John Martin is already driling about three stands off bottom. He's not a pimple on the backside of a first trip roustabout and wouldn't know a drillship from a potato harvester. Martin is exactly the sort of pollution we'd ought to be protecting our coastline from. What a tosser.

Drill Here & Now! If John Martin doesn't like it, he should give us all a break from his BS and stay up north. Isn't it time for him to retire yet?

This would br the same John Martin that helped the state into the state it is now i? Yeah - wanna hear his opinion on anything...

His preference is wind power? God knows there's plenty of wind in Disgusts these days. Oh - and maybe we could have a developemental initiative on the flatus-powered bedside reading lamp. Heck, we have plenty of bean suppahs in the state to power em.

Getting ready to light off the flare boom on the stern of the Drill ship i'm working on in NIGERIA. And i live in Maine. John go eat another potato you idiot. John did you have anything to do with the failed LNG projects. Or did the less informed fisherman in Maine line your pockets with cash just like ever other politican. Why don't you harness you energy to create jobs for Maine people instead of sending them to other states. Man the people of eagle lake should be imbarresed to have voted for this prick. Kelly down driller.

What ever happened to drill baby drill? Mainers are pathetic. They cry about oil and gas prices but don't want any drilling in their front yard.

This person should not have the right to decide this, the problem is all these whiners who want everything against the law are empowering politicans to make choices for us and that is wrong. Then again all these anti-smokers wouldn't want drilling because burning gas and oil creates smoke, still it should go out for a vote.

Wind power is great. Too bad the energy produced is being shipped out of State and country. We need to ensure Mainers benefit from the power generaated within our borders. Senator Martin, do something really useful and craft legislation that helps keep our energy here in Maine.

And you wonder why we depend on foreign oil.

If your logic is that all electriciy produced in Maine should be used here, then the same logic would have all potatoes grown here eaten here. Stop thinking so small. It'a a global economy whether you like it or not. We need to think way bigger than we have in the past. Besides - if we hadda eat all the potatoes we grow the average weight of a Mainer would be even higher than it is now!

Now the cost of the electricity we use here should clearly be less if we have a net surplus. Isn't the PUC supposed to be watching that part of the equation?

So the Martin wants to eliminate oil drilling but is okay with wind power. What a screwball!! Imagine a bunch of windmills in the Gulf of Maine with ultra high voltage (thousands of volts DC) laying on the ocean bed running to shore. We KNOW that oil rigs are safe and people know how to keep them that way. We THINK some people are affected by living under high voltage power lines. So what about the lobsters and scallops and fish hanging around these high voltage wires and what about the poor fiisherman who snags one? This is a solvable problem or maybe a non-problem. But if it looks like someone will want to build some widmills, you can be sure there will be opposition from the usual suspects on that basis. And windbag egotists like Martin will be there to grab a headline opposing even that.

I don't think we have permission to drill in the USA, we need UN permission, I think. Besides,Our friends: Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Equador, Saudi Arabia, U.A.E., and China might get mad and stop selling to us! And, Maine doesn't have enough workers to take all the very high paying jobs created when the oil fields are tapped. Theres no sense even thinking about it! A welfare check and food stamps seems to be the logical answer.

Oops, I forgot the home heating allowance.

I wrote about the first meeting of the Ocean Energy Task Force here:

http://www.turnmaineblue.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=2159

The website for the OETF can be found here:

http://www.maine.gov/spo/specialprojects/OETF/index.htm

What is so precious about the gulf of Maine? There aren't any fish left swimming. Nova Scotia drills and they have a far better fishery and management program than Maine. Mr Martin has probably never seen the ocean - it's a long way from the northern jungle he inhabits.

I think the only thing Martin knows about driling is what it means to circulate bottoms up and back ream before every connection. I'm pretty sure his lower annular won't close without pipe in the hole.

Wow, this guy seems to be at the wrong end of the state! Like a caribou in Portland. Are these the same people who want to tax water because they think Poland Spring is going to suck it all out? And give out free health care as long as you don't work? And think wind power is great as long as it's somewhere else? And mandate that lobster/fish folks throw all their floating rope away and buy that convenient sinking kind? You know nothing surprises me around here anymore...

As far as I know John Martin Has been hanging around Augusta with the rest of the IDIOTS for years now. Time to retire all of them , and send them to Florida where they belong. They have got us all in a big hole , especially up here in the COUNTY.

maybe he should ride from eagle lake to augusta on his wind and not use the gas to power his vehicle.

Go back up north and hug a tree if there are any left.

maybe we should ban tree cutting and wipe his ass with a plastic bag from shaw`s, but doesn`t that take oil by-prducts

Inland:

I didn't suggest all wind power energy remain in Maine, but enough to spur economic development, heat people's homes and keep plants from closing due to energy costs. I suggest we dust off the Tennessee Valley Authority model for Maine. The TVA brought prosperity to the South and is now financially, self supporting. The only difference in the model would be to force the energy entity to go private once it is self supporting, unlike the TVA that remains a quasi public entity. And no, I don't think all potatoes should be consumed by Mainers.

John Martin is another misinformed person about offshore drilling. Maybe he should get in touch with many of us in Maine that are involved with this work and ask of of the risks. I have been all over the world on offshore drilling rig and have had they in some of the most environemently sentive areas in the world and have not seen the damage that Mr. Martin reference to. Oil rig work in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and have not effected their coast line in the least. They also benefit from the wealth of jobs and money that this drilling would bring. this drilling not only brings offshore jobs but service and land based jobs with it. These comapnies will need offices, helicopters, work boats, food and medical services, equipment supplies, electrical suppliers and service companies to help maintantain these rigs. Offshore jobs pay very well I payed $110 dollars an hour for electricains and welder in Dutch Harbor Alaska last year to work on a Drillship. I am paying as much as a $1000 a day for workers in the Gulf of Mexico right now. But why would we want this kind of money to follow into our state.

Mr. Martin feel free to contact me at yankee04462@yahoo.com. I am a Rig Maintenance Supervisor for an offshore drilling company, and I can put you intouch with many other people from Maine that work in the Offshore oil fields of the world. My brother and I both do this for a living and live in Millinocket area. Maybe instead of banding it we should form a panel of people and explore the impact and benefits.

Comnsenz:

Maine currently has more electrical generating capacity than we use. Part of any increase in supply will be a need to increase demand, and that will take some will to get us to stop using fossil fuels so much. For example, as I learned at the first OETF meeting, only 1/5 of the energy contained in the gasoline burned in the average car is used to propel it; only 3/5 of the energy in oil or natural gas is used to generate electricity in the average power plant - the rest is wasted.

Simply switching to electric propelled vehicles increases the use of fuel by 200%.

A TVA type project (not involving dams but instead offshore wind and tidal power) would be great for Maine. This is what the OETF is looking into, and I recommend checking out their website and following (and perhaps attending) their future meetings.

Yankee04462 - well put. Offshore Tech at MMA?

For automobiles,Earth friendly whale oil and seal blubber oil is the answer. In this new green fueled car, you only have to replace your cabuerator with a blubberator and you are "good to go".

What happens when a State no longer has working citizens to pay the taxes so others can live on welfare and Government jobs? It seems to me this State is getting closer and closer to that end, when in fact, we should be drilling, building wind farms, erecting LNG's, and bringing in any and all business's to this State so our children will stay put. Instead we have more idiots like John Martin and more environmentalists like Quimby, who doesn't even live here (and moved her business to another State when she had to employee people!), ruining the State and the State's economy. I'm tired of making one third the salary for the same job as in other States. Maine doesn't need to be poor, it CHOOSES to be poor when they continue to elect politicians like John Martin and allow bills like he is purposing to go through.

I'm more then willing to let them drill, put up windfarms, or build LNG plants in front of my ocean front home! Then maybe I wouldn't have to travel so far to see my children and grandchildren.

I do not think you should drill in Maine. It is a beautiful state and lots of tourism would be lost. Also the lobster industry could be harmed and the lobsterman are already having a hard time.

New Brunswick is considering a 2nd nuke plant - why don't we just suck off them? If the price gets too high, we do need to understand what our other options are, and the lead times in implementing.

Skierdude149 - so California isn't beautiful and all their tourism has been lost due to offshore drilling? And Alaska? And Texas? And, like, Nova Scotia? If that's the case, I'm with you, man.

skierdude149: Does it really make sense to keep minimum wage jobs, which makes up 95% of the tourist industry, rather than jobs that actually pay a good wage (oil rigs, wind power, and LNG's) just so you can have tourists? And, are you so nieve as to think it is going to hurt lobsters or lobster fishermen? Considering they are only getting about $2.50 a lobster right now, I don't think their industry can be hurt more than it already is. But you have proven my earlier statement that people like yourself CHOOSE to remain poor.

Gerald:

Thanks for the tip. I am pasting the OETF front page below. The goal outlines for OETF are fine, but I hope that there is meanigful congressional delegation representation on the task force. A TVA approach to Maine's energy needs will likely need strong federal support, initially.

Ocean Energy Task Force

By Executive Order 20 FY 08/09, dated November 7, 2008, Governor Baldacci established the Ocean Energy Task Force. The primary mission of the Task Force is to recommend strategies to:

Meet or exceed the goals established in the Maine Wind Energy Act, Title 35-A, section 3404(2)(B), to install at least 2,000 megawatts of wind capacity by 2015 and at least 3,000 megawatts by 2020, 300 of which could be located in coastal waters. The Task Force shall identify potential economic, technical, regulatory, and other obstacles to development of grid-scale offshore wind resources in Maine and federal coastal waters, and recommend solutions to overcome those obstacles;

Promote research and testing to facilitate siting of offshore wind energy facilities;

Foster in-state growth of diverse wind and other alternative energy related businesses;

Encourage ocean-based tidal and wave energy development where appropriate;

Update information regarding offshore oil and natural gas resources and evaluate federal initiatives regarding oil and natural gas exploration and development in the Outer Continental Shelf; and

Overcome any state laws or policies that might serve as obstacles to vigorous and expeditious environmentally responsible development of grid-scale wind and tidal energy generation facilities in Maine’s coastal waters and adjoining federal waters in a manner that generates significant benefits for Maine people.

Well drilling is going on all over the world and in some of the most sesitive envoronments. There are rig drilling off the norther coast of Austrailia in reef areas that are more protected than the Great barrier reef. There is many rigs in the north sea drilling and their is no major effect on their fisheries. Maybe Mr Martin should worry about protecting the north Maine woods and push the rest of the forest products industry out of Maine. I work for a drilling company that is possed to due the offshore drilling in the Artic of Alaaska. We are buliding ships that are specifically designed for this use. They have no discharge and even the amount of heat that will be put back into the artic water from cooling their engines in considered. There engines have to reach emissions standard that are very strict. We are reguire to marine mammal observes to protect whales and marine life. Mr. Martin must watch to much of the Discovery channel, offshore drilling is nothing like the show Black Gold. We that do this are very much professional and take what we do very serious.

I agree with John Martin on this. Do not allow off-shore drilling off the coast of Me - unless of course, you want us to look like Galveston, Texas!

If you think that allowing drilling off the coast of Maine is going to take the cost of your fuel down - you are living in a fool's world. It wouldn't have an impace for at least 10 years - and then might be all of 3 cents per gallon. Do your homework people, before you start yelling for off-shore drilling. And, remember, none of those LNG projects would have helped Maine. The truth is that we have such a glut of natural gas in the US that 6 of the big LNG terminals in the US have asked for licensing to EXPORT the LNG they are presently importing - as they will get twice as many dollars for export than they are paying for import.

Nanlis

As a county resident: What a maroon! Just another ridiculous Hill-Jack from the woods of Northern Maine! God forbid the creation of jobs! The production of Oil so tha tmore can afford not to be on LIHEAP! That s allright John, I'll just pay more taxes you tard! The production of Oil would give you greedy fools in Augusta something other to tax rather than me! Alternative energy is not going to happen in the near future! I already tried the alternativeenergy thing with a pellet stove and got to see how that all works with the gouging that has taken place this year! Folk, if you haven't heard last year I could get pellets and this year had to beg and then pay $100 bucks more a ton! Back to burnin' oil as right now oil is cheaper than my pellets!!!! So what am I getting at here?! The working class can't afford to switch over to "Alternative Fuel"!

DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW! Want to do it in my back yard instead of the ocean where no one will even notice... GO AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All I can say is, Maine, Keep voting for the same!!!! The Potato Heads up here in the County will certainly do so since we are al related in one way or another! Otherwise we are from AWAY and are only out to ruin the way it has been done since time began!

Go for it Baldacci! Take up the ban as your next project of lunacy and keep pounding the people of Maine till they have to leave because it hurts too much to stay!

FOOLS!

The MHPC Digital Library has a great report about this topic called "The Truth About Oil and Gasoline," by Denise McCourt, at

http://www.mainepolicy.org/library/resources/125.pdf

She presented this information at a great MHPC luncheon on 18 December 2008, and it's too bad John Martin missed it. He could certainly use this kind of an education! Drilling in Maine is a good idea that would create good jobs for us.

John Martin has a legacy that is in line with his latest action; out of touch, self centered, headline creating and bordering on moronic.

Why should we surprised.

He and 'his boys' need to get back to what he does best-----.

What, so it's ok to drill off Galveston but not off the coast of Maine? It's always NIMBY and it's always this specious tripe about the difference it will make in fuel prices 10 years from now. I don't know what dimension Nance lives in but time passes pretty darned fast in mine and the more domestic oil we produce, the less we have to buy from counties that love our money but despise our culture. Let's bring in a Discoverer Clear Leader or West Sirius and find out what we have out there - if it's not commerically viable, Martin and Nance will have nothing to worry about. If there's oil or gas, energy revenues will balance our ineptly managed state budget, many of us will find work offshore, and Martin can pick up off bottom and circulate. BTW, Nance, most of us actually do the homework - if we didn't, Maine would be a national park.

Well said 'MiloCrabtree' ; I would be very surprised if ' a national park' is not Martin's and [many] others [somewhat] hidden agenda--

How else do you explain what Augusta does ?

We should be exploring all possibilities when it comes to energy. I agree with MiloCrabtree. You always hear people saying Not In My Backyard and that it will take so long for any results to be seen. Well the longer we wait the longer it WILL take for results to be seen. If the Clinton admin. had had us drilling back then we would be seeing the results already. But they let the enviromentilist get the best of them. Instead of introducing bills to ban stuff, why don't we have bills that would keep the benefits here and send the excess out of state. I saw one post about the glut of natural gas in the U.S. Well we can't get any NG here in Guilford. So until everyone has a chance to benefit then there isn't any glut.

I'd rather downeast Maine look like Galveston Tx than an abandoned waste land. I really don't care if it brings the cost of my fuel down, as long as it creates jobs. I'd also rather send as little money as possible to the mid-east. As far as this stupid "won't have an impact for ten years" crap, so the hell what? If you don't do it, it will NEVER have an impact. Is everything with you instant gratificatin NancyLynn?

Martin's suggestion is just another ploy from a politician who has nothing better to do...first question is why is he still in office when we got a term limit passed years ago becuase of ballot scam he was involved with.... Second question is why is he proposing this when he does not even represent the coast...is he the governor? Third question is many other states have off shore drilling and it does not seem to be an issue...If Martin felt he could get the income to support the one employer in Eagle Lake, he would be in favor of drilling..

This is such crap and these decisions should be part of a national energy policy...even if a company could drill off Maine shores , they would not because the high taxes in Maine and poor mgt of our gov't would scare them off..

Typical Maine. Anytime someone proposes legimate business to our state, a PRO-ductive business it is immediately refused. Casino's, eateries, stores are all consumer businesses. All ready Hollywood Slots has had lay-off's and they have cut hours for employees. Because there isn't the resourse to blow on gambling. We need businesses in Maine that produce resourses, not simply consume them! Yes, the coast is beautiful. There can be safe guards and I am sure there is technology that will keep the coast safe. Someone wants to build wind-power farms, green and safe, idiots stand up and scream that it doesn't look good. Neither does poverty! Neither does black smoke! Martin get a life, we need businesses in Maine. Environmentals I agree we have to protect our natural resources. However, you fight and block every attempt for buisness to come to Maine. I guess it's time for you to stand up and do your patriotic duty to pay our salaries, healthcare, and our everyday needs. Let business come to Maine, maybe then we won't have to move out. Maybe then we will be Americans and not the puppets of Saudi Arabia.

getreal.. well said.!!!!!!..

Did any of you drilling guys take Offshore Tech at the Academy? Drilling rules, baby, and Martin should be kissing the backsides of every drilling hand flying into BIA or Portland after a long hitch offshore for bringing their wages back to support this welfare state. Stevie Wonder could see that the overwhelming majority of responses to this article favor drilling. I've an idea that when this recession finally ends, the world economy will ramp up and the cheap gasoline we now enjoy will evaporate like Martin's term limits. Then we'll see how popular it is for that tosser from Eagle Lake to ban drilling off Maine's pristine coastline.

SethFortier:

The ban on offshore drilling was passed by Congress in 1981, and was affirmed in 1990 by an executive order signed by GHW Bush. Clinton had nothing to do with this one.

Advocates for drill now, drill anywhere, do not believe in peak oil. If they did, they would understand that using oil as we do today will deplete a resource much faster than is necessary, and leave our children in a much worse state. Using fossil fuels to propel automobiles, for example, is simply stupid - electricity is the much better energy for the task. How to generate that electricity is the question, and again fossil fuels fall short - even coal.

Actually, coal does not fall short when it comes to power generation - over half the electricity generated in the U.S. comes from coal-fired power stations. America holds roughly 27% of the world's coal reserves and that's enough to meet our power requirements for the next 200 to 250 years. One hopes that your dismissal of coal for power generation is not based on that fairy tale known as anthropogenic global warming because a decade of global cooling will soon shoot that theory right in the old jet fighter. I can't speak for other drilling advocates but I'm fully cognizant of peak oil and feel certain that we must drill to postpone that peak until sufficient new coal-fired and nuclear power stations can be built. Driling is finding oil which is quite a bit different than consuming it.

MiloCrabtree:

I know that coal is used to provide roughly half of the electricity used in the U.S. (although almost none used here in Maine). My comment was about the efficiency of such a fuel to produce electricity. One must look at the CO2 emissions from coal use as well.

In any case, our future lies in using electricity whenever possible, and so generation of that power is paramount, and doing it renewably (and thus cleanly) is the key. Fossil fuels do not have a place in that future, as the are not renewable by their very nature.

Obviously, until renewable sources come online, coal will play a part - and as we switch to more electric appliances, vehicles, heating sources for homes, etc. - it will play an important part.

Crabetree and yankee04462:

You guys must be MMA grads along with the other 6 people that are on the same rig i'm on and we all took offshore tech and live in Maine. I really wonder if John knows how many people that live in the state actually work offshore. Funny about lobsterman, we have an ex Lobsterman on here that is now a Sub Sea Engineer. So they all can be trained there not all stupid.

I think a drill ship should be poistion right off Rockland so I can take my 15 foot peeeee-roe to work. At least Blue peter would agree along with all of us MMA hands that are out in the "oil patch". Mr. Martin must not have been a good worm and got run off the only real job he has ever had. Time for a bottom blow mr martin. I think your EZSV packer has sprung a leak. I think his TIW valve is shut. All you MMA guys are picking what i'm laying down. This isn't about future savings at the pump. This is about JOBS that are leaving the state. What about Cainbro and the rigs that they finished in Portland. They knew there was a good workforce here. So don't tell me there isn't enought peolpe in the state to do these types of jobs. Kelly down driller.

I"m sure Gray Wolf would love to put a land rig right on Martin front lawn.

It would rank right up there with doing away with the Low Pressure Boiler License in this State. Many people lost their jobs and now custodians monitor the boilers in your childrens schools. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy dosen't it?????

God help us as we keep voting in the same old dead wood to serve the people of this state. Send Martin a letter and let him know how you feel or sit there and take it. We should be drilling for oil and gas where it is deemed sound by trained individuals, looking for a place for a nuke plant, giving tax breaks to the people who install wind generators on their private property, and connecting the power grid between the southern and northern states of maine. Tell Martin if he is looking to grand stand to the elite or the green crowd, he is in the wrong State. We either stand together or we hang seperatly

The days are growing short to when a decision must be made

We're not using our electricity up here because we cant afford to use it .

We dont want John Martin up north thats why we sent him to Augusta to be with his own kind.

Peter Vigue for gove-nah.