Override pipeline veto
I would like to urge the Senate to complete the abandonment of the filibuster, started in the last session by the “Harry Reid Democrats.”
Have Congress re-submit the TransCanada Pipeline construction bill and thereby override the expected presidential veto.
William Bartlett
Orono
Move Acadia bus stop
I am writing to call attention to the problem of client safety at the Community Connector bus stop at Acadia Hospital.The bus will not stop at the main entrance to Acadia Hospital, only at the lower entrance to the drug-dosing entrance, which nondrug users may not enter. So those of us who are simply going for appointments with doctors are required to walk the distance back to the main entrance, often on sidewalks that have not been plowed.
I am a 60-year-old woman with health problems. This is a physical danger to me and to others of my age and disability.
Getting off the bus is even more hazardous as there are no crosswalks and we are required to exit the bus and cross behind it with no visibility of oncoming traffic. There is a bus shelter at the main entrance to Acadia Hospital. That should be their first stop.
I have contacted the Bangor Area Traffic office on several occasions only to be told that they cannot stop at that kiosk — because of? They have no sufficient explanation. I propose that they cater to the largest number of methadone users at the expense of the safety of nonmethadone clinic users.
I am sick of struggling through unplowed sidewalks and whipping winds to get to my destination within the hospital. I challenge the Community Connector to consider all patients going to Acadia Hospital for treatment.
Ellen Mills
Bangor
Wood not wind for energy
I read Paul Caron’s Feb. 23 letter to the editor about the shortage of wood pellets and felt sympathy and ire. More than five-sixths of Maine is forested, and forest products are a major renewable energy source. Instead of lopping off Maine’s small mountains for wind turbines and clear cutting swaths of forest for new transmission lines and access roads, we should be harvesting wood products for use in Maine and beyond, especially as paper mills pass away.
Anyone with the new heat pumps knows that, below 20 degrees, it starts to get drafty in older houses. And, when temperatures are below zero, or the wind is whipping, you might as well be running an air conditioner. Meanwhile, wind turbines are using electricity, melting ice on blades and breaking out-of-control spinning.
Maine needs a sensible energy policy that ensures our energy security. In a state with more trees than people, it is a disgrace that a renewable energy supply such as wood pellets should be scarce.
While Maine’s forest products industry languishes, the state continues to prop up unreliable and intermittent wind power with a wind law that favors the out-of-state wind industry at the expense of Mainers. Instead, Maine should provide incentives to its forest products industry. This would keep Mainers warmer and provide much-needed relief to forest landowners and producers of wood derived fuels. Our forests, managed sustainably, are a reliable renewable energy resource.
Dana Marble
Bangor
Top notch cartoon
George Danby’s ” Separation of Powers” cartoon that ran on Feb. 28 was one of his most relevant cartoons yet. His Gov. Paul LePage caricature is top-notch, as well.
Lucas Good
Portland
Park not needed
I have been following the articles promoting a national park in the Katahdin area. It is of great interest to me when I read that the park could employ from 400 to 1,000 people. An increase like that would greatly revitalize this area.
In all reality, however, I think that there may be a small increase in the amount of hikers that frequent the park and a few more tourists will be attracted to the area. With a national park there will most likely be more restrictions in the areas around what is now just a state park.
You can’t compare a proposed Katahdin-area National Park with Acadia National Park. We can’t drive to the top of Mount Katahdin like you can Cadillac Mountain. Cruise ships cannot dock at our lakes as they can at Bar Harbor.
As the out-of-state research group says, “We have to think outside the box.” That is very true, but I think a national park is a little too far outside the box. This is already a tourist mecca with seasonal draws, those draws have been and will be here; yes, we can capitalize on that.
To bring jobs to the area, we have to utilize the product we have — wood. Somehow, we have to attract people seriously interested in developing our assets. If Roxanne Quimby, Matt Polstein and others with the funds would look down that road, maybe stuff could start happening. A legacy can still be achieved. Work with us, not against us.
Timothy Smyth
Millinocket
Penobscot warped sense
Thank you to the Penobscot River Restoration for ruining my hometown. How dare these people think that it should be the same as it was 200 years ago.
They had a water power-generating building destroyed. Granted it wasn’t operating, but it could have been. Last month, the BDN published an article about the fact that very few of the dams in the state were being used for the production of electricity, “ Maine dam survey shows wide gulf between hydropower potential and delivery” (BDN, Feb. 8).
I looked it up, and there has been a fish hatchery in Orland since the 1880s just for the saving of that blessed salmon.
To anyone who doesn’t understand or know what I am talking about, come to Howland and just look. You can already see the difference in the middle of the winter, plus the massive holes they are digging. All that land is polluted with chemicals from at least three different mills and that is supposed to be better for the river.
This is just another example of out-of-state influences, using the Native Americans’ desires to return back to the way it was, and do-gooders with a warped sense of reality.
Gary King
Howland