The chairman of the Connecticut and regional initiative to cut greenhouse gases is set to become the next Maine Public Utilities Commissioner, The Associated Press reports.
David Littell is the chairman of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative Board of Directors. The group, RGGI, is a group of 10 Northeast states including Connecticut that seeks to cap emissions from the 233 power plants in the service area.
Littlell told the Utilities and Energy Committee on Thursday that his roll at RGGI prepares him to synthesize highly technical information from many sources in reaching regulatory conclusions
The Utilities and Energy Committee voted 12-0 to endorse Littell’s nomination to the three-member board, which regulates water, electricity, gas and telephone utilities, virtually assuring his confirmation by the Senate when it meets next week.
The Senate will vote on that and dozens of other nominations by Gov. John Baldacci at a confirmation session Wednesday.
Littell, of Portland, would complete the term of former PUC Chairwoman Sharon Reishus, who stepped down in July. Littell, commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Protection for the last five years, would serve on the PUC through March 2015. He told lawmakers Thursday he intends to fill out that term if he wins confirmation.
Littell is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Princeton University. He was in private law practice specializing in environmental regulation before joining the state. During a three-hour committee session, he answered a broad range of questions on issues ranging from landfill gas energy and nuclear waste to fiber optics and wind and tidal power.
Calling himself “a frugal Yankee,” Littell pledged to work to lower the cost of utility services “and in so doing create a climate that will help Maine’s economy to grow.”
“People want to live and work in Maine. But in order for industries to flourish and compete in the global marketplace they need the lowest possible electrical rates and access to world-class telecommunications,” Littell told the committee.
Asked whether Maine’s goal of having 3,000 megawatts of installed wind power capacity by 2020 is realistic, Littell said, “I know it’s achievable.” He said the state has sufficient space for it and that form of energy has proven so far to be cost effective, but added that lawmakers also are sensitive to public sentiment and that could cool the pace of development.
Littell, speaking a day after Maine tidal power developer reported success with its first commercial-sized underwater turbine, said the future of that form of energy is “very promising.”
