State, federal hearings on technology planned

AUGUSTA – Congressional and state legislative field hearings will be held May 6 in Augusta to discuss the role of technology in the future of the metal products, forest products and pulp and paper industries.

The consecutive hearings will be held from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Jewett Hall auditorium of the University of Maine in Augusta, with the federal hearing to be chaired by U.S. Reps. John Baldacci and Tom Allen. Panelists will provide testimony on the importance of partnerships in ensuring the future of key industry sectors in Maine and in the United States.

Panelists confirmed to present testimony to the congressional delegation are: Steve Levesque, commissioner of the Department of Economic & Community Development; Dana Connors, president of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce; Joel Russ, president of the Maine Science & Technology Foundation; Kent Peterson of Kady International; and Mark Awalt of JSI Store Fixtures.

A state legislative hearing will follow the federal hearing and will be chaired by Sens. John Martin and Tom Sawyer and by Reps. Scott Cowger, John Richardson and William Savage. Industry and university representatives will present testimony on how the resources of the state can be more effectively used to strengthen Maine partnerships to further the state’s economic development goals.

Confirmed to present testimony to the state lawmakers are: John Wright, Ph.D., dean of USM School of Applied Science & Technology; Llaryl Mathews, Ph.D., dean of the University of Maine College of Engineering; Joel Russ, president of the Maine Science & Technology Foundation; Anne Gould of SAPPI; and Duane Gushee, president of D&G Machine and Maine Metal Products Association.

The event is being coordinated by the Northeast-Midwest Congressional Coalition and the Maine Energy & Environment Center (E2 Center), in partnership with Maine Industries of the Future, a program managed by the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and supported by grants from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Industrial Technologies and the Maine Department of Economic & Community Development. For more information, please call the E2 Center at 775-1200 or visit the Maine IOF Web site at www.maineiof.org.