Multiple studies find the radio waves emitted by the devices are within safety limitsThe debate over the installation of “smart” electric meters comes down to a question of proof and who should have to provide it.

A small but vocal number of people who say they are sensitive to and sickened by radio waves want to stop the program of replacing traditional meters with ones that can be read remotely — or at least opt out themselves. They say that they are suffering from headaches, insomnia and other symptoms and Central Maine Power Co. should have to prove that the devices are not to blame before they can be installed.

Longtime Maine Turnpike Authority Executive Director Paul Violette was half right when he said in his resignation letter that his leadership had become “an issue, possibly even the central issue” for critics of the organization he ran for 24 years.

Violette’s resignation was the right response to a growing concern about lax oversight of the agency, but this was never about one man’s performance. Questions go deeply into the MTA itself, and will not be resolved by a change at the top.