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Mainers understand what it means to live and work along the water. With a coastal economy supporting more than 90,000 jobs and generating nearly $7 billion a year, our state thrives on bustling ports. Our success isn’t possible without Maine’s hard-working longshoremen and women who deserve the safest working conditions. That’s why an effort in Congress to rollback the use of a clean emissions technology is concerning.
This issue is about whether or not Maine gets to decide its own port protection policies. Every state should be entitled to protect their air quality from pollutant-emitting vessels, many of which are foreign-flagged ships. If Congress strips these regulations now, the decision would undermine the tools that every coastal state needs to ensure the livelihoods of the countless fishermen, dock workers, and families who breathe that air every day.
Sen. Susan Collins has demonstrated her record of prioritizing Maine’s port and maritime infrastructure. Opposing the rollback of this technology is a chance to keep that streak going. Preserving the use of this emissions technology protects port communities, while rejecting it sends a message to foreign countries that our ports are fair game to release their ships’ toxins.
Let’s draw the line now while we still can. A vote against these attempts to dismantle such essential technology is a vote for the hard-working Mainer who depends on that clean air and port. Maine’s beautiful coastline is one of our state’s greatest assets, and I hope Collins continues to see it that way.
Daniel Allen
Buxton