The governors of Massachusetts and Rhode Island have expressed reservations about making such a break.īut the debate has renewed musings about why, exactly, this part of the country is part of a time zone that may better serve cities to its west, and whether the region ought to boldly step away from its neighbors - maybe even on principle. Even if state legislatures passed these bills - and, so far, only New Hampshire’s House has - it would require either a regulatory action by the federal Department of Transportation, or an act of Congress. Virgin Islands and parts of Canada including Nova Scotia are on Atlantic Standard Time now.Įxperts say the plan seems unlikely to come to fruition. “When you look at the geography, we certainly line up more with the Atlantic time zone,” Ms. The Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Me. She is chairwoman of the state’s commission, which has a major public hearing this week. “Our markets and our businesses would be operating ahead of New York I don’t know how they’d like that,” State Senator Eileen M. The states have not coordinated, but in New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Maine, proposals have been filed that could open the possibility for such a change, at the very least, if their powerful neighbor - home to Boston, an economic driver - does. Last year, Massachusetts created a commission to study the question. The efforts to join Atlantic Standard Time would mean that, for about four months out of the year, some New England states would be an hour ahead of the rest of the Eastern time zone. “If New York wants to join us on permanent Atlantic time: Come in, the water’s fine.” “We are a distinct region of the country,” said Tom Emswiler, a health care administrator in Boston who is part of a dedicated smattering of New Englanders pushing for the change. But as the clocks once again were nudged ahead to daylight saving time in many parts of the nation over the weekend, foes of turning the clocks back in the first place saw a glimmer of hope in New England. “It was very nice to get out in the afternoon and still have an hour or two of daylight.”Ĭhanging the clocks brings grumbles around the country, and especially here, in the nation’s Easternmost region, where “falling back” in the wintertime means sunsets as early as 4 p.m. “We have such short days,” said Sumner Fernald Richards III, the owner. That year, he kept his shop on daylight saving time all winter. Several years ago, the owner of a sandwich shop on the main drag here grew so tired of turning the clocks back in the fall - and witnessing the early sunsets that followed - that he simply decided not to. should be regional.” Legislation to make the switch was proposed in 2018 but not yet acted on.ĭAMARISCOTTA, Me. Update: A special commission in Massachusetts voted in 2017 to endorse a report that said switching to year-round Daylight Saving Time “could have positive benefits,” but added, among other qualifiers, “any move to year-round D.S.T.
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