Senator Angus King, I-Maine, is hailing the contents of two major bills as being good for York County and good for Maine.
Senator Angus King, I-Maine, during an event at the University of Maine. Monday, he talked about recent legislation and how it will impact York County and Maine. Courtesy photo
Whether it is the new law that allows Medicare to negotiate the cost of some prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies, caps the out-of-pocket prescription drug expenses for seniors, or helps fund coastal boots-on-the-ground initiatives along the York County coast to prepare for rising sea levels, King said he is pleased with the results.
King said lawmakers have done well, overall.
“This Congress has been the most productive in at least the 10 years I’ve been there, and probably in the last 20 in comprehensiveness, most of which is bipartisan,” he said. “People think all we do is fight … these are major accomplishments.”
The coastal resilience parts of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law can mean funding for initiatives like sea walls in some locations, erosion control, restoring coastal wetlands, raising parking lots and roads that flood periodically, and planning for resilient bridges and culverts, said King in a phone interview Monday afternoon.
King, at home in Maine for a week, said in a recent study he has seen forecasts of a 1.5-foot rise in sea level along the York County coast by 2050 — just 28 years from now.
Senator Angus King Courtesy photo
“One of the most important things in these various pieces of legislation in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is to help coastal communities pay for the impacts,” King said — pointing out it is cheaper to take preventative measures than to remediate damage afterward. He said the study noted that if the sea level rise is not addressed, it will result in a 15-fold increase in coastal flooding and threats to 3,500 parcels of land with combined property value of more than $645 million.
The list of initiatives in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act is long, and there are no precise figures yet on how much money York County and Maine will receive.
The bipartisan infrastructure bill provides $1.46 billion over five years nationwide to make investments into infrastructure that increase resilience to climate change and extreme weather events, funds habitat restoration in coastal ecosystems nationwide and promotes coastal resilience in underserved coastal communities most vulnerable to climate impacts.
The state has already received $100 million in broadband funding and is expecting $200 million in additional funds, which, King said, is expected to be enough to get broadband to every household in Maine.
“This is a huge deal for a number of reasons,” said King, pointing out that during the pandemic kids needed to be online for school and older Mainers need to be online for telehealth appointments to reduce long drives. “My thing (is that) rural broadband means people can work where they live, and can lead to the rejuvenation of rural Maine,” King said. “Broadband is probably the biggest economic gamechanger.” He said he wrote about the need for broadband in 2012 when he was running for the U.S. Senate. “I said we ought to treat this like rural electrification in the 1930s, and we got there this past year.”
Maine has received $31 million for weatherization projects, and $68 million for PFAS remediation and identification.
There are tax credits and rebates funded by the Inflation Reduction Act for efficiency retrofits for everything from furnaces and hot water boilers to heat pumps, exterior doors, upgrading circuit panels, and more, including tax credits for some clean vehicles.
King noted defense spending supports ongoing upgrades at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and projects at Bath Iron Works, and more.
He recalled recent announcements concerning York County — $2 million to purchase two zero emission electric buses in Biddeford and Saco; noted Wells and Dayton school districts are receiving $4.3 million and $1.5 million to purchase electric school buses; Ogunquit is receiving $3.4 million to dredge its beach, and Sanford received $25 million for downtown revitalization.
Speaking to the need for renewable energy, King pointed out that solar, wind and hydro prices are essentially fixed. “Fossil fuel has a roller coaster built in,” he said. King said energy storage systems are the key to a renewable energy future, said money had been invested in research and development, and predicted better energy storage is about five years away.
“Once we can develop … cost effective energy storage, we’re home free,” he said.
Overall, King said he is most proud of the initiatives to promote coastal resilience.
“The important thing is, we’re trying to anticipate the problems and provide communities with direct support to mitigate these risks,” he said.
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