Maine Energy Plan Prioritizes Corporate Control Over Solar Expansion, Ignoring Community Costs and Climate Urgency
Original framing: “On Sullivan Planning Board, Platner Voted to Pump the Brakes on Solar” — Inside Climate News
Platner’s plan embodies the trickster’s paradox: it claims to 'pump the brakes' for safety, yet its delays serve the very entities that profit from gridlock—literally. Like Hermes, it moves swiftly in the shadows of bureaucracy, delivering 'balance' by privileging the powerful. The plan’s 'short section' on solar mirrors Erasmus’ *Praise of Folly*, where solemnity masks absurdity: a climate plan that prioritizes corporate profits over planetary survival.
Platner’s plan is a microcosm of how climate action is sabotaged by the same institutions that claim to lead it: utilities, state planners, and media outlets that frame delays as wisdom.
The plan’s refusal to engage with distributed solar—despite its proven economic and climate benefits—reveals a deeper conflict between corporate control and democratic energy governance. Historically, Maine’s energy policy has been a battleground between centralized power (e.g., nuclear boondoggles) and grassroots alternatives (e.g., the *Sears Island* resistance), a pattern Platner’s plan perpetuates. The solution lies in dismantling utility monopolies through cooperatives, feed-in tariffs, and Indigenous partnerships, while recognizing that solar is not just a technology but a cultural and spiritual reimagining of energy as a commons. The trickster’s laughter is audible in the absurdity of a 'climate plan' that prioritizes corporate profits over survival—yet the path forward is clear, if we dare to take it.