Social Responsibility

Our great-grandchildren will inherit the infrastructure we build today.  They will learn in the classrooms, play on the ice, progress in the offices, and heal in the hospitals.  Just as the Olympic Games celebrate humanity, so too must our infrastructure renewal.  Our legacy depends on it.  That's why we operate our companies according to sustainable economic, social, and environmental principles.

Maine Public Service Company's research and analysis indicate that its service area's economy, once heavily influenced by a significant military presence, continues to be dependent upon agricultural and forest products industries.  Potato farming, potato processing, and the manufacturing of forest products, principally lumber, plywood, and oriented-strand board, continue to be dominant economic forces within the Northern Maine service area.  Growing broccoli has added diversity to the region's agricultural economic basis.  Tourism, particularly related to snowmobiling and skiing, plays an increasing role in the area's economy.  The medical industry also represents a positive and growing economic force within the region, serving as a leading employer and job-creation sector.

The Company takes an environmentally friendly stance to capitalize on the move toward "green" energy. MPS was instrumental in facilitating the construction of a 42-megawatt wind farm, which was commissioned during 2006 in Mars Hill, Maine. Over the last two years, MAM Utility Services Group provided electrical design, construction, and project management of overhead and underground transmission lines and collector systems at Iberdrola's 24-megawatt Lempster Wind Project in New Hampshire and First Wind's 57-megawatt Stetson Wind Project in Danforth, Maine.

Data suggests that the Northern Maine economy continues to lag behind national economic trends and is experiencing population losses, based on the most recent census data and projections, particularly among the service area's youth and young adults. Attracting new businesses and jobs to Northern Maine in an effort to reverse out-migration trends is a challenge for local leaders and businesses, including MPS.

As a result of these economic challenges, MPS has taken a lead role in forming a public-private partnership for economic progress in cooperation with Northern Maine Development Commission. Managed by a private-sector investors' council, MPS and its staff are serving as private sector leaders in helping execute a rational and results-oriented economic development program. The efforts of the Aroostook Partnership for Progress are intended to increase the area's emphasis on retention and growth through improved focus and funding for economic development.

Additionally, Maine Public Service has partnered with the faculty, staff, and administrators at Northern Maine Community College to develop a wind power technology curriculum. Training wind operators and technicians to support renewable energy projects provides an excellent opportunity for students and for the new emerging businesses in our area. We are committed to the success of this important new program and are proud to join with NMCC to demonstrate that Aroostook County is leading the way in the development of alternative energy resources.

Company leaders believe the decisions being made today will benefit our shareholders in the long term. It is vitally important to maintain a stable consumer base and employee work environment, allowing the Company and other area businesses to sustain a good quality of life with diverse services.