November 11^th always marks an important day in Maine and around the nation on our calendars – of course it’s Veterans Day.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

As someone who comes from a military family, I deeply appreciate the service and sacrifice of Maine veterans and their loved ones.

That’s why I recently reinvigorated the Aides-de-Camp program. That’s a council of military veterans who advise me on policies that impact Maine veterans.

For instance I had the honor of swearing in eleven veterans representing all branches of the military service – as well as two members of my cabinet who are veterans – into the Aides-de-Camp program. These Aides-de-Camp positions offer an important line of communication between our veterans and Maine state government.

We formed the Maine Veteran’s Dental Network, in partnership with Northeast Delta Dental, participating dental clinics, and Federally Qualified Health Centers to provide dental services to Maine’s veterans who otherwise can’t afford them.

I am also encouraging all Maine employers to take advantage of the unique skills of our veterans through our “Hire a Vet” campaign.

And, I have proclaimed this week – November 7 through November 13, 2021 – as Veterans Week in Maine to recognize the service and sacrifice of all Maine veterans.

On this Veterans Day, as we do every day, we recognize the men and women who faithfully served our state and nation in the Armed Forces. Let’s join together to thank them and their families for their sacrifice, their bravery, and their devotion to our country.

Today, our state can proudly say that we are home to more than 109,000 veterans – more than 8 percent of our adult population and one of the highest number of veterans per capita of any state in the nation. 

But when you consider Maine’s long and proud history of military service, I guess that comes as no surprise.

During the Civil War for instance, more than 2.8 million people served, and more than 620,000 people gave, as President Lincoln said, “the last full measure of devotion.” Many of those men came from Maine. Our state contributed a higher proportion of citizens to the Union army than any other state in the nation.

President Lincoln also understood the toll these wars have on people and their families, and he also knew that bringing an end to war would not bring an end to our support for those who served.

“Let us strive on to finish the work we are in,” he said, “to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

Today, we care for those who have borne the battle and honor what they fought for — so many rights which all are too fragile and too often taken for granted.

So to all Maine veterans — I thank you for your service from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the 1.3 million people in the State of Maine, we thank you for your sacrifice and for that of your families. To all those who have served and to those who continue to serve our country: our hearts are with you Veterans Day and this Veterans Week two thousand twenty-one.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

Maine is the most heating oil dependent state in the nation. Every year, we send $4 billion out of state to fossil fuel companies to heat our homes and businesses. We pay the price for this every time we go to turn up the thermostat. And our environment pays the price for it too. But it’s something we can, and will, change.

Hello, this is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

So this week, I announced some initiatives from my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan. These initiatives will weatherize homes, reduce our reliance on harmful fossil fuels, and cut energy costs for Maine’s families.

First, we are providing $25 million in federal funds to weatherize more than 3,500 low-to-moderate income households in Maine. The funds will be distributed through the Efficiency Maine Trust, the independent agency charged with improving energy efficiency all across the state.

These rebates we’re providing will allow homeowners to weatherstrip doors and windows and insulate attics and basements to keep homes warm and save money on heating costs.

Weatherization alone can save families hundreds of dollars each heating season. And it’s not too late to start for this winter. With the rise in oil and gas prices that we are seeing for reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic and the worldwide economy, boy weatherization could not be more important or more timely.

For more information about these weatherization rebates, please visit efficiencymaine.com.

In addition to the $25 million in federal funds for home weatherization, I’ve also created a Clean Energy Partnership backed by $5.5 million in federal funds from the Maine Jobs and Recovery Plan for expanded training and apprenticeship programs focused on the clean energy sector.

This Clean Energy Partnership will bring together all players -- state agencies, employers, labor organizations, businesses, schools, community colleges, universities, communities and others -- to expand our clean energy workforce and strengthen our economy.

While we work to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and sending all that money out of state, help is also available for many people who cannot afford heating oil this winter. Maine has nearly $70 million in federal funds available for low-income heating assistance, and I encourage all eligible people to apply, no matter what your heat source is.

To apply or get information about available heating assistance, please go to mainehousing.org.

These investments to cut energy costs for Maine families, to reduce carbon emissions, and to strengthen our clean energy workforce are all important steps to reach our goal of carbon neutrality by 2045, while cutting costs for Maine families and keeping us warm. 

In the coming weeks, you’ll be hearing more from me about the Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan and all of its investments in education and training programs, workforce housing, childcare, broadband, and help for small businesses, all of which will spur our immediate economic recovery from the pandemic and support our long-term economic growth.

So please stay tuned, stay warm, and stay safe.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

People have asked me how I’m voting on Question One, the NECEC Corridor. Well, I voted just the other day at my town office. And I voted No.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Let me tell you why.

Last night, thousands of Maine people turned up their thermostats to keep warm as the weather gets colder. For nearly 60 percent of Maine homeowners, that means their oil furnace is firing up, and, at an average of $3.10 a gallon, Maine families are spending more money on fossil fuels that ought to go to groceries, medicines, school supplies...

The sad fact is, our state is the most heating oil dependent state in the country. Maine families send more than $4 billion every year to out-of-state fossil fuel companies for heating oil. The high cost of energy and electricity are slowing down our economy, while carbon emissions in our atmosphere threaten our health and our environment.

I ran for Governor promising to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and to do something about climate change. And I told you I would tell you exactly how I feel. 

We just can’t afford just to do nothing.

I support the New England Clean Energy Connect, and I urge you to vote No on Question 1, because it is about climate change.

Utilizing clean hydropower already in existence, this project will put our state and our region on the road to a zero-carbon economy. Enhancing the reliability of our grid to avoid a loss of power in storms, it will also reduce carbon emissions in New England by 3.6 million metric tons a year — It’s like taking 767,000 gas guzzling cars off the road.

This project will allow us to buy electric vehicles and to put charging stations all across the state. 

It will let Maine families turn off the furnace and heat their home in the winter and cool it in the summer with modern and very efficient heat pumps.

It is no wonder why fossil fuel companies are threatened by this project and are fighting it tooth and nail.

By all objective analyses, this project will hold down the price of electricity all across the region, saving Maine ratepayers alone millions of dollars each year. And, as a result of my negotiations with Hydro-Québec, the project will deliver clean electricity directly to Maine to as many as 70,000 to 75,000 homes right here in our state at a discounted rate.

And it will cost Maine ratepayers nothing. Massachusetts will foot the bill.

This project is already creating construction jobs in rural Maine, and with an investment of nearly $1 billion in the first ten years, it’ll provide substantial tax benefits to Lewiston and other communities along the route, as well as scholarships for youth and 145 miles of broadband fiber from Jackman to Lewiston and all the way to Wiscasset.

Now, there are people of good will on both sides of this issue. And I acknowledge those who are worried about our environment. You know, Western Maine is where I live. It’s where I was born and grew up, and it will always be my home.

But, you should know, this project has also been changed a lot to minimize the environmental impact. It has undergone rigorous review, and in independently issuing its permit, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection has narrowed the corridor considerably, its required revegetation, and it requires the permanent conservation of 40,000 acres in Western Maine and the conservation of more than 700 acres of deer wintering habitat.

Now, make no mistake about it, I am no fan of CMP.  I understand the frustrations with CMP. And it’s why the Maine Public Utilities Commission, including two commissioners I appointed, is pushing CMP hard to become more reliable, more accountable and better managed.

And I believe our utilities should be held to the highest standards of accountability. Or else they shouldn’t do business in our state.

But honestly Question 1 won’t solve that problem. In fact, it might just send a chilling message of unintended consequences, a message to others, including renewable energy companies, that they might have to have the rug pulled out from under them long after they’ve invested and played by the rules and gotten approvals, because of some change in the political winds.

Fundamentally, for me, it’s not about CMP. It’s about climate change. We need clean energy. We need reliable electricity. We’ve got to turn down the furnace and we’ve got to say no to fossil fuels.

And that’s why I voted No on Question One.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening.

If you have to go to the hospital, or into a nursing room, or your loved one does, you have the absolute right to expect that you will receive high quality care and that you will be safe.

That means health care workers taking care of you will be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and other contagious diseases.

Hello this is Governor Janet Mills and thank you for listening.

We decided to require health care workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 for three basic reasons:

1. To protect our health care system’s ability to care for people by making sure health care workers stay healthy and on the job;
2. To protect the health of those in Maine who are most vulnerable to the virus who happen to be in a hospital, nursing home, or other health care facility;
3. And to protect the health and safety of all Maine people, patients and health care workers alike.

You know, just as vaccinations defeated small pox a hundred years ago, and with vaccine, we rid the world of polio, so with vaccines will we defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.

That’s why COVID-19 vaccine was added to the vaccines for polio and mumps and others as a requirement for employment in Maine’s health care facilities. And now vaccination rates have risen rapidly among those health care workers.

This is great progress that protects front-line health care workers and the health and lives of people in their care, and that safeguards Maine’s health care capacity.

Unfortunately, seems like we’re facing two pandemics sometimes. There are two pandemics at work here – one is the pandemic of COVID-19, the deadly virus that’s taken more than 1,000 lives in Maine. The second seems to be the pandemic of fear and disinformation.

Among other things some people have dishonestly claimed that Maine people would die as a result of requiring vaccinations for health care workers.

That’s an insult to every Maine person who has lost their life to COVID-19, especially those who contracted it from a health care worker who chose not to get vaccinated.

In fact, it is this policy that will keep health care workers and their patients alive.

As of October 12, more than 6,000 health care workers have tested positive for the disease and more than 350 health care setting outbreaks have been reported.

The same folks who criticized a vaccination for health care workers have also said that we should provide a testing alternative.

Sounds simple, but the science doesn’t back that up.

The Delta variant – which is much easier to pass on – can reproduce in just 24-48 hours so weekly testing doesn’t pass muster. And the most accurate tests take at least 24-48 hours to come back, which means daily testing doesn’t cut it either.

The Maine Hospital Association, the Maine Health Care Association, nursing homes, hospitals, all support our policy because they know it is the best way to protect workers and patients and residents and to prevent our health care system from being overwhelmed, thus preventing you from getting health care.

I am also committed to addressing the problem of workforce from the bottom-up. We’ve had a workforce shortage in health care for more than a decade now, and we’re tackling that head-on.

The Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan for instance that was approved by the Legislature has just taken effect and that will allow us to invest millions in health care workforce needs and training and expansion of facilities and critical industries across the State of Maine will get help.

Maine is one of the most highly vaccinated states in the nation against COVID-19, but we are also seeing a surge of the more dangerous and highly transmissible Delta variant and that’s causing infections, serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths, almost entirely among those who have not gotten vaccinated.

We’ve got a lot of work to do.

Getting vaccinated – which I think is the collective responsibility of Maine people and it’s something that more than one million of us have already done and something that Pope Francis calls “An act of love”– it’s the best and most effective way out of this pandemic. And the courts have agreed.

I continue to urge those who haven’t already rolled up their sleeves please do so and get your shot.

You can get COVID-19 vaccines all across the state. Just visit maine.gov/covid19/vaccines or call 1-888-445-4111.

This is Governor Janet Mills. Thank you for listening. Please stay safe.