I note with some dismay the appointment of Dan Burgess to be director of the Governor’s Energy Office (March 4). He holds business and public administration degrees. Wouldn’t it be better to have an engineering degree? A policy wonk is a poor substitute for someone who knows how energy is produced and distributed.
Gov. Mills has decreed that we in Maine will get 80 percent of our energy from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent by 2050, with the caveat that she has no idea of how it will be done. She just knows “there are an awful lot of ideas out there that have been brewing for many years.”
Wouldn’t it have been better talk to the experts, find out what is possible and then announce a renewable-energy target? I can state with metaphysical certitude that neither of the governor’s goals will be met. And I’m not talking a little miss; I’m saying not even close. Our renewable-energy consumption may go up between 2 percent and 5 percent by 2030, depending on how much taxpayer (my) money this state throws at it.
Of course, spending state money is not an issue nowadays, unless you fear too much is going to be spent. This freshman class of legislators, elected last November, are acting like a bunch of children.
Even some of the seasoned legislators seem overcome with a desire to tax us into oblivion – I’m looking at you, Rep. Deane Rykerson. There are a few with thick heads – Rep. Seth Berry, he of the “confiscate CMP” idea, comes to mind. And then there are the mean-spirited Democrat partisans who think they are smart but are, in fact, not – take a bow, Rep. Drew Gattine.
Gov. Mills will have to be the adult in the room and rein these people in. Good luck with that, Governor.
Harry White
Scarborough
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