A state wage
I agree Maine should increase its minimum wage. However, it should not be up to its cities and towns. If all cities and towns decided to raise their minimum wage, we might end up with a hundred or more minimum wages in the state. Let the state take action on one minimum wage for all workers no matter what businesses want to pay their workers.
Howard York
Penobscot
Strong arm leader
There is an old Yugoslavian proverb that goes, “If you wish to know what a man is, place him in a position of authority.” I’m not trying to be subtle — I’m talking about our infamous Gov. Paul LePage who seems inclined toward the exercise of strong autocratic and/or dictatorial rule. Are we, as Mainers, content to have such a strong arm leader at the helm?
Jacqueline Flood
Veazie
Silent waterways
A number of recent ecologically concerned Bangor Daily News letters imply that Mainers recognize that our finite water resources are jeopardized by industrial and agricultural run-off. Our belligerent governor repeatedly tried to impose ecologically incompetent decisions, such as encouraging the piping of highly corrosive Canadian tar-sands to South Portland by reversing the flow of an aging pipeline.
Maine’s environment deteriorated extremely during my lifetime from irresponsibility by paper mills, pollution of waterways and rampant over-development of once pristine areas. Out-of-state money and influence, encouraged by Gov. Paul LePage’s administration, leaves us with minimal environmental control.
In the 1940s and 1950s, I remember horseshoe crabs (unchanged for 230 million years), along with beavers, otters, muskrats, thousands of alewives and other wildlife, in Maine waters. Now, however, many areas have been developed or polluted and have fallen “silent.” We must not be “silent” ourselves. We need to ask Sens. Susan Collins and Angus King to push for a clean water plan. We have already lost too much. We must all work together to preserve whatever we still have for future generations. Now even the Pope is calling us to action.
Jack Hayes
Portland
Read it first
Except for Sen. Angus King, I found the initial response from the rest of the Maine delegation to the nuclear agreement struck with Iran disappointing. Our representatives spent many resources to work out this agreement. The response was nothing but partisanship. Without having read the agreement, the Democratic response was wholeheartedly in favor and the Republican response was totally against it. Only King wanted to read the document before commenting. We will not be able to make any worthwhile progress with this continued approach. We also look pretty silly to our allies, who worked hard to craft this settlement. Let’s at least read it.
Ken Huhn
Bangor
Energy subsidy facts
In his July 11 BDN OpEd, Peter Bradford criticizes recent political support for nuclear power, claiming nuclear power requires large, unfair government subsidies to be viable.
But it is important to put existing subsidies for different electric generation resources in perspective. According to the Energy Information Administration, nuclear subsidies in fiscal year 2013 were $1.66 billion (0.2 cents/kwh), coal subsidies $901 million (0.6 cents/kwh), natural gas and petroleum subsidies $690 million (0.6 cents/kwh), and renewable subsidies $11.7 billion (2.2 cents/kwh). Renewable subsidies are seven times those of nuclear.
Wind and solar subsidies are even higher at 3.5 cents/kwh and 23 cents/kwh, respectively.
Despite political issues surrounding nuclear power, including appropriate concerns for safety and waste disposal, nuclear power still provides about 20 percent of U.S. electricity. New England historically enjoyed significant success with the development of the Yankee nuclear plants in the 1960s. When Maine Yankee operated, it provided about 40 percent of Maine’s electricity with no carbon emissions and saved consumers billions of dollars.
Given its past success and with zero carbon emissions, it seems innovations in nuclear technology, particularly safety, fuel and smaller reactors better matched to loads and financial capability, should be explored.
The best policy would be no subsidies to any form of electric generation. If politicians believe subsidies are necessary, they should be provided on a fair and equitable basis to all competing electric generation alternatives. Such a policy should be welcomed by the nuclear generation industry and would be a boost to its viability.
Carroll Lee
Brewer