Gov. Janet Mills used visits to two businesses in Belfast on Friday to highlight various priorities her administration has set for responding to climate change in the state.
She used a visit to a waterfront restaurant, Nautilus Seafood & Grill, to highlight the damage that it and other places faced from devastating coastal storms that hit the state early last year. Her second stop was at Logix — formerly called SolarLogix — a growing company that installs solar panels and heat pumps around Maine.
The visit comes as Mills has made a recent flurry of public appearances and said she is “seriously” considering joining the already crowded Democratic primary to run against Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins next year. When asked about those plans on Friday, she gave no updates.
Later in the day, she visited the Common Ground Country Fair in Unity.
Nautilus Seafood & Grill, which is situated beside the Belfast breakwater, was flooded in the storms last year, but it has since built back up from the damage. During public remarks with Mills, restaurant owners recalled water going over the top of the building and one of the patio chairs breaking a window.
According to Mary Marchini, one of the three co-owners, Nautilus is the only restaurant with an outdoor patio in the city, making it a coveted spot, but it faced a major setback when it flooded in a storm. They showed Mills around the spots that had been most heavily affected by water damage during the flooding.
Storms and flooding are generally expected to become more severe as human consumption of fossil fuels warms the planet.
At Logix, located on Searsport Avenue, Mills expressed concern about disruptions to federal funding for solar energy projects under the Trump administration.
“We had a grant designated for low-income housing and mobile home parks to have heat pumps and efficiency measures, which is critical if you live in a mobile home park, you know it’s very hard to retain heat in those homes,” Mills said. She added that she does not know the current status of these grants.
Mills noted being “optimistic” for the future of solar power in Maine.
Kurt Penney, a representative of commercial sales and business development for Logix, said that the upcoming termination of federal tax credits of 30% for clean energy improvements under the Republic Party’s sweeping domestic policy will drastically change the market for residential solar systems.
Despite those setbacks, he said there will still be opportunity in the smaller commercial market, especially with many small businesses in Maine that qualify.
“The overarching theme is that solar is being canceled by the Trump administration, but it’s not necessarily true, it’s a little more nuanced than that,” Penney said.
