As soon as winter takes hold in Maine people start wondering when summer weather will return. However, as a lifelong Mainer, I firmly believe that Mainers’ appreciation for summer comes from the other seasons. Without these beautiful, albeit bitter, winters — would summer seem like such a happiness?

The year 2014 was Maine’s warmest year on record. Power plants account for almost a third of the emissions in the United States and thus a large portion of the climate change throughout the U.S. In Maine, we are lucky that people value environmental protection, but it is time for us to spread that trend.

The Environmental Protection Agency has recently proposed the Clean Power Plant bill to Congress. This bill would aim to set market oriented and realistically attainable carbon emission goals (which are currently completely unrestricted) for each state based on their current practices and production output.

Many states already spend billions of dollars each year importing increasingly expensive fossil fuels to power their industrial plants. Why shouldn’t we support action moving toward a more environmentally sustainable course of action?

I am continuously growing more and more excited for summer in Maine, but that does not mean I support unrestricted carbon emission standards that damage Maine’s environment and lead to unprecedented climate change.

Many people live in Maine because of the natural beauty of the seasons. I will be supporting the Clean Power Plant bill. I hope others who value our environmental beauty will do the same.

Zachary Hebert, Hebron

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