I have read and listened to the current wind power debate with great interest and pride. It is wonderful to live in a state where participation in such a public debate is so dynamic.

I do not support people in this state suffering to ensure “iffy” production of what may be a very unreliable source of energy. I read with great trepidation the discussion of a vast wind farm off the coast of Maine. The environment!

I do support the experimentation now being undertaken by the federal government in the Western states. I support the forward thrust and expenditure of resources and further exploration of a new generation of solar panels and microchips, and then adaptation to less productive climates such as New England. Solar energy is definitely a passive, quiet, comfortable manner to produce energy.

In Great Britain, wind power works because turbines are on high bluffs non-conducive to settlement. Wind incessantly brushes the areas they have chosen. I am not certain that is the case in Maine.

The public debate and action/reaction should continue.

Donna Penney Smith

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Portland

 

Recent articles that appeared in the Maine Sunday Telegram were critical of the NIMBY crowd concerning the look of wind turbines. The objective of alternative energies is to get the United States off foreign oil.

There are alternatives to wind turbines such as underwater electric turbines that work very much like wind turbines. Each blade is 15 to 20 yards across and is mounted on an axis to a 3-yard-wide pile driven into the seabed. The ocean current turns the blades between 10 and 20 rpm. A twin water turbine could generate as much as 1.2 megawatts of electricity.

Another device that has been developed is a hydrokinetic electric turbine, positioned in a fast-running river, which generates as much as 35 kilowatts of electricity. Underwater turbine power is hundreds of times greater than the energy from the wind. Hydrokinetic turbines capture the mechanical energy of water flow and turn it into electrical energy, replacing hydroelectric dams.

This should be a major consideration.

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Marcel LeRoi

Belgrade

 

GM still backing ethanol at the expense of taxpayers

 

USA Today had an article recently about Dan Akerson, CEO of General Motors Corp. He spoke about alternative energy sources for GM cars in the future.

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He said his company has championed ethanol as a fast and easy way for the United States to stretch oil supplies and reduce emissions. He said that GM isn’t backing down from building more flex-fuel vehicles capable of running on E85 ethanol and 15 percent gas.

Who came up with this crazy idea? Here we are growing corn to make fuel for cars, driving up the cost of corn from $2 per bushel in 2005 to almost $7 per bushel today. Ethanol is blended with gasoline and is subsidized at almost 50 cents a gallon.

I may not be as smart as the CEO of GM, but I can see where this is going.

If you own a boat, lawn mower, motorcycle or anything that runs with a small motor, it will shorten the life of it dramatically. Ethanol ruins rubber gaskets and seals.

I’m not an engineer either, so check it out and ask around – don’t take my word for it. Ethanol is not the answer to fueling our gas engines.

The U.S. government is paying subsidizes to our farmers and is costing U.S. taxpayers billions – $7 billion to be exact, and growing.

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Norman A. Baker

Shapleigh

 

Economic system beholden to bottom line, not jobs

 

In discussions of Maine’s lackluster job growth we hear lots of talk about the need to create jobs, but we hear almost nothing about the decades of relentless job cuts.

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It should be no big surprise that jobs just get harder to find. We have a broken economic system that values only the bottom line, shareholder profit. With this single goal, our system eliminates jobs with determination and without remorse.

Manufacturing jobs have moved overseas in search of cheap labor during the past decades, and this trend continues. However, now service jobs, once thought immune to the offshoring threat, are now going abroad as well. Goodbye to jobs in paper, wood products, fishing, textiles, shoes and call centers.

Locally owned and operated businesses once provided many jobs in virtually every Maine town. Now out-of-state franchises crowd out these local businesses, skim the cream from every niche they control and leave a handful of low-paying service jobs for the Mainers. Goodbye to local distributors, retail stores and restaurants.

Those who lose their jobs through offshoring and franchise displacement are out of work for long periods of time. Those who are re-employed, even full time and regardless of education level, suffer significant earnings declines relative to what they earned before they were displaced.

If the fundamental goals of our economic system remain unchanged, it’s predictable that jobs will be cut and opportunities will dwindle. We can be certain too that concern for employees, communities and the environment will be subordinate to making sure the rich get richer.

Our system needs to change. Businesses need to make a profit, but in doing so, they must have obligations to do right for their employees, their communities and the environment, and to maintain and expand job opportunities for the future.

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John Benziger

South China

 

Jobs. That’s what the Biddeford and Washington County referendum is all about. We really deserve to have worthwhile jobs and some true economic development.

The Biddeford and Washington County racinos are just that – so worthwhile in this stagnant economy.

Ocean Properties has proven itself time and time again. They are “from Maine and for Maine,” not to mention ready to go. No step after step construction plan – they are ready to go and are ready to employ.

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How much simpler could it be?

Let’s please get it right this time. Please vote for much-needed jobs this November.

Diane Mathieu

Raymond

 


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