Maine’s Vacationland moniker has always drawn folks from across the country to the state’s pristine wilderness. From Acadia to The County, Mainers have always been linked to their environment for business and pleasure, so much so that it’s a way of life.

That is precisely why we must address the toll climate change is taking on Maine in a variety of ways, and it is paramount that we find the means to preserve Maine’s core environmental ethos while maintaining strong consideration for the state’s fragile economic status. Thankfully, there is a truly bipartisan legislative initiative that will do both on the climate problem.

The Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan is perfectly designed to protect both jobs and the environment. The plan is the only comprehensive and viable climate solution with true bipartisan support, and its projected emissions reductions will actually exceed all previous regulations and international commitments combined.

Baker-Shultz’s supporters read like a “who’s who” of strange bedfellows. When the likes of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, the World Wildlife Fund, and energy companies are all backing the same carbon dividends framework, it proves Maine’s proud tradition of bipartisanship can clearly be at the forefront of the solution to climate change.

Maine’s federal delegation needs comprehensive, realistic solutions that ensure the bipartisanship that they themselves have always championed. Baker-Shultz is the only proposal with that level of bipartisan support, and is our clearest opportunity to achieve the environmental protection and economic expansion Maine desperately needs.

Roy Mathews, Lewiston

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