by B.J. Carter
Coastal Journal staff

So you know Bruce [Hardina]?

Yeah, I know Bruce.  He says you guys might be related, but that he’s not really sure...?

We’re pretty sure that his great-grandfather was my grandfather’s brother.  I have pictures of my grandfather and William, his brother, as young boys when they had rescued a girl from the East River in New York and received life saving medals.  I still have my grandfather’s medal.  Putting some things together, we just had to come up with this idea that his great-grandfather and my grandfather were related.  The name Hardina is not very common, my grandmother always said it meant “hero” but it really means “important person.”

It’s a Czech name, isn’t it?

Yes, the Czech spelling is “Hrdina,” but when they came to Ellis Island the vowel was added.  So that was one thing, and I remember thinking as a kid, “Wow, Uncle Billy’s coming to visit,” he was coming from way away in New York, and of course that’s where Bruce’s great-grandfather was, too.

Which part of New York, Long Island?

That’s where all the Czechs settled.  For years I’d seen Bruce’s name in the paper and wondered who this guy was, but I have to admit I really wasn’t interested in finding all of my button-hole cousins, it was Bruce who made the call.

So your family is from New York?

After New York they moved to West Springfield, Mass.  Both sides of my family came to America on boats, one side came over on the Mayflower.

Let’s talk about Midcoast Energy.  You used to own it, right?

That’s right, I sold it to a few fellows who worked for me, we’d always planned to do it that way even when they were my employees.  But I stayed on, doing what I like to do - estimating, problem-solving.  When I first came here, during the oil embargo, I wanted to do something regarding energy.  For a year or two it was great, and then when Reagan was president all the rebates were ended and we got used to the price of oil and gasoline; we floated along for 25 years, until about two years ago all of a sudden it was like deja vu all over again, people started paying attention to energy.  I think people started considering going green as they watched their own “green” go “bye-bye.”

Did you find that enthusiasm for alternative energy waned on a local level during the 80s?

It waned because we got used to paying the price.  But now no one can deny that the global climate is changing and that it’s also having huge economic impacts.  I work with a group called Midcoast Green Collaborative, I was one of the geezers that started it two years ago.  We had the first energy expedition last year, we’re having another one this year.  I’m really having the time of my life.  I’m feeling as if I’m doing what I wanted to do 30 years ago.

I have a theological background in fact, I went to seminary, I was a parish pastor, taught ethics and scriptures at a Catholic college during the time of Pope John XXIII.  You probably don’t remember that.

Can’t say I do.

He was the great ecumenical pope that opened the doors of the Church, and I was one of the people that crawled through the window.  One of my students asked me how I could talk about business ethics if I’d never been in business.  That really nibbled at me until I finally decided that if I was going to have a mid-life crisis I might as well try my hand at business.  That’s when I came to Midcoast Energy, I was 40.

Where did you go to seminary?

Andover, Newton.  Everything I’ve done I’ve enjoyed.  A counselor once looked at my resume and told me I had an unstable background.  Well that’s fine, I don’t mind.  I was involved in the civil rights movement, I was involved in Vietnam protests.  All while I was still teaching at Stonehill.

At what age would you say you became politically conscious?

Very definitely during the civil rights movement, I was about 26.  I was living in southeastern Mass. just outside of Brockton.  Martin Luther King made me realize that the way to make change is through the political system.

Massachusetts was so removed from the civil rights movement.  What was the general sense of it in the community you were living in?  Did people seem aware of what was going on?

I have to say that we were all innocently wondering, “What are those people doing down there?  What do they want?”  That kind of language.  I was guilty of it too . . . it wasn’t that northerners were all that pristine, they just didn’t have a clue.  You can still find the same prejudices today.  After the march on Montgomery was turned back and James Reid, the Unitarian pastor, was beaten to death, Dr. King wanted as many clergy as possible to assemble in Selmont, so I took a plane down to Alabama.  It was hardly putting myself in harm’s way, but I just wanted to make sure I knew what was happening from then on.

It’s widely known that our federal government hasn’t done much to address global climate up to this point, so all the presidential candidates are talking about how they will address it if they are president.  Do you think the state of Maine is doing enough to make substantial changes?

Our state is doing a great deal.  Interestingly enough, if you go on the state of Maine’s website, you’ll find we’re doing some incredible things.  We’re finding that the process of going green is really good for the bottom line.  Whole new fields are opening, and I don’t think that’s something the current federal government realizes.  The nature of corporations is to keep on doing things that will make them money.  There are very few innovators.  However, as gas prices go up, a company like GM has to change.

Once you can convince people that it’s affecting their pocket books they’re more likely to take initiative.

People are changing their way of living.  They have to make choices about where their money is going, and in the process they can improve their quality of living.  People think they’re giving something up by going green, but they’re really taking something on.

When does your wife return from Florida?

She gets back on Sunday.

And she doesn’t mind flying?

She hates flying.  She always says, “I can’t believe I’m sitting in a cigar-shaped object heavier than air.  Do I believe I’m going to get there?  No, I don’t [laughs]!”  But one thing she is excited about is the rental car they gave her is a Prius. 

I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet her, tell her I said hi.