Interfaith council joins Washington meetings > Church group addresses environmental issues

WASHINGTON – Three representatives of the interfaith Maine Council of Churches took their concerns about global warming and other environmental issues to Capitol Hill this week.

The group’s spokeswoman said the idea was to make sure members of Maine’s congressional delegation are aware of the effects of global climate change and what the group believes is a need for energy conservation.

Ann D. Burt of Edgecomb said the group visited Washington along with members of similar interfaith groups from 15 other states.

“One of the goals was to establish a relationship with the representatives and have a dialogue to let them know what the program is about and what we are doing to stop the effects of greenhouse emissions,” said Burt, who coordinates the Maine Interfaith Climate Change Initiative.

The initiative is a project of the Maine Council of Churches’ Spirituality and Earth Stewardship program.

“We feel that this is an issue for us in the same way that civil rights became an issue for churches in the 1950s and 1960s,” Burt said. “It’s basically a moral issue. In all the wisdom texts of the various denominations of the world … people are asked to be the protectors of the Earth, to take care of it,” she said.

Joining Burt were Robert Birk of Washington, Maine, and Erika Morgan of Brunswick.

The congressional meetings took place throughout the day Monday. The three met with U.S. Sen. Susan Collins and U.S. Rep. Tom Allen and with representatives from U.S. Sen. Olympia Snowe’s and U.S. Rep. John Baldacci’s offices.

“Senator Collins is definitely investigating these problems and getting different perspectives on the issues that were discussed with the delegation,” said Susan Wood, a spokeswoman for Collins. “She’s investigating legislation for next Congress, though it’s still in very, very, very preliminary condition.”

Burt said Collins is considering legislation regarding energy efficiency and greenhouse emissions.

The group has also asked Collins to support the Kyoto Protocol, an international agreement that calls for actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The protocol has been signed by 160 nations but not by the United States.

Rep. Allen is working on a bill called the Clean Power Plant Act that he discussed with the group, according to his spokesman, Mark Sullivan.

“It directly addresses closing the loophole in the Clean Air Act that allowed old coal- and oil-burning plants … to continue emitting levels [of pollutants] because they were protected by a grandfather clause,” Sullivan said.

“These plants are the single-largest producers of emissions we can attack, and the delegation seemed really excited about the action,” Sullivan said.

Burt said the Maine Council of Churches would ask its member denominations to pledge to lower their greenhouse gas emissions by reducing use of hot water and electricity.

Member denominations are: the Episcopal Diocese of Maine; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Maine Conference of the United Church of Christ; the New England Conference of the United Methodist Church; the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.); the Religious Society of Friends; the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland (which represents all Catholic parishes in Maine); and the Unitarian Universalist Association.

The council will hold a conference open to the public on Oct. 1 and 2 at Camp Meehuwana in Winthrop. The fee for the conference is $25. It will include several panels and workshops on climate change, environmental stewardship and reducing fossil fuel use.

For information about the conference or the group’s environmental work, call 772-1918 or visit the council’s Web site: www.mainecouncilofchurches.org.