Gov. LePage should use the power of his office to lift up the people of Maine and bring us together to make Maine “the way life should be.”

Instead, LePage pits Mainers against each other with falsehoods, name calling and statements like this: “The Natural Resources Council of Maine is fiercely opposed to any economic activity that would provide good-paying career jobs for rural Mainers who are desperate for employment.”

In fact, LePage is the biggest enemy to economic development our state has ever seen. In 2013, LePage pulled a political maneuver that nullified an agreement with Statoil and stalled the development of offshore wind in the Gulf of Maine.

There is enough potential wind energy off the coast of Maine to provide electricity to our entire state, all of New England and upstate New York, which is why the Gulf of Maine is known as the “Saudi Arabia of wind.”

At the May 2013 launching of the VolturnUS (a one-eighth-scale offshore wind turbine designed at the University of Maine), Sen. Susan Collins predicted that 20,000 high-tech jobs would be created over the course of the project. Sen. Angus King said that offshore wind development in Maine would be what shipbuilding was 100 years ago. Peter Vigue, CEO of Cianbro, said that Maine people designed and built the VolturnUS project “that will drive our economy.”

LePage does not understand the value of the natural resources that Maine is known for and that Mainers rely on. The future of Maine and the livelihoods of many Mainers depend on healthy natural resources.

The NRCM is an organization of Mainers working to protect our waters, focused on a clean energy future, conserving Maine’s woods and wildlife, stopping toxic pollution and listening to Mainers’ concerns to make sure that Maine truly is the way life should be.

Gus Goodwin

Portland