A year ago, the Maine Legislature took responsible and decisive action by enacting L.D. 845, “An Act to Provide Leadership in Addressing the Threat of Climate Change” to set our state on a path toward a more sustainable future. The new law sets forth goals for Maine to reduce its contribution of the gases that are changing our climate. It calls for a reduction to 1990 emissions levels by 2010, a 10 percent further reduction by 2020, and still further reductions in the longer term.

To achieve these goals, the law directs Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection to create a global warming action plan for Maine by this year. Thanks to leadership from Gov. Baldacci and DEP Commissioner Dawn Gallagher, Maine has started down the right path, convening a task force of stakeholders representing Maine businesses and public interest groups with working groups focusing on major Maine contributors to our global warming problem.

Global warming is caused when certain gases, including especially emissions from burning fossil fuels in vehicles, power plants and other places, trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere. Because our oil, coal and gas use is the main cause of global warming, the solutions to reducing carbon dioxide and other global warming gases include using energy more efficiently and using more clean renewable energy sources.

The place where Maine people and businesses burn the most fossil fuels is “getting to there from here” – transportation. There are many sensible ways we can reduce this pollution now and in the future.

Because transportation needs are closely linked to land use patterns, a Transportation and Land Use Working Group, on which I serve, has been charged with identifying ways to reduce global warming emissions from that sector. In a few short months, our group has made great progress. When the Work Group meets on Thursday, we should prioritize and recommend three major options for reducing transportation emissions.

First, we should recommend adoption of state global warming tailpipe emission standards for new cars and trucks. The cars and trucks we drive are the top source of global warming pollution in the state, accounting for one-third of Maine’s emissions, nearly double the next-largest sector. Vehicles emit carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from their tailpipes and air conditioning units.

A host of technologies exist today that can reduce global warming emissions from passenger vehicles. They range from modest changes in engine design to the use of hybrid gasoline-electric engines, readily available in the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic and Insight, and soon in the Ford Escape SUV and many other models.

The hybrid cars on the road today are competitively priced, reliable and a joy to drive. Putting these technologies in cars and light trucks will save Mainers money, especially with gas prices as high as they are today.

Second, we should recommend adoption of programs and incentives that will ensure that more hybrids and other high mile-per-gallon cars and trucks are sold in Maine. This initiative would spur Maine’s market for more of these forward-looking vehicles, while adopting the emission standards, as I suggest above, would make cleaner vehicles available across the fleet.

Third, in addition to increasing Maine’s share of efficient cars and trucks to meet the global warming pollution reduction target, the Working Group should propose measures that will trim the growing number of miles driven on Maine’s highways, which has risen 70 percent between 1986 and 2002.

One cost-effective incentive that reduces the number of miles driven is “pay-as-you-drive” insurance, like that which GMAC Insurance now offers in Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, and Arizona. This approach prices insurance fairly, by giving a break to those Mainers who drive very few miles, while requiring those of us who drive more to pay for the extra risk.

Based on EPA and Federal Highway Administration estimates, “pay-as-you-drive” insurance would reduce accidents and wear-and-tear on Maine roads enough to save the state of Maine from $45 to $75 million annually.

This would more than pay for other incentive programs to reduce transportation emissions. A number of other approaches could also reduce the miles traveled on Maine’s highways, from “commuter choice” programs that give commuters alternative transit options, to policies designed to address sprawl.

Scientists have made it clear that global warming is a challenge with which we must reckon. A successful solution for reducing its causes in Maine must involve a significant commitment to reduce pollution from our transportation sector, one that will mean cleaner, more efficient vehicles and more alternatives to driving a car or a truck.

Maine’s work groups are off to a good start at identifying the policy options of the future. When the Transportation and Land Use Working Group meets today to make its final recommendations to DEP, it should take an important step toward securing Maine’s future by recommending these three important and needed policies.

Sue Jones is the energy project director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine