March 29, 2024
Letter

Energy bill revealed

Here’s a puzzle: Why would tens of thousands of Mainers vote against a casino in southern Maine, yet say nothing as Congress prepares to vote on an energy bill that gives billions of dollars in tax breaks and subsidies to oil, natural gas and nuclear energy development?

Do they think gambling is worse for us than the epidemic rise in respiratory diseases that come from oil- and coal-burning power plants, or the danger of a nuclear accident like Chernobyl? Come to think of it, if people feel so strongly about gambling, the real puzzle is why so many are willing to gamble their families’ futures in return for cheap gas.

In the Midwest, voters are being seduced by handouts to corn farmers for ethanol fuel; farmers are going under thanks to cheap NAFTA corn from south of the border. But what will Maine get out of the deal? Dirtier air, sicker people, and maybe another Maine Yankee nuke plant.

Who has the power to stop this juggernaut? Our senators who, unlike Bush, show signs of understanding the economic, foreign policy, environmental and health hazards of continued support for the fossil fuel and nuclear industries.

Today is the day to let Sens. Snowe and Collins know that you too have figured it out. The energy bill is part of a larger Bush plan in which the wealthy and powerful few will own all the major oil-producing facilities, thanks to a steady stream of traumatized, wounded and dying soldiers whose jobs will be to protect those plants from the inhabitants of the countries where they are located.

How convenient that this plan provides all those jobs to make up for the ones we’ve lost through “free trade” deals like NAFTA and the upcoming FTAA [Free Trade Areas of the Americas]. Guess we really didn’t need the 1,000 jobs the casino would have provided after all.

Jane Livingston

Veazie


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