind in Maine. In many respects, LD 1895 takes a number of steps to formalize the inclusivity
that we know is critical to cultivate the trust and support necessary to move this industry
forward. We know you join us in the desire to stand up offshore wind the right way, the
first time. Your commitment to this is shown in your support of the comprehensive bill.
With critical milestones coming up, that commitment must include the Wabanaki
Nations, who have made clear their disappointment in the process pursued thus far by
both the state and federal governments. This past February, under the leadership of
Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis, the United South and Eastern Tribes Resolution
urged the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) to adopt a moratorium
on offshore wind scoping and permitting because of their strongly held view that
meaningful consultation with Indigenous Nations has been insufficient thus far.
The prevailing view here at home is similar, and underscored by the Maine Offshore
Wind Port Advisory Group’s (OSWPAG) comments about the absence of meaningful
tribal representation in the Group. For example, a particularly important opportunity to
learn of an offshore wind hub's impacts and possible solutions comes from listening to
the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribes, given that their longstanding and
ongoing cultural, economic, and spiritual ties to the port locations being contemplated
can provide a critical perspective for policymakers and advocates alike to consider.
We know that this is a long process, and there still are multiple opportunities to
meaningfully engage on these issues. In fact, your administration’s demonstrable efforts
in the recent past to emphasize this collaborative approach should be applauded,
encouraged and expanded. For example, key conversations between Maine
Department of Transportation Commissioner Bruce Van Note and representatives from
BOEM and the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik constitute one such example.
Expanding these efforts deliberately, thoughtfully and meaningfully at both the state and
federal levels will help immensely as planning processes for port infrastructure and
commercial leasing in the Gulf of Maine proceed over the coming months and years.
We urge you to work with the Wabanaki Nation in the spirit of Article 19 of the United
Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Informed by Article 19,
possible future consultation and collaboration may reasonably include:
1. Building upon Commissioner Van Note’s and BOEM’s recent efforts with the
Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik and the Penobscot Nation and continuing to
engage in discussions about the implications of port siting with the four Wabanaki
Nations representing five communities as recommended by the OSWPAG.
2. Equipped with the framework thoughtfully established by LD 1895, continuing this
meaningful consultation between the Governor’s Energy Office and other
appropriate agencies and the Nations, possibly including:
a. Exploring options to protect and mitigate against the impacts of offshore
wind development on cultural resources and key sources of sustenance
and iconic fish species and industries;
b. Recognizing and achieving a deeper understanding of the spirituality of
the ocean and potential viewshed impacts of offshore wind development;
c. Ensuring and enabling formal tribal representation on the Offshore Wind
Research Consortium; and
d. Exploring how LD 1895’s comprehensive community benefits and
workforce standards can have a direct and positive economic impact on
the Wabanaki Nation.
Governor Mills, we see our successful collaborative partnership on the ultimate iteration
of LD 1895 as just the beginning of the work we must do together to launch this exciting
new industry. We look forward to that process. As we’ve seen in the development of the
bill, we know that the best ideas unquestionably come from a truly collaborative, honest
and heartfelt process that is grounded in mutual respect. Collaboration and partnership
with the Wabanaki Nation is essential to move forward together towards a clean,
responsible renewable energy future.
Signed,
Conservation Law Foundation, Phelps Turner, Senior Attorney
Ironworkers Local 7 Maine, Grant Provost, Business Agent/Industry Analyst
Maine AFL-CIO, Cynthia Phinney, President
Maine Audubon, Eliza Donoghue, Director of Advocacy
Maine Climate Action Now, Amy Eshoo, Director
Maine Conservation Voters, Kelt Wilska, Energy Justice Manager
Maine Labor Climate Council, Francis Eanes, Executive Director
Maine State Building & Construction Trades Council, Jason J. Shedlock, President
and Laborers’ International Union, Local 327, Secretary-Treasurer
Maine Youth for Climate Justice, Elise Hartill, Administrative and Communications
Coordinator and Ezra Sassaman, Advocacy and Organizing Coordinator
Natural Resources Council of Maine, Jack Shapiro, Climate and Clean Energy Director
Sierra Club Maine, Ania Wright, Legislative & Political Specialist
Union of Concerned Scientists, Roger Stephenson, NE Regional Advocacy Director