Leash control
To the editor,
When my dog is on a leash, so am I.
Karen Sanford
South Portland
There is hope for cleaner air
To the edtior,
South Portland residents live with 120 oil storage tanks in our midst. These tanks are permitted to emit nearly 600 tons of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) which create ozone and 104 tons of Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) into our air every year.
Violations by two oil companies alerted the community. We learned that oil companies self-report emissions using a formula created by the American Petroleum Institute. This formula is viewed by the EPA as widely unreliable compared to actual testing. Maine has tank farms in South Portland, Searsport, Bucksport, Hampden and Bangor.
Chemicals in tank emissions can cause cancer, neurological problems (particularly for fetuses and young children), respiratory problems (asthma) and liver and kidney complications.
If LD163 becomes law, oil companies involved will be required to cover the costs of actual testing of emissions from heated asphalt tanks twice a year. It will also require continuous EPA approved fence-line monitoring around the perimeter of each tank farm facility to provide information about HAPs passing into neighboring communities.
On behalf of the statewide Tank Emissions Coalition of Maine, that includes 12 health advocacy and environmental groups, we thank Sen. Carney and Rep. Tucker for sponsoring LD163 and Sen. Brenner and representatives Millett and Morales for tirelessly working on this legislation. As of now, LD163 has to pass again in the Senate, then to Gov. Mills for her signature.
Communities with oil storage tank farms house the products that Mainers need. Now we need to protect those who live near these tanks.
Abby Huntoon
South Portland
Equity vs. Equality
To the editor,
One step at a time. We are now living in a woke nightmare, where every concept and value we were taught at home, at church and in school are in question.
As a person who grew up in the 1960s I remember the Civil Rights movement, the peace marches during the Vietnam Conflict and the Democratic Convention in Chicago in 1968. What do those three events have in common? Constitutional protected freedom to voice a citizen right to question a government’s action. Were these actions peaceful? No, they were not. However, these events caused change for better or worse, but they caused change.
One of the major players in those times was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He said, “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Dr. King fought and died for our God given right, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, that says, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they a endowed by their Creator … Equity isn’t the word used it is equal; hard fought for equality
We are now in another battle for the very soul of our country. The critical race theory movement is trying to undo everything the Dr. King ever stood for. Abraham Lincoln quoted from the Bible when he said, “A house divided against itself will not stand.” That is exactly what the Marxist critical race theory is doing. They believe that white Americans are oppressing everyone who isn’t white and just because of the color of their skin, not the content of their character, they are somehow better.
We need to stop this movement in its tracks. Bring the study of history and our Constitution back into our schools. We are not a perfect people and we have made mistakes since we first signed those documents in 1776. Our forefathers were God-fearing men and our whole form of government was based on a religious belief system. In 1620, not 1619, the pilgrims came here to escape religious persecution and they established a colony that, believe it or not, actually tried socialism as a form of government. It didn’t work. Some of the people believed that if everyone worked together to provide for the common good all would be good. However, some felt why work if we get everything for doing nothing. Result, another Biblical concep,t “He who does not work does not eat.” Thus the stocks were invented and people were publicly shamed. Thus the no free lunch was invented.
What does this have to do with critical race theory? Everything. There is no critical race. We Americans are all children of immigrants. If you don’t believe that go to Ancestry.com. Even the whitest Caucasians are not 100 percent white.
“So if we don’t learn from our mistakes we a bound to repeat them.” Everything has to do with a firm foundation, be it a house, or our lives. When we start picking away at that foundation, our house or our whole society will crumble. Reinforce that foundation by getting Americanism back into our school systems. Benjamin Franklin was once asked about a monarchy or a republic. And he said, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”
So stand up and speak up. I didn’t serve 23 years in the military protecting my county from all enemies, foreign or domestic to see it be taken over by a bunch of woke individuals who don’t even know their history. So, like the fellow in the Plymouth Colony who thought he could live off the work of others, woke up in the stocks.
Michael R. Pock
South Portland
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