I wish to thank my legislators, Rep. Craig Hickman, D-Winthrop, and Sen. Earle McCormick, R-West Gardiner, for supporting solar energy this legislative session. McCormick and Sen. Roger Katz and Rep. Matt Pouliot, both Augusta Republicans, were three capital-area legislators who had the courage and integrity to vote their conscience over party politics.

It is a moral imperative to support this source of clean, renewable energy and the good-paying jobs this growing industry provides. Fossil fuel extraction contaminates air, land and water, its transport by rail is dangerous (remember the devastation and the loss of lives in Lac Mégantic), by pipeline it is polluting (e.g., the contamination of the Kalamazoo River), and its cost is manipulated by a global industry. Solar energy is clean, local, unlimited and ultimately free.

Energy independence is the way of the future, and it is discouraging to see Maine lagging behind the other New England states, especially when Maine’s solar potential surpasses that of Germany, the world leader in solar utilization.

Maine people have always prided themselves for their Yankee frugality, independent thinking and “doing the right thing.” By voting in support of solar energy, Hickman and McCormick embody that spirit.

Melanie Lanctot

Readfield

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