Maine needs clean energy
I was yet again disappointed in Gov. Paul LePage with his recent attacks on the Natural Resource Council of Maine.
LePage has shot down proposals to expand the availability of solar power to small producers, including vetoing the most recent bill that promised to expand jobs in this sector. This is despite his consistent advocacy for more job opportunities. Because of this veto, LePage has not only prevented the creation of new jobs but also has jeopardized many existing jobs in this industry.
These inconsistencies are disturbing because of the blatant disregard for the economic benefits available by transitioning to renewable sources of energy. The impending federally mandated Clean Power Plan, limiting carbon pollution from power plants, makes it all the more essential that Maine develop a plan to develop clean energy alternatives. Unless we reduce our dependence on harmful sources of energy, we will be left behind.
Thanks to LePage’s recent actions, Maine is falling behind other states in the region when it comes to solar power because of the lack of legislative support. We do have the opportunity to develop renewable energies while supporting growth. The University of Maine is in line to receive a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for the development and production of offshore floating wind farms. Should this go ahead, Maine could become the center for this new technology.
I hope that partisan division going forward does not get in the way of what is best for Maine and the earth.
Gwyneth Roberts
Cape Elizabeth
Dangerous drivers
The signs are up. The workers are there. But, sadly, most drivers do not obey the highway or road construction signs to reduce their speed. Workers’ lives are in jeopardy daily as drivers in speeding vehicles wind their way past the workers.
These workers are somebody’s husband, son, grandson or brother. The workers are valued and loved, so please, drivers, slow down when driving in construction zones. For those who do obey the signs to reduce speed in construction zones, it is often scary to see a spending vehicle fast approaching in the rear-view mirror.
It could be a huge money maker for Maine if police departments posted a camera in work zones, such as at Interstate 95 in Bangor and Fairfield, for the purpose of catching speeders. Click it and send them a ticket. We could save lives and make money.
Patsy Husson
Hampden
Referendum not about taking guns
An Act To Require Background Checks for Gun Sale will appear on the November ballot. It reads: “Do you want to change Maine law to require background checks prior to the transfer of firearms between individuals, with some exceptions for certain circumstances?”
This is all we are asking: not to take away guns, not to stop hunting, nothing else. In the light of the mass shootings that continue in our country on a sickeningly regular basis, please vote yes.
Krista Watson
Bangor
Ranked-choice voting right for Maine
In response to Gordon Weil’s June 11 BDN blog post, I always have believed in the fundamental principle that democracy is best served when majority votes (50.1 percent) produce winners, and ranked-choice voting does that.
Weil seems to imply that ranked-choice voting came out of a spiteful reaction to the elections in which less than half of voters chose our current governor. Not true. The League of Women Voters of Maine, the principal backers, first studied election reform after the re-election of Gov. John Baldacci in 2006, when he garnered 38 percent of the vote. Since then, a bill for ranked-choice voting has been presented to the Legislature in almost every session.
Ranked-choice voting is just plain simple, and when there are multiple candidates, it works really well. I make my first, second and third choices, and if my first choice candidate is eliminated, my second choice vote is applied. My vote is never wasted. Weil says “the winner could be everybody’s second choice and nobody’s first choice.” Not true at all. No candidate can win without first place votes.
Lastly, let’s get voting done on one day and not drag it out with other runoff elections, in which voters don’t turn out or are not even aware of an election. Our deployed, active military service members rarely get more than one chance to vote and are especially well served by ranked-choice voting. A number of cities across the country already use it. So, why not, “one day, one vote and done.”
Donald Fellows
Lisbon
Raise awareness of gun violence
A June 13 article from Vox News pointed out that on the day of the massacre in Orlando, Florida, there were 42 other shootings across the United States. If, along with the homeless count, the BDN publishes a weekly listing of the number of shootings and resultant deaths, would this help raise awareness about gun violence in the U.S.?
Bruce Burnham
Old Town
Ballot question misleading
I am a lifelong resident of Bangor. I was discouraged with the language on the ballot article for the funding of K-12 education when I voted last week. The article was potentially misleading for voters. It asked whether voters approved the budget “already approved” by the city and then stated that “if you vote yes K-12 will be funded. If you vote no K-12 will not be funded.” This was misleading, in my opinion. The truth is that if voters rejected the article, there would be eventually be another budget submitted to vote on.
I support our schools and have no standing position on whether the school budget was appropriate. But I do have a standing issue with that language being submitted and approved. It is important that our public administrators, who are charged with submitting and approving the language, create an article that fairly frames the issue. That is their solemn duty. It is an affront to democracy to submit one that is not fairly stated. The city should investigate how such unfair framing of the issue came to be.
Charles Cox
Bangor