During the second U.S. Senate debate on Monday evening, Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon and Independent candidate Lisa Savage called for strong climate solutions to protect critical Maine industries — like farming and logging — that are particularly at risk from drought and environmental degradation.
Parts of York, Aroostook, Cumberland and Penobscot counties face extreme drought conditions following a hot, dry summer. This has meant lower yields and narrow margins for Mainers across the state who depend on the natural world for their livelihoods.
In response to a question from Ashley Blackford of WAGM about the drought in Aroostook County and the toll it has taken on county farmers, Gideon emphasized the role of climate change in creating those conditions. She recounted a meeting with a sixth generation potato farmer in Limestone struggling to keep his business afloat.
“We looked at the yield they are getting. It is very low and the potatoes are smaller, and the reason is absolutely climate change,” Gideon said. “We see it in these droughts and we have to attack the root of the problem.”
Gideon added that she supports short-term relief measures for affected farmers, including a disaster insurance program for small agricultural businesses, but said that it ought to be paired with long-term policy solutions.
“It’s got to include bold and immediate action around lowering our carbon emissions and increasing our renewable energy generation,” Gideon said. “We need to make sure that we’re thinking about doing that in transforming our transportation industry, our energy industry and even our building industry.”
Savage touted her support for a Green New Deal and said her climate plan includes support for regenerative agricultural techniques to make farming a durable and sustainable industry in Maine for decades to come.
“The Aroostook potato farmers are suffering from a drought, farmers across the state are suffering from a drought caused by climate change,” Savage said. “I know that a Green New Deal would help our farmers, would help our fishers and would help all of us with the effects of climate change.”
Neither Sen. Susan Collins nor independent candidate Max Linn mentioned climate change in their response to Blackford’s question. Instead, Collins cited her role in getting the U.S. Department of Agriculture to designate the drought as an emergency.
“I have already urged the Secretary of Agriculture to declare a disaster in Maine and he has already done so,” Collins said. “I’m glad that at my request the USDA has stepped up with a disaster relief program to help cover lost production and other losses for our farmers.”
Collins brandishes a mask that reads “Eat Maine Potatoes” in response to a question about mask mandates during the debate.
Gideon and Savage both cited climate change again in response to a question posed by John Small of WABI about how the candidates would help Maine’s struggling logging industry.
Gideon again called for both long and short-term solutions, emphasizing the need for sustainable energy practices that can be used to support and sustain Maine’s forest-based industries.
“Loggers need short term relief,” Gideon said. “We also need to do more than that, we need to look toward the future and think about biofuels and bio-based products that we can actually produce and how we can support research and development and bring us into the future.”
Savage again said that “addressing climate change with a Green New Deal is the most significant way we can support the forests and the people who make a living from them.”
Again not mentioning the role the climate change has on the ailing logging industry, Collins focused on short-term fixes.
“With the loss of the market at the Jay Mill due to the explosion there, our loggers are really hurting,” Collins said. “And that’s why I’ve introduced a bipartisan bill in the Senate to provide the kind of assistance to our loggers that I’ve successfully secured for our fishermen.”
The debate was hosted by television stations WABI, in Bangor, and WGAM, in Presque Isle. It was the second debate between the four candidates for U.S. Senate.
Photos: Screenshots of Monday’s debate via WABI.
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Links between climate change, traditional Maine industries highlighted in Senate debate - mainebeacon.com
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