Maine’s having a hard time kicking the dirty energy habit.

In fact, a report released this week said we’ve been heading in the opposite direction and using more, not less. But that trend may be about to turn around, according to Maine Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner David Littell.

It’s not simply because we’re unwilling to pay $3.30 for a gallon of gasoline. Apparently, we are.

Littell’s optimism is based more on a deluge of clean energy projects headed this way.

Littell said his agency is bracing for more than a dozen major energy development proposals that together will represent more than $10 billion of new investment into the state. They include wind farms, natural gas terminals and new transmission lines to distribute the cleaner energy around the state and beyond.

“The direction of the markets is all in favor of clean renewables,” he said. And Maine, because of its wind patterns and other advantages, stands to become the clean energy capital of New England, according to Littell.

Along with efforts by the Legislature and state agencies, that should help put Maine on track to reduce fossil fuel use and global warming pollution pretty much as promised, he said.

The report issued Wednesday by environmental groups found that Maine’s emissions increased two percent from 2001 to 2005, despite a pledge to return to 1990 levels by 2010 and cut emissions 10 percent below that by 2020.

It’s hard to imagine reaching those goals at the current pace, said Dylan Voorhees of the Natural Resources Council of Maine, which released the report along with Environment Maine. It’s even harder to imagine cutting emissions by 80 percent by 2050, a goal scientists say is necessary to avoid the most severe effects of a warming climate.

“If we were (on track to meet the short-term goals), then I think we could be more confident that we could handle this thing,” Voorhees said.

Yes, Littell said, the state will probably miss the 2010 goal, although not by much.

And he agreed with the report that Maine, in the long run, won’t be able to do its part to slow global warming until it tackles our greatest addiction – cars and trucks. “We still have a substantial amount of work to get done.”

But, Littell said, Maine is on track to meet its longer term goals.

The governor and Legislature have taken dozens of steps to chip away at global warming emissions. They range from a regional pact to cut power plant pollution to an ongoing effort – now headed to federal court – to mandate cleaner cars and trucks. And lawmakers are considering more, such as a ban on truck idling and creation of the state’s first energy efficiency standards for new homes.

But it’s the marketplace that’s fueling a lot of the state’s confidence right now.

Not all of the clean energy projects in the pipeline are sure things. The economic downturn, as well as controversies over local impacts, will likely weed out some projects.

But big investments, especially in wind power and transmission lines, will shift Maine and the rest of New England to cleaner electricity, according to Littell. Slow but steady.

“We’ll be there in 2020,” he said.

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