An Act To Provide Climate Change Transition Assistance for Maine's Energy-intensive Businesses
Maine Legislature, Session 130, LD 1554
Committee: Energy, Utilities and Technology
Sponsors: WADSWORTH, STEWART, DUNPHY, MARTIN, PAULHUS, DILL
Amends: 35-A MRSA §10109, 35-A MRSA §10128

Legislative Document
No. 1554
H.P. 1159
House of Representatives, April 22, 2021
An Act To Provide Climate Change Transition Assistance for 
Maine's Energy-intensive Businesses
Received by the Clerk of the House on April 20, 2021.  Referred to the Committee on 
Energy, Utilities and Technology pursuant to Joint Rule 308.2 and ordered printed pursuant to 
Joint Rule 401.
ROBERT B. HUNT
Clerk
Presented by Representative WADSWORTH of Hiram.
Cosponsored by Senator STEWART of Aroostook and
Representatives: DUNPHY of Old Town, MARTIN of Sinclair, PAULHUS of Bath, Senator: 
DILL of Penobscot.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  35-A MRSA §10109, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2019, c. 69, §1, is further 
amended to read:
4.  Expenditures; projects.  Except for transfers required under subsection 3‑A and 
section 10128 and other costs authorized in accordance with this chapter, funds in the trust 
fund must be expended in accordance with this subsection.
A.  Trust funds must be allocated for measures, investments, loans, technical assistance 
and arrangements that reduce electricity consumption, increase energy efficiency or 
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower energy costs at commercial or industrial 
facilities and for investment in measures that lower residential heating energy demand 
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  The measures that lower residential heating 
demand must be fuel-neutral and may include, but are not limited to, energy efficiency 
improvements to residential buildings and upgrades to efficient heating systems that 
will reduce residential energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions, as determined by 
the board.  The trust shall ensure that measures to reduce the cost of residential heating 
are available for low-income households as defined by the trust.  When promoting 
electricity cost and consumption reduction, the trust may consider measures at 
commercial and industrial facilities that also lower peak capacity demand.  Subject to 
the apportionment pursuant to this subsection, the trust shall fund conservation 
programs that give priority to measures with the highest benefit-to-cost ratio, as long 
as cost-effective collateral efficiency opportunities are not lost, and that:
(1)  Reliably reduce greenhouse gas production and heating energy costs by fossil 
fuel combustion in the State at the lowest cost in funds from the trust fund per unit 
of emissions; or
(2)  Reliably increase the efficiency with which energy in the State is consumed at 
the lowest cost in funds from the trust fund per unit of energy saved.
B.  Expenditures from the trust fund relating to conservation of electricity and 
mitigation or reduction of greenhouse gases must be made predominantly on the basis 
of a competitive bid process for long-term contracts, subject to rules adopted by the 
board under section 10105.  Rules adopted by the board to implement the competitive 
bid process under this paragraph may not include an avoided cost methodology for 
compensating successful bidders.  Bidders may propose contracts designed to produce 
greenhouse gas savings or electricity conservation savings, or both, on a unit cost basis.  
Contracts must be commercially reasonable and may require liquidated damages to 
ensure performance.  Contracts must provide sufficient certainty of payment to enable 
commercial financing of the conservation measure purchased and its installation.
C.  The board may target bid competitions in areas or to participants as they consider 
necessary, as long as the requirements of paragraph A are satisfied.
D.  Community-based renewable energy projects, as defined in section 3602, 
subsection 1, may apply for funding from the trust to the extent they are eligible under 
paragraph A.
E.  The size of a project funded by the trust fund is not limited as long as funds are 
awarded to maximize energy efficiency and support greenhouse gas reductions and to 
fully implement the triennial plan.
F.  No more than $800,000 of trust fund receipts in any one year may be used for the 
costs of administering the trust fund pursuant to this section.  The limit on 
administrative costs established in this paragraph does not apply to the following costs 
that may be funded by the trust fund:
(1)  Costs of the Department of Environmental Protection for participating in the 
regional organization as defined in Title 38, section 580‑A, subsection 20 and for 
administering the allowance auction under Title 38, chapter 3‑B; and
(2)  Costs of the Attorney General for activities pertaining to the tracking and 
monitoring of allowance trading activity and managing and evaluating the trust's 
funding of conservation programs.
G.  In order to minimize administrative costs and maximize program participation and 
effectiveness, the trustees shall, to the greatest extent feasible, coordinate the delivery 
of and make complementary the energy efficiency programs under this section and 
other programs under this chapter.
H.  The trust shall consider delivery of efficiency programs by means of contracts with 
service providers that participate in competitive bid processes for reducing energy 
consumption within individual market segments or for particular end uses.
I.  A trade association aggregator is eligible to participate in competitive bid processes 
under this subsection.
J.  Trust fund receipts must, upon request by the Department of Environmental 
Protection, fund research approved by the Department of Environmental Protection in 
an amount of up to $100,000 per year to develop new categories for carbon dioxide 
emissions offset projects, as defined in Title 38, section 580‑A, subsection 6, that are 
located in the State.  Expenditures on research pursuant to this paragraph are not 
considered administrative costs under paragraph F, subparagraph (1).
Sec. 2.  35-A MRSA §10128 is enacted to read:
§10128.  Industrial Climate Transition Fund
1.  Industrial Climate Transition Fund.  The Industrial Climate Transition Fund is 
established as a revolving, nonlapsing fund administered by the trust in the disbursement 
of funds received from the sale of carbon dioxide allowances pursuant to this subsection.  
The purpose of the Industrial Climate Transition Fund is to provide loans for projects and 
programs that assist businesses to sustainably transition to operations in support of the 
economic and climate goals of the State.  The trust shall make a loan under this subsection 
as a 5-year, no-interest forgivable loan to an eligible business.  If the recipient of the loan 
or the recipient's successor in interest meets the requirements of the loan and is in operation 
after 5 years from receipt of the loan and has at least the same number of employees as at 
the time of the receipt of the loan, the trust shall forgive the entire balance of the loan.  A 
recipient of a loan under this subsection that fails to meet the requirements of this 
subsection must repay the loan within 2 years after the expiration of the 5-year term.  The 
trust shall implement application procedures, criteria for a program or project to carry out 
the purposes of this subsection, verification measures to ensure the project or program 
funded was completed or implemented and other loan requirements as determined by the 
trust.
2.  Sources of fund.  Beginning with fiscal year 2021-22 and every fiscal year 
thereafter, the trust shall transfer into the Industrial Climate Transition Fund revenue in 
excess of $6 per carbon dioxide allowance received by the trust from the sale of carbon 
dioxide allowances in that fiscal year:
A.  Up to an aggregate limit of $3,000,000 per year, for loans to affected customers, as 
defined in section 10109, subsection 3-A; and
B.  Excess revenue after the aggregate limit in paragraph A is satisfied up to an 
additional aggregate of $1,000,000 for loans to energy-intensive businesses based in 
the State other than affected customers.
Any excess revenue from the sale of carbon dioxide allowances under this subsection after 
the aggregate limits of paragraph A and B are met must be spent pursuant to section 10109, 
subsection 4.
SUMMARY
This bill creates the Industrial Climate Transition Fund administered by the Efficiency 
Maine Trust that uses revenue from the sale of carbon dioxide allowances to provide loans 
to energy-intensive manufacturers and other businesses to become more efficient and use 
less energy in their operations.  The loan is forgivable if after 5 years the number of 
employees of the fund recipient is substantially the same or more than the number of 
employees of the recipient when the loan was received.