Safeguarding the environment should be one of the top priorities of citizens and elected officials. We all want a clean and safe environment for our children. Regardless of party affiliation, the threat of global warming should unite us.

In Maine we are fortunate to have Angus King in the Senate. As our governor, and now as our senator, he has fought to preserve and protect Maine’s beautiful environment.

Now King sits on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee. From that position he has protected our national parks and toiled on renewable energy issues to reduce the environmental impacts of climate change. He has voted in favor of increasing the EPA’s Brownfield program to clean up polluted industrial and hazardous waste sites. Once clean, those properties can be repurposed to new economic opportunities. In Maine he fought successfully to ensure that entrance fees at Acadia National Park didn’t spike out of reach of most of us.

The environment is an issue we can all agree on. A clean environment is vital for all of us, and essential to the continued vitality of our Maine economy. The beauty of Maine drives tourism and tourism brings billions of dollars into Maine every year.

But for too long the environment has taken a back seat in political debate. Sen. King sits in the Senate seat held by Ed Muskie and George Mitchell, two environmental giants, and we need him to continue in that seat to create lasting environmental changes for the benefit of all of us.

Global warming affects the entire planet, and we have all contributed to the problem. Now, with King, we can make changes to protect the environment. It’s time for us to vote for King to continue his work protecting Maine, and our planet.

John Bastey

Hallowell