Maine ‘Open For Business’? Not so fast

I recently read that Norway’s Statoil company will be building an offshore windfarm near New York City. This is the same company that was driven out of Maine in 2013 when Gov. LePage pushed for tearing up a negotiated contract and lost $120 million in investment. Gov. LePage claims that Maine is “open for business,” but he only applies this to the the polluting industries of the past — like paper mills — and not for the industries of our future — like wind, solar, and composites. Senators Collins and King are getting into this act by proposing amendments and bills that would create incentives to cut Maine trees, pulp them, heat-treat them, and ship them to Europe so they can be burned to create electricity. It is time for LePage, Collins and King to support businesses of the future and not those of the past. By working to build an offshore windfarm, New York will benefit from the technology, the jobs, and the cheaper energy that we’ve been deprived of by LePage’s actions.

Bill Savedoff,
Arrowsic