Evergreen Home Performance Marketing Manager Kathleen Meil will be among the diverse group of leaders from across the country gathering in Washington, D.C., to voice support for the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. The September 9-11 event comes nearly a month after the finalization of the Plan, which sets the first ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants and encourages investments in clean energy.

Participants from the state of Maine include Meil, an energy efficiency advocate at Evergreen Home Performance in Rockland; Representative Russell Black (R-Wilton), who runs Black Acres Farm in Wilton; Tony Owens, a public health advocate and emergency room doctor at Maine Medical Center in Portland; Zach Wozich, an ice fisherman in Casco; and Laurie Osher, a Bangor business leader who engages faith communities in energy efficiency through Maine Interfaith Power and Light.

The five leaders were invited to participate by Maine’s Climate Action Committee groups – the Natural Resources Council of Maine, Maine Conservation Voters, and Environment Maine – because each brings a unique perspective on the impact of climate change and the potential of the Clean Power Plan to combat it by reducing carbon pollution from power plants 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030. While in Washington, D.C., influencers will meet with their members of Congress and staff to discuss the opportunities that the plan provides the state of Maine, as well as the need to address climate change on a national level.

“Climate policies like those included in this plan are already benefiting Maine tremendously,” says Meil. “We’ve seen a significant boost to the economy and the clean energy sector thanks to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and we’re well positioned to benefit from the national Clean Power Plan, too.”

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, is a market-based collaboration between nine Northeast states to reduce climate-changing carbon pollution from power plants and spur investments in energy efficiency and clean energy. The EPA’s Clean Power Plan acknowledges RGGI’s positive economic and environmental impact and requires other states to develop plans to meet the first-ever national limits on carbon pollution from power plants, suggesting RGGI as one model.

“The Clean Power Plan recognizes Maine’s leadership as a member of RGGI, and our economy and climate will benefit as other regions come closer to our standards of clean power,” says Meil.  “When we meet in Washington, I will urge Senators Collins and King to do everything in their power to lead the U.S. Senate in supporting the Clean Power Plan.”