A state representative from Hancock County responded on Wednesday to a new national report from CNBC that ranked Maine as the worst state in the nation for infrastructure, with the least reliable power grid in the country.
[RELATED: ‘Maine Has Worst Infrastructure Nationwide As Gov. Mills Furiously Attempts A Fix:’ CNBC…]
“Eight percent of our roads are in unacceptable condition. Over 15 percent of our bridges are rated “poor” — five times worse than Alaska, the second-worst state in the nation. And nearly one in five Mainers still lacks access to affordable broadband. Instead of finding solutions to address this, the majority party creates more government programs that foster dependency,” said Rep. Steve Bishop (R-Bucksport) in the weekly Maine House Republican radio address.
“House Republicans believe life in Maine is already hard enough — without raising taxes and neglecting the basics like roads, bridges, and internet access. We need to stop prioritizing unsustainable welfare programs for able-bodied, child-less adults who could be working, volunteering, or going to school — and start rebuilding Maine from the ground up. At some point, our race to the bottom has to end,” he added.
Rep. Bishop delivered his address standing in front of the Penobscot Narrows Bridge connecting his district to Waldo County pointing out that, while that relatively new bridge is in good working order, 15 percent of the state’s bridges are rated in poor condition.
Bishop called out the Democrat majority in the legislature for spending taxpayer funds adding on to welfare programs instead of using that money to improve the state’s essential infrastructure.
“This past session, instead of investing in infrastructure, Democrats spent record-high revenues elsewhere. Rumors swirled that they might even raid the Highway Fund. They didn’t — but they did raise taxes on retirees’ pensions, tobacco, cannabis, gallons of paint, real estate transfers, and even online streaming services,” said Bishop.
He also highlighted past Republican efforts to improve the state’s failing transportation infrastructure.
“Two years ago, Republicans helped pass a major funding fix for our roads and bridges — a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation. We secured a key amendment to dedicate 40% of the sales tax on vehicle purchases, and 40% of BMV sales and use taxes, to the Highway Fund. That was projected to provide $200 million every two years for infrastructure,” he said.
The House Republican argued that the funding fix on its own is not sufficient to repair Maine’s roads and bridges, but highlighted an ongoing Department of Transport (DOT) effort to improve things via their three-year strategic work plan.
In addition to failing transportation infrastructure, Maine also has far worse energy infrastructure than any of the other bottom ten states, with 31 hours of annual power outages, compared with Arkansas’s 15.2 hours.
Earlier this month, Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine) announced the creation of the new Maine Department of Energy Resources, a cabinet-level office intended to address issues with the state’s power grid.
It remains to be seen whether this new department will in fact remedy the state’s problems, or if it will turn into just another taxpayer-funded, bureaucratic office.
