“Today begins a new era at our historic institution, one that will transform the lives of a new generation of Maine’s young people. I have no doubt that George Walter Hinckley would be proud of the stewardship of his legacy, which we are securing today,” said Glenn Cummings, Ed.D., President of Good Will-Hinckley. “We are so grateful to the Harold Alfond Foundation, Maine Community College System, Governor Paul LePage, and the State Legislature for recognizing the asset this campus is to the state of Maine and what it can mean for Maine’s future.”

The Foundation’s gift will enable the Maine Community College System to expand the capacity of Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield by an additional 1,500 to 2,000 students through the purchase of 600 acres and 13 buildings at Good Will-Hinckley. By assisting the Maine Community College System in purchasing the property, the gift will help Good Will-Hinckley reopen and support its new Maine Academy of Natural Sciences, a magnet high school offering residential and day programs focused on agriculture, sustainability, forestry, and environmental studies.

“We are delighted to be able to support the Maine Community College System, an institution so vitally important to bringing higher educational opportunities to the people of Maine,” said Greg Powell, Chairman of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees. “That we can assist the Maine Community College System and Kennebec Valley Community College while also investing in the future of Good Will-Hinckley, makes this gift a win-win.”

In addition to the Foundation’s $10.85 million gift the State of Maine has appropriated $750,000 to the Maine Community College System to support annual operating costs at the new campus, and $530,000 annually to Good Will-Hinckley to fund operating costs for the Academy’s residential program.

The Foundation’s gift to the Maine Community College System and Good Will-Hinckley comes at a time when the economic mission of education – to prepare students for the workforce – is more important than ever. This is especially true in Maine, where only 37 percent of the population has completed a college credential. The Maine Community College System is meeting this challenge– with 93 percent of its graduates placed in jobs or continuing their education and 85 percent of its programs being the only ones available in Maine.

Maine’s community colleges are some of the fastest growing in the nation. Together, the seven schools have grown 83 percent in the past nine years, from 10,127 students to over 18,500. However, last year, the colleges were unable to enroll over 4,000 students in their preferred program of study.

Kennebec Valley Community College has doubled in size in the past decade (to over 2,500 students) and has limited room to expand on its Fairfield campus, which the college will continue to operate and which is located eight miles from the new campus. The Maine Community College System’s acquisition of Good Will-Hinckley property will enable KVCC to address its immediate capacity issues and help meet the state’s workforce development needs in the future.

The property includes an academic building, modern recreation center, organic farm, and a number of other buildings. Initially, Kennebec Valley Community College anticipates locating several of its programs at the new campus, including line-worker technology. The college also intends for the property’s organic farm to become home to the state’s first associate degree program in agricultural sciences.

“Harold Alfond dreamed bigger than most of us, and through his foundation his big dreams continue with this remarkable gift to the people of Maine,” said MCCS President John Fitzsimmons in expressing his appreciation for the gift. “This investment will create a new college campus and will mean that 1,500 to 2,000 more Maine people have access to a college education. It is a gift that will transform the lives of generations of Maine people.”

The total value of the transaction being announced today is $15.35 million. Of the $10.85 million Harold Alfond Foundation gift, $8.35 million will be awarded to the Maine Community College System for capital improvements to the new Kennebec Valley Community College campus, including $5 million to construct a new wing on the Averill/Alfond school and $3.35 million for campus upgrades and infrastructure. In addition, $1 million will be directed to the MCCS in support of its $4 million acquisition of the land and property at Good Will Hinckley. The balance of the Foundation’s gift – $1.5 million – will be allocated to Good Will-Hinckley to support school operations and the school’s needs in the future, including the funding of scholarships. A critical part of completing the transaction was a gift of $2.5 million from the newly formed Foundation for Maine’s Community Colleges.

The Maine Community College System’s acquisition of the property, coupled with Good Will-Hinckley’s rebirth as a natural sciences-themed high school with a residential option, has paved the way for an educational partnership among the parties to provide young people with a clear path and the necessary resources to successfully transition from high school to college, and on to the workforce.

The September 2011 launch of the Maine Academy of Natural Sciences represents a new chapter in the history of Good Will-Hinckley, which has served youth and their families for over 120 years. In 2009, the organization was forced to suspend most of its programs, following a shift in state and federal funding.

The school will continue the legacy that Reverend George Walter Hinckley started in 1889, with a new focus on hands-on, project-based, and theme oriented learning designed to prepare students to live successful lives as they continue their education and career training. The school currently enrolls 20 students and is currently accepting applications for next year. Projected enrollment of day and residential students is over 40 for next year and is expected to grow to 200 in the next decade.

The announcement of the Foundation’s gift to Good Will-Hinckley follows two significant developments of the state level, including funding for its residential program and the passage of charter school legislation. In regard to the latter, $1 million of the Harold Alfond Foundation support will be awarded upon the Academy’s successful designation as a charter school under Maine’s new charter school legislation.

“It is unconscionable that the Governor is using school children as leverage for his agenda,” said Sen. Alfond. “Maine’s Constitution is clear. The Governor does not have the authority to shut down Maine’s schools.”

According to the Lewiston Sun Journal, the governor specifically said, “If the Legislature didn’t ratify his proposed budget he would be forced to close the state’s schools.”

“The governor’s statements are not accurate, and they are not helpful in solving the problems we face,” said Rep. Emily Cain, D-Orono, the House Democratic Leader. “Making dramatic statements and presenting false choices distracts from real work and creates unnecessary fear in our communities. The Appropriations Committee is working hard to make incredibly difficult choices and find alternatives to the governor’s budget. These continued distractions will not put us any closer to solving the budget challenge. We urge the governor to focus on the facts instead of drumming up fear and blame.”

According to Steve Minster’s report, the governor also said, “some Democrats weren’t being truthful when they claimed he was overstating the funding gap. The crisis, he said, was real. He said Democrats’ expansion of Medicaid offerings and eligibility requirements made it so Mainers were shunning private insurance in favor of publicly funded health care.”

Also, during the town hall meeting in Lewiston, the Governor further misled Maine people by accusing Democrats of “being dishonest” or not being able to count in response to Democrats questioning of the DHHS shortfall.

“Apparently the Governor is out of touch with what’s really going on. Democrats and Republicans in the Appropriations Committee are working hard to solve the state’s budget issues,” said Alfond. “By making false accusations, the Governor is instigating, bullying, and ultimately distracting from the process. If he really wants the committee to ‘get going’ then he needs to let them do their work.”

The governor’s press office released this statement from LePage, “I believe Democratic leadership understands the severity of the financial situation we’re in and I’m cautiously optimistic that they are committed to working towards a resolution by February 1. . . However, in order to solve this budget crisis we cannot use gimmicks to fill the hole. There will be difficult decisions made, and if we are to bring our welfare system to a manageable level that Maine can afford we must make the necessary structural changes.”

Facts debunking other false rhetoric from the governor”
DHHS shortfall myths and facts

MYTH: The projected $220 million shortfall was caused by a growth in enrollment.

FACT: According to the Department of Health and Human Services’ analysis , the total cost of increased enrollment in MaineCare accounts for $6.5 million of the shortfall in 2012 and a projected $7.9 million of the claimed shortfall in 2013. Enrollment growth accounts for only 6.5 percent of the total projected $220 million shortfall. According to DHHS, the biggest driver in the 2012 shortfall — $29.9 million — is the result of a new claims system that caused benefit payments that should have been settled last year to be paid this year. The shortfall has been caused by his administration’s miscalculations in building the budget, a transition from claims processing from one computer system to another and a change in how we make payments to providers. These are problems related to program administration, not program growth.

MYTH: Enrollment growth is out of control. The state has spent more than it can afford on MaineCare.

FACT: According to DHHS , the total funding for the MaineCare program has been largely flat since 2006. Expenditures for the MaineCare program totaled $2.24 billion in 2006 compared to $2.44 billion in 2011. This is an increase of only 8.9 percent in expenditures over a five year period when medical care inflation has grown at a rate of 19.9 percent during the same time period. MaineCare caseloads have increased since 2002, but the costs have remained relatively flat. Growth in enrollment has largely been linked to the recession and from enrolling nearly 20,000 seniors and people with disabilities getting prescription drug help paid for with all state funds to the Medicaid program in 2007, where the state gets the benefit of federal matching funds.

MYTH: The majority of childless adults, referred to as non-categorical or non-cats, are “able-bodied” and “young.”

FACT: A new report from the Maine Equal Justice Partners, conducted with a leading physician and other expert, shows that the recipients are typically older than has been claimed and have serious medical conditions. Key findings from the report include that 60 percent of recipients in this group are 35 or older; 43 percent are 45 or older; and 47 percent of those using the program have diagnosed medical conditions, such as cancer and diabetes. Recipients of public health insurance must earn at or below 100 percent of the federal poverty level, which is $10,890 a year for one person. The state will be required – and will be compensated by the federal government – to cover these adults under the Federal Affordable Care Act in 2014.

MYTH: The Office of Fiscal and Program Review(OFPR) verified the LePage Administration’s shortfall analysis.

FACT: The Legislature’s non-partisan fiscal office confirmed that DHHS was on track to spend the $120 million over budget in fiscal year 2012, but they were unable to independently verify the costs for 2013 or to fully agree on the cost drivers for either year. There has been no agreement on which costs are one-time versus ongoing. According to the Bangor Daily News, OFPR Director Grant Pennoyer told the Appropriations and Health and Human Services Committees that his office was “closer, but we are still a ways off from having a good enough understanding to provide independent confirmation of the shortfall.”

MYTH: MaineCare is welfare.

FACT: MaineCare is a health care program. It provides health insurance and prescription drug coverage for the elderly, disabled, mentally ill and the poor. Seventy percent of enrollees are either children, seniors or individuals with disabilities. The health care needs of those who will lose coverage under the governor’s budget will not go away. Deprived of their insurance, their health will no doubt decline, unattended problems will become more severe and costs will be shifted to hospitals and people in the private insurance market. We have a health care crisis in this country with more of our neighbors unable to pay the costs for health coverage. MaineCare is filling the gap. Maine is tied for 6th in having the lowest uninsured rate in the country. MaineCare has helped Maine be ranked as the 8th healthiest state in the country. This high rate of insurance also means fewer uninsured patients turn up at emergency rooms for expensive care that is not reimbursable. When that happens hospitals must eat those costs, which results in costs that must then be passed on to private insurers.

“Transportation matters in everyone’s daily life. These research centers will help us solve the transportation challenges we face today and those that we know lay ahead of us,” said Secretary LaHood.

“We are excited about the proposals these consortia put forward. They have the potential to advance basic and applied transportation research today and ensure a robust pipeline of professionals for the transportation workforce of tomorrow,” said RITA Acting Administrator Greg Winfree. “It is absolutely crucial that we continue to invest in research, which has the added benefit of attracting and developing the high level of professionals needed for innovation and expertise in transportation.”

UTCs work with regional, state and local transportation agencies to help find solutions to challenges that directly impact their communities and affect the efficiency of the nation’s transportation system. UTC projects are peer-reviewed and the results of their work are shared with the national transportation community to encourage greater progress through collaboration. The selected universities will research a wide range of transportation-related issues including shared rail corridors, innovations in multimodal freight and infrastructure, bridge inspection methods, and reducing roadway fatalities and injuries.

Along with the University of Maine in Orono, other New England universities to receive the money include the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, the University of Connecticut and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

History, as we know, creates many parallels. A favorite saying of people who promote the teaching of history is that “Those who ignore history are forced to repeat it.” Illustrations of this phenomenon are too numerous to quote in a single blog. Rather, I intend to focus on a single situation of the early 20th century, occurring in another country, which may offer lessons for today’s United States.

That country is France –the France that existed between the end of World War I and its collapse and surrender to the German Nazis and their fascistic French allies in 1940 – a dire situation that lasted until the Liberation in 1944.

The parallel with today in the U.S. involves President Barack Obama and the prominent French leader of the 1920’s and 1930’s, Leon Blum.

Mr. Blum public record photo

So how do these two mesh? One might answer that it is through the particular shock their ascent to political power aroused in certain circles within their populations. Both were considered members of an inferior race – Blum because he was a Jew and Obama because under American mores he was ipso-facto a Negro, despite being half white.

It was unthinkable to right wing conservatives in France that Blum would head up a government as Prime Minister. Equally, although a matter of pride in many quarters of the United States, it became an instant matter of outrage and silent fury among America’s silent racists for the Presidency to go to – in their eyes – an uppity black man.

The French were more candid about their intolerance. The extreme right wing there, carrying on the tradition of the Dreyfus Affair, were already banding into quasi-fascist groups. Charles Maurras, the fuhrer for one of these organizations called L’Action Francaise, said of Blum: “There is a man who should be shot, but in the back.” Another such bigot labeled Blum “A Palestinian mare” and suggested he be sent to a prison camp in Madagascar. A Royalist deputy during a session of the Chambre des Deputes where Blum presided cried out: “There’s room only for Frenchmen here.” Compare this refusal to recognize Paris-born and raised Blum’s Frenchness with that coterie of rightists in the U.S. who have come to be known as the “Birthers.” Despite all evidence to the contrary, they refuse to accept the fact that Barack Obama was born in Hawaii. Part of this tactic, of course, is an effort to have him disqualified as President. But it also betokens their fierce determination not to recognize him as a full-fledged fellow citizen since, to them, he will always be the “other.” He is an usurper, in so many words. Due to his having had a Kenyan father, he has been deemed as steeped in a Mau Mau terrorist frame of mind, although never having set foot in Kenya nor having had much to do with his father.

Leon Blum public domain photo

Then, there has been the lie spread that he is secretly a Moslem and that when he lived in Indonesia with his white mother, a native of Kansas, he was educated in a Moslem madrassa, or Islamic religious school, rather than the Catholic institution he actually attended. Blum, too, faced the same sort of distortions, such as that he was an “Asiatic” of East European ancestry. The myth was even published that he was born Leon Karfunkelstein in Vidine, Bulgaria. At least these French Birthers invented a foreign birthplace for him, something Donald Trump and his ilk, after poo-poohing Obama’s official Hawaiian birth certificate, haven’t had the guts to do.

In gauging the violence and hatred directed toward these two men, it is necessary to discuss their politics. Obama has repeatedly been called a “Socialist” by people who haven’t the slightest idea what a Socialist is, except to be used as an epithet to hurl at an enemy. The term has been used deliberately and erroneously on other American politicians, as well, like FDR and Teddy Roosevelt and Harry Truman and, in this State, Governor Percival Baxter. Leon Blum, conversely, was a Socialist. He was head of the French Socialist Party, whose major foes were the Nazis and Stalin’s Communists in the Soviet Union. Blum, in trying to deal with the economic disaster in France caused by the Depression actually set as his model Franklin Roosevelt’s reform capitalism New Deal. He even referred to his own program as a “French New Deal.”

The French right wing reaction to Blum was far more violent than anything the U.S. has seen against Obama to date. Egged on by Charles Maurras and his declaration that Leon Blum was “anything but French” and should be “shot down,” a crowd of fascists attacked Blum’s car in February 1936, savagely beat him, severing a vein in his neck and causing him to be hospitalized for two weeks. When the Germans invaded in 1940, Blum did not flee the country but was imprisoned and somehow survived the war. A moral to the story here is that the fanaticism of the right wing contributed to the French defeat and German occupation; their sabotaging of the government had totally weakened the country. After the Liberation, many of these traitors and collaborators were jailed and the worst of them executed.

Could the same thing happen in the U.S. today? Could a political program built solely upon the premise of driving Barack Obama from office defeat our nation, itself, as its problems multiply due to the neglect enforced by an opposition party acting on prejudice (both racial and political) and achieving what our greatest enemies want? For example, the Grover Norquist policy of shrinking the U.S. Federal Government small enough “to drown it in a bathtub”, i.e., to reduce it to a state of impotence, that would have Osama bin Laden cheering on such Republicans from his watery grave. There’s enormous danger to the U.S. from these tactics of scheming to bring the government to a screeching halt and ushering in an era of disorder and chaos.

History has shown us what happened to France. If we pay attention and take action while there’s still time, we need not let history repeat itself.

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Democratic minority leaders in the House and Senate answer questions about health care, welfare, the environment, voting rights, and the right-wing out-of-state agenda influencing in Maine. They also express their hope to be able to create a job package, working in a bipartisan way.

Representative Emily Cain —

The people of Maine overwhelmingly voted to restore same-day registration. Republicans even ran an extreme ad in the final days that pointed to a “gay conspiracy” theory. Why did they sink to such an outlandish concept?

The Republicans desperately reverted to their same-old campaigns based on fear and misdirection, after multiple failed attempts to create the perception of fraud in our voting system. The good news is that Maine voters saw through this deceitful campaign, rejected the change in the law, and restored sensibility and access to our elections. Democrats believe this attempt to roll back voting rights is just another example of Republicans pushing solutions in search of problems and trying to distract from the fact that they have not focused on job creation and improving our economy.

Over $260,000 was funneled into Maine for the No on 1 campaign. Do you think Maine voters understand that a national right-wing agenda was behind the effort to take away same-day voter registration because we have the presidential race in 2012?

I don’t think most Maine people care about national political maneuvering, but they are worried about heating their homes and making ends meet. Lawmakers owe it to Maine people to focus on policies that will help improve our economy, not rolling back voting rights or demonizing working people at every turn.

In Ohio on the ballot was a measure to give collective bargaining back to the people. It passed overwhelmingly with a 66 to 34 percent landslide. Here some collective bargaining measures were carried over to 2012; how do you think these issues will play out here?

Rep. Emily Cain. photo by Ramona du Houx

The nasty labor bills coming up this session are another page out of the national Republican playbook. Democrats oppose any legislation that undermines the rights of working people. Lawmakers should focus on policies that will help grow jobs and improve the economy, not issues that pit workers and businesses against each other. We won’t emerge from this recession unless we work together.

What are your hopes for this session?

Rep. Emily Cain in Augusta. Photo by Ramona du Houx

Democrats are anxious to have a daily focus on economic growth and job creation this session. We believe the governor and the Republicans must put aside silly distractions and stop scapegoating and dividing Maine people. We must pass policies that will result in job creation and economic growth — both now and in the future. If we don’t invest in fixing our roads and improving infrastructure in our state, we will be leaving jobs on the table and undermining future growth. We must pass a responsible bond package. We must work towards policies that help our small businesses grow and help put Maine people back to work. I believe that potential is there to work across the aisle to get this important work accomplished.

Last session you were successful, working with your caucus and environmental groups, in keeping Maine’s quality of life intact. However, the governor’s efforts continue to try and disband the Land Use Regulation Commission, which oversees our unidentified territories. Will Democrats be fighting to keep LURC as the best option to protect Maine’s environment?

Democrats and Republicans agree that LURC needs improvement, but abolishing the body altogether is a costly mistake for Maine’s natural resources and property-tax payers. Abolishing LURC and transferring its responsibilities to counties will end up costing money and taxpayers will have to foot the bill. Sadly, our natural resources will pay the price. It is the wrong solution. A balanced approach would be more appropriate. Democrats will support changes to LURC to improve its effectiveness, but we will push back against any effort that eliminates the body completely.

Last session you and fellow Democrats stood up for essential government programs. LePage is targeting reform in needed welfare programs. We are still coming out of this recession. What approach will you be taking?

Democrats will continue to fight for working people and the middle class in our state. Policies that hurt struggling families won’t create a single job. Instead, we should be focused on how we can improve our economy to help Maine people get back on their feet. Cutting off support for people in need doesn’t change the need. It just puts more pressure on local hospitals, shelters, and schools.

The health-care law LD 1333 has begun to show how detrimental it is for people throughout the state. What can be done to help these people?

We are seeing the negative impact of the reckless Republican health insurance overhaul across our state. While Democrats feared the law would result in 20 to 30 percent increases in health-care costs for people and businesses in rural Maine and Maine people over age 48, we are now seeing rates skyrocket between 40 and 60 percent across the state. Small businesses from York to Aroostook county have contacted our office to report dramatic rate hikes. Democrats will continue to strongly urge Republicans to reverse the worst elements of this law in January. We hope the public will contact Republican lawmakers to urge them to fix this harmful law. Democrats are ready now, as we were last session, to work with Republicans to take the harmful parts out of the law and work together towards implementing a full insurance exchange under the Affordable Care Act passed by Congress almost two years ago.

“If we don’t invest in fixing our roads and improving infrastructure in our state, we will be leaving jobs on the table and undermining future growth.” — Rep. Emily Cain photo by du Houx

Everywhere I go, people still question why there hasn’t been a jobs package, despite LePage’s promises. Will you be pushing for a job bond package?

Absolutely. Republicans left jobs on the table last session by refusing to consider public investments in our state and local communities. When it comes to infrastructure and crucial investments in R&D, standing still is moving backwards. We will keep moving backwards until we make necessary investments in our state’s infrastructure, and the sooner the better! Democrats strongly support a responsible bond package for 2012 — both to create immediate jobs and improve our roads, bridges, and ports. Our long-term economic growth depends on the strength of our transportation network. There are several bond proposals before the Legislature that will invest in our roads, in our schools, in lowering the cost of energy, and in research and economic development in our state. We will urge our Republican colleagues to reject the misleading and extreme Tea Party rhetoric and build on Maine’s responsible track record of bonding for economic growth, to make the critical public investments our state needs right now.

Senator Justin Alfond—

The people of Maine voted by 60 percent to restore same-day registration. Folks celebrated at Bayside Bowl, your business. Tell me about the grass-roots campaign and why you think the vote went so well?

Sen Alfond is co-owner of Bayside Bowl. He shares his business experience with other lawmakers to help progress issues. photo by du Houx

The campaign was an unprecedented effort by Maine residents and progressive organizations. I think common sense and the “if it ain’t broke…” mentality won the day. Maine voters are proud and resoundingly defeated the barriers that the Republican Party, legislators, secretary of state, and the governor tried to implement.

Over $260,000 was funneled into Maine for the No on 1 campaign. Do you think Maine voters understand that a national right-wing agenda was behind the effort to take away same-day voter registration because we have the presidential race in 2012?

Yes. Most voters saw through the purely political efforts of the majority Republicans to try and game the electoral system to their benefit.

Do people understand the way in which the Maine Heritage Policy Center is invading Maine’s politics, from backing extreme measures like No on 1 to testifying in committees influencing the outcomes of legislation?

Every person has a right to testify in support or opposition to legislation before the Legislature. I think Mainers are waking up to the fact that national right-wing interests have targeted Maine as a place where they can deregulate and push a conservative agenda.

You sit on the Education Committee and Cultural Affairs Committee, as well as being the minority leader in the Senate. Sen. Kevin Raye pushed through a law that changes funding to schools, saying it makes the system “equal.” However studies show it will do the opposite. What’s the danger here, especially during a time when funding is so limited?

Electrician installing solar panels on the roof of a building. Both lawmakers agree more R&D bonds are necessary to grow Maine's clean an innovative economy.

Sen. Raye’s bill was not framed at making the Essential Programs Services (EPS) funding formula equal, but rather correcting what he billed as a funding “injustice” to rural Maine schools. His law takes funds away, around $6.1 million yearly, from mostly larger schools and diverts them to rural schools under 1,200 students. However, the facts never support his argument. His bill was built on the fact that most school districts all think the EPS funding formula is unfair. I want to invest more in rural school systems as well, but not at the expense of students in urban and suburban school districts. This was the first time a legislator successfully intervened in the EPS funding formula. I believe we should be working to ensure all school districts get the funding they need, regardless of where they live and who represents them.

You were successful in helping businesses with permitting reform. How can you build on what you achieved?

Implementation and marketing of the new permitting reforms will be my main goals.

The governor and Senator Raye continue to try and disband the Land Use Regulation Commission, which oversees our unidentified territories. Will Democrats be fighting to keep LURC as the best option to protecting Maine’s environment?

Yes. Democrats will continue being inclusive by listening to all concerns and perspectives from those in the field. Democrats want the best parts of LURC to continue while solving the challenges with LURC. Democrats are ready to make improvements and adapt LURC. The idea that LURC should be gutted or eliminated is not the answer.

Last session you and fellow Democrats stood up for essential government programs. One in six need some sort of government assistance. More middle class families are falling through the cracks, because of the protracted recession. Should we be hearing a call for creating jobs instead of the governor targeting welfare recipients with “reforms”?

Absolutely. Democrats’ top priority is creating an environment where jobs can be sustained and created — especially from small businesses across the state. Democrats know that for businesses to stay and locate here, we need to have educated and adaptable graduates and workers. We need to become a highly educated state, so that business leaders want to be in Maine. Unfortunately, Governor LePage and the Republicans continue to push many issues that do not create any jobs. For example their welfare and health-care cuts will not only hurt our elder, young, and those who truly need help but somehow they ignore the fact that these costs are just shifting to the hospital emergency rooms.

Justin & Racheal Alfond’s newborn son, Jacoby

Everywhere I go people still question why there hasn’t been a job package, because LePage promised to create jobs. Will you be pushing for a job bond package?

The first priority of Maine Democrats is to create an environment where jobs can be sustained and created. The use of bonds to invest in our infrastructure is one tool to put people back to work. For example, the construction industry has over 20 percent unemployment, and I’m sure the construction trades would like the work. It’s also strategic because interest rates are at record lows, and Maine not only has strong bond ratings but we also have been conservative in how we retire and add new debt. There is nothing but rhetoric stopping Maine from investing in a strategic bond package to create jobs and upgrade our infrastructure. I hope that the majority Republicans will work with Democrats not only on a bond package but also to stay focused on the economy this short session.

The health-care law LD 1333 has begun to show how detrimental it is for people throughout the state. What can be done to help these people?

Republicans who serve in leadership positions should have allowed Anne Graham’s proposal to fix some of the issues on LD 1333. PL 90 [or what was LD 1333] was influenced and driven by the Maine Heritage Policy Center. The market driven reforms are built around the backdrop that more young people will enroll creating lower premiums and more competition in Maine. Many of these assumptions have played out in other states and the results are lower outcomes for patients and more influence by insurance companies. Additionally, I am very concerned that insurance companies are now taking elements of the new law and jacking premiums of many rural small businesses across the state. Sadly, the Republicans on the Legislative Council could have addressed some of these small business concerns with a legislative request from Rep. Anne Graham. However, it was denied, so I urge all Mainers to contact their representatives with examples of how this new law is increasing rates and decreasing access.

A University of Maine engineer, Clayton Wheeler, and his student research team have discovered a revolutionary new chemical process that can transform forest residues, along with other materials such as municipal solid waste, grasses, and construction wastes, into a hydrocarbon fuel oil. One day some cars could be running on it, houses heated by it, and businesses powered by it.

“The process is unique,” said Wheeler, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering. “No one else in the world is doing this. With this new biofuel we have the potential in Maine of replacing 25 percent of our kerosene, diesel, and heating oil, while providing all the steam and power needs of processing plants.”

Treetops and limbs deemed by the forest products industry as unusable and often left behind in the woods could now become the biofuel of the future. As Governor John Baldacci said in 2007, when promoting alternative ways like biofuels to combat Maine’s dependency on oil, “Maine is the Saudi Arabia of wood.”

Maine has around six million green tons of available biomass, according to a 2008 Maine Forest Service Assessment of Sustainable Biomass Availability.

The process, known as thermal deoxygenation (TDO), involves converting cellulose into organic acids, which are combined with calcium hydroxide to form a calcium salt. That salt is heated in a reactor, which creates a dark, amber-colored oil. TDO will work on the cellulose found in wood or other substances that contain cellulose or carbohydrates.

“We can take almost anything that’s cellulose and convert it to hydrocarbon oil. The process takes the air out of the oil,” said Page Case, an undergraduate working on the project.

That removal of nearly all of the oxygen from the oil is a key step that distinguishes TDO from other biofuel processes.

Page Case, UMaine student and resercher in the lab. courtesy photo

“Biomass has a lot of oxygen in it. All of that oxygen is dead weight and doesn’t provide any energy when you go to use that as a fuel,” said Wheeler. “If you’re going to make a hydrocarbon fuel, one of the things you have to do is remove oxygen from biomass. You can do it by using hydrogen, which is expensive and also decreases the energy efficiency of your process. So if there’s a way to remove the oxygen from the biomass chemically, then you’ve densified it significantly. Our oil has less than one percent oxygenates. No one else has done anything like this.”

In an early round of analysis, the UMaine oil was found to have boiling points that encompass those of jet fuel, diesel, and gasoline. Further refinement to meet emissions standards would be needed in order to use the UMaine oil in vehicles, but Wheeler believes the oil can be refined as simply as any other current oil at a standard refinery.

The new fuel has been determined to have a number of properties that make it better suited to serve as a “drop-in” fuel — which means it works easier in fuel tanks and pipelines — than many hydrocarbon fuels being currently researched and even those already on the market.

“We’ve even made a batch using grocery store waste with banana peels, cardboard boxes, and shelving,” said Case.

Using these unpurified, mixed carboxylates, proved that contaminated cellulose sources can be used in the process, which makes the oil more attractive — and more cost effective.

“You don’t need pure wood or pure cellulose,” said Wheeler. “Anytime you can use something without having to separate it, your costs go down. You wouldn’t need a major capital investment to commercialize it.”

Wheeler and his team already have the ability to produce several liters of the fuel per month in the laboratory. The process can be scaled up using equipment and chemicals commonly found in facilities, such as some pulp mills.

UMaine’s bioproduct research moved forward with about $4 million in federal funds from the Department of Energy four years ago, as well as a Maine Technology Institute grant.

“It’s our spin on chemistry used to make acetone back in the 1800s,” said Wheeler.

“With development of new natural and functional nanomaterials, UMaine will be recognized as an innovator in novel cellulose nanofibril processing,” said FBRI Director and UMaine Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering Hemant Pendse. “UMaine will have the ability to process cellulose nanofibrils in ways that open up applications for cellulose nanocomposites. It will be at a scale that opens up markets.”

Last April UMaine, with scientists from six other educational institutions and the Forest Products Laboratory (FPL), began a research collaboration on the conversion of wood components into novel nanomaterials.

The pilot plant, which is being funded by a $1.5 million grant from the U.S. Forest Service, is the only one of its kind in the nation and will serve as a source of the material for those who want to explore the uses of cellulose nanofibrils (CNF). Until now researchers and industrial companies who want to buy the material purchase it from sources in Japan and Germany.

“If you can make products from nanofibrillated cellulose that normally use plastic, you can reduce the use of petroleum,” said Doug Bousfield, UMaine professor of chemical and biological engineering. “What this project does is put the equipment in place to generate a lot of raw material with which people can experiment. It’s exciting — a natural fit for UMaine.”

The grant will fund the purchase of an ultrafine grinder (a piece of equipment which breaks down cellulose-based pulp into a water-based slurry) and a pilot-scale spray dryer, which uses gases to dry the material. The ultrafine grinder will be able to produce about 1,000 pounds of material a day in slurry form.

Applications for the CNF material include automobile components, paint and coating additives, and water filters. Development and commercialization have been hampered by the lack of availability of CNF material in sufficient quantities to conduct meaningful technology demonstrations. This project will address this need by scaling up the mechanical laboratory preparation method to a pilot-scale operation.

Cellulose nanofibril material is valued because of its strength — a strand of it is as strong as a synthetic fiber such as Kevlar. It takes on different properties depending on how it is dried. When a sample of the CNF slurry is dried with heat, the material becomes hard and strong, and can be cut into different shapes and sizes. When freeze-dried, the material is super-absorbent and insulating.

The cellulose nanofibrils are about 1,000 times smaller than paper fibers. The material can be made from any source that contains cellulose, such as wood, grasses, and corn or wheat straw.

UMaine already produces some cellulose nanofibrils via both mechanical means and chemical means, the latter of which produces cellulose nanocrystals.

Doug Gardner, a UMaine professor who is also a collaborator and the head of the Nanocomposites Research Group, said although the mechanisms are not yet in place for researchers and companies to order the material, there has already been unofficial interest from private industry. The material would not be free for those who want to order it, but UMaine would offer it at a reasonable price.

UMaine will be the sole supplier of CNF to researchers.