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Home » News » News » Mills Directs $6.5 Million of COVID-Era Funds to Maine Electrical Grid Upgrades, Favoring ‘Minority and Ethnically Diverse’ Business Owners
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Mills Directs $6.5 Million of COVID-Era Funds to Maine Electrical Grid Upgrades, Favoring ‘Minority and Ethnically Diverse’ Business Owners

Edward TomicBy Edward TomicSeptember 21, 2023Updated:September 21, 20238 Comments2 Mins Read8K Views
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As part of the nearly $1 billion in federal funds Maine received from the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, Gov. Janet Mills announced Wednesday a $6.5 million electrical grid upgrade program for rural Maine businesses.

The electrical grid upgrade program is the latest addition to Gov. Mills’ Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan, which launched in October 2021 after approval by the State Legislature.

[RELATED: Janet Mills Awards $3.7 Million in Grants to Sea-Run Fish Habitat Restoration Projects…]

“This important investment from my Maine Jobs & Recovery Plan will help growing Maine businesses access safe and reliable electricity to power their operations and increase their efficiency to lower production costs,” Gov. Mills said in a Wednesday statement. 

“Electricity supply can be a challenge for many businesses, especially in rural areas of the state. Investing in electric grid infrastructure is key to providing confidence for employers to locate and grow in Maine,” Mills said.

The program, which is led by the Governor’s Energy Office (GEO), the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), and the Maine Technology Institute (MTI), will award grants to fund electric grid upgrades for businesses with a focus toward rural and energy-intensive industries.

MTI will be in charge of awarding the grants through a competitive process, and will emphasize industries such as agriculture and food processing, seafood harvesting, forestry, manufacturing, and housing.

MTI also states that companies “with minority and ethnically diverse owners will be favorably viewed by the reviewers,” as part of their “diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging” (DEIB) efforts.

“Companies that embrace these concepts [DEIB] to guide their culture will prove to be some of the most successful in the state,” MTI states on their website.

[RELATED: Bidenomics: A Look at Maine Manufacturing by the Numbers…]

“Stable electric infrastructure is key for economic expansion,” said Heather Johnson, DECD Comissioner, and Dan Burgess, Director of the GEO. “This program will expand and upgrade the electric grid in areas of Maine with the opportunity and interest to grow, to further encourage and retain economic investment in those communities.”

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Edward Tomic

Edward Tomic is a reporter for The Maine Wire based in Southern Maine. He grew up near Boston, Massachusetts and is a graduate of Boston University. He can be reached at [email protected]

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Michael K
Michael K
2 years ago

What’s sad is Maine is one of the two Whitest States in America, yet a majority of White people hate their own kind. Well they may not see race, but race see’s them. Foolish anti-whites are in for “woke”-up. Seriously WTF? Comprising less than 10% of the world’s population, it’s not looking good.

0
The Retired Viking
The Retired Viking
2 years ago

Everyone know that electric utilities send inferior electricity to minority owned homes and businesses.

/eye roll

1
Bill in Bangor
Bill in Bangor
2 years ago

The street I live on in Bangor had new “telephone” poles installed in 2021. The power was transferred over to the new poles immediately but the phone,cable, and internet lines are all still attached to the old poles that stand adjacent to the new poles. A phone junction box that serves me and a neighbor dangles by its wires because the new pole was set too far away for the box to reach. This box must weigh 5 pounds and swings in the wind. It will fail some night during a snowstorm. Can I renounce my race to get faster grid upgrades?

0
PostwarO27
PostwarO27
2 years ago

That is flat out discrimination.

0
Seth rich
Seth rich
2 years ago

Looks like whitey lost the race war. Congrats to the commies on their comprehensive victory.

0
Michael K
Michael K
2 years ago

Not lost, just haven’t started fighting yet. Too busy worrying about how trumpenstein will save us.

0
Jack
Jack
2 years ago

The MTI has a link to your article on its website for some reason.

It would be nice if northern New Englanders woke up to save their states and culture. Over a thousand “asylum seekers” showed up in southern Maine this year from Angola and Congo. How did they get to Maine? Who paid for it? Time for answers.

0
johnw465
johnw465
2 years ago

Stop letting the leftists control the narrative. It seems like conservatives and republicans just go along to get along. It isn’t and never has been DEI. We let the democrats pick the verbiage that controls the conversation. It is not diversity equity and inclusion DEI.
It is diversity, inclusion and equity DIE. Everything they touch turns to $hit, including this. did, die, die, die, That’s what they are pushing DEATH.

0
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