I strongly agree with your recent editorial in support of wind power and the Maine PUC’s approval of the opportunity for Emera to invest in Maine and the wind projects.

It is remarkable to me that opposition to wind seems to be from people who don’t want their views obstructed.

Additional Photos

A letter writer says protecting a view isn’t a good enough reason to oppose the kind of clean energy that wind projects provide. 2005 Associated Press File

I mean no disrespect to anyone who enjoys a beautiful landscape, but humans are in the middle of an environmental crisis because of the self-serving decisions we have made during our time on earth.

Protecting a view isn’t a good enough reason to oppose the kind of clean energy that will help our country end its environmentally destructive dependence on fossil fuels.

Plus, I think windmills are beautiful and so do a lot of people.

It’s time Maine put some real muscle behind its efforts to diversify the state’s energy production by investing in clean renewable energy forms like wind, tidal and solar.

The PUC was right to encourage this kind of private investment.

Kevin Walker

Norridgewock

EPA’s proposed emission standards will help everyone

I am writing in support of the EPA’s new proposed carbon emissions standard for new power plants.

This ruling makes strong common sense and will help the health of all Americans.  

Power plants are the largest carbon polluters in the United States so we need to keep these rules on track.

At present, there are no national standards on how much pollution power plants can emit.

Half of our U.S. population already suffers from air pollution that is dangerous to health.

Maine has the highest rate of childhood asthma in the country because Maine is downwind from hundreds of polluting power plants.

In addition, the shrinking of the polar ice pack and warnings from NASA scientists make global warming threats a reality that will increase and become a lifelong concern for generations.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Maine just had the warmest 12-month stretch on record.

This past winter, Portland received half of its usual snowfall.

The lack of snow and ice this winter had a direct negative impact on Maine’s tourism and the outdoor recreation economy.

These new carbon emissions standards will apply only to newly built power plants.

They will not affect power plants that have already been constructed.  

There are those who will try to roll back these new standards.

  I strongly urge all readers to take into account the health of the country, the climate and the air that we all breathe and to support the EPA’s new carbon standard for power plants.

I hope Maine’s congressional delegation will do the same.

David Witherill

Cumberland

Collins’ Secret Service comment gender typecasting

Sen. Susan Collins recently suggested that having more female Secret Service agents might have prevented the episode in Colombia.

This comment insults both genders.

Does she really believe that men need women colleagues to prevent them from pursuing scandalous behavior?

Are women responsible for ensuring that men act honorably?

In other words, without women around, boys will be boys?

I thought we were well past such gender typecasting.

Elizabeth Miller

Portland

Divided country should join to work on food safety

As divided as this country is today, one would think that there would be at least one issue out there where we could set aside our differences.

How about food safety?

For the most obvious reason, because no matter how you label yourself politically, we all have the common requirement to eat. That is why some governor’s behavior recently is worth noting.

By now you’ve heard of pink slime. It’s the beef biproduct once deemed only good enough for the pet food makers. It is treated with ammonia (the stuff is rife with bacteria) then packaged as “lean, finely textured beef” and sold to the American public.

Logic would allow that every health conscious American regardless of political persuasion would be against chemically treated mystery meat being sold to us at full price. Yet the controversy had barely begun when three governors including former presidential candidates Rick Perry, R-Texas, and Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, and two lieutenant governors were at plants that make pink slime chowing down for the cameras on the beef biproduct. They said any apprehension the public might have is “unnecessary panic among consumers.”

To clarify, in the humble opinions of those governors, any American who dares question what it is he or she is eating is “unnecessarily panicking.” Just go on consuming, ask no questions and pay no attention to what goes on behind the curtain. Just keep consuming. Never stop consuming. To do otherwise is un-American.

Thankfully, there is an awakening in this country regarding our food and where it comes from. As this trend continues we’ll hopefully continue to see some real panic from the factory food producers that brought us pink slime and the slime-covered politicians they bankroll.

Jeremy Smith

Old Orchard Beach

Passing Buffett rule would force lawmakers to pay

It’s easy to understand why the Buffett rule hasn’t passed in Congress. Fifty percent of the members would have to pay higher taxes!

R.E. Marsh

Sanford

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