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As the 40-year-old parent of a young child, I want there to be an environment conducive to stable civilization on this planet when she is grown. Some things we cannot control, but continuing to treat the atmosphere as an endless aerial sewer by burning fossil fuels is one thing we can. I think building offshore wind capacity — indeed, building all available renewable energy capacity as quickly as possible — is non-negotiable if we are to have any hope of maintaining a stable civilization and a human-friendly climate. How many summers must we choke on the ashes of Canada and Oregon before we accept that fact?
The benefits of such projects would include a strong economy independent of foreign fuel, adding thousands of good-paying jobs that cannot be outsourced or offshored and permanently stabilizing the price of home and business electricity — all with technological processes developed at the University of Maine. The jobs brought by these energy projects and their ongoing industries would not only allow our children to stay in Maine without having to choose poverty, but would attract young people with strong, practical skill sets to resettle in our demographically distressed state. I think the incredible benefit these projects would bring to Searsport and all of Maine, even without their utter necessity, brings to mind the old activist joke “… but what if they’re wrong, and we’ve made a better world for nothing?”
Anything less would willfully sacrifice our children on the altar of capital, and neither they nor history will ever forgive us.
Celine Kelley
Searsport