PORTLAND, Maine - Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Carol Browner is in Portland tonight to lend her support to the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Mike Michaud, and to give a keynote address at the Maine Conservation Voters' annual celebration for the environment.
Browner, who served as the director of the White House Office of Energy and Climate Change, will discuss the need for swift action to address climate change. She says she's encouraged by what she sees happening with companies like Google, Facebook, Yahoo and Yelp dropping support of the American Legislative Exchange Council - or ALEC - because of the group's opposition toward renewable energy and denial of climate change.
"i think we're seeing a very interesting thing happening among leading companies who are saying, 'You know what? We're smart business people. we understand we have to take into account the science. We have to take in account the reality that the world is changing, and we've got to incorporate that into our business plans, and we're not going to continue to support organizations that are climate deniers,' " Browner says.
ALEC is a group that has backed dozens of bills in state legislatures to block clean energy development. Brown's keynote is scheduled to take place at 5:00 p.m. at the University of Maine's Hannaford Lecture Hall.
