Driving to the Poor House: How Maine Became One of the Poor States

Maine is one of the most car dependent states in the country. With about 1.1 Million cars, and an average cost of $8700 per year according to AAA, our total spending on cars is around $10 Billion per year! This wouldn't be so bad if we made some of the cars here, or if we had oil wells and refineries to produce the needed fuel; but we don't. In effect, every car in Maine is imported, along with all the fuel to run them. The end result is that about 85% of our spending on cars is lost from Maine's economy, roughly $8.5 Billion per year, or $1 Million per week from each of our 151 House Districts! Does your State Representaive know about this huge problem? Come find out what state and local governments can do to cut this huge economic loss, at little or no cost, and keep more of our hard earned money here in Maine.

Our speaker, Bill Basford, is a retired energy engineer who worked with Efficiency Maine, Green Mountain Power in Vermont, and the U.S. Navy, among others. He has devoted some of his time since retirement to studying the huge economic drain caused by high automobile dependence in Maine. He will outline the huge economic losses due to automobile dependence, and recommend several low cost approaches that state and local governments can use to make it easier to live here with far fewer automobiles.

Presented by the Sustain Mid Maine Coalition.