I must be the voice of reason on state mining regulations (“Lawmakers to revisit Maine’s rules for mining,” March 18).

Granted, I’m not an extreme, “The United States of Business, all hail” Republican, but neither am I a radical, “save the worms, union and feminist” Democrat.

And, conversely, that whole lawsuit boogeyman that permeates America in every other sentence has to cease: You can’t buy a pencil sharpener without pages and pages of tiny-fonted wordy-words of instructions lest some lawsuit be triggered. Have some gumption!

So, the Legislature’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee all but guarantees siding with the touchy-feely crowd, no matter how many public hearings the committee sets up.

The bottom line is that we need work in Maine. That doesn’t mean a gigantic bicycle path through the state and balloons and calling that prosperity. Unless, of course, you have employment with the state, where tax-funded salaries and perks are no object.

Whether it was the east-west highway and pipelines or the Bald Mountain mining project in Aroostook County referred to in the article, certain people want “their” georesources intact yet have no compunction about their homes (built with natural resources), their computers and their automobiles. But it doesn’t matter where any project is located in Maine when it comes to bulldozers. Do you think our beloved Maine Turnpike would have been allowed to be constructed today?

Bill Capistran

Kennebunkport