PPH Editorial Board: Perfection is the enemy of our environment

April 14, 2024

Our View: Perfection is the enemy of our environment
The scuffle over permission for a wind energy facility on Sears Island offers a template for how not to take on climate change.

The Editorial Board

EXCERPTS
The defeat by the Maine House of Representatives of a bill designed to pave the way for a significant offshore wind energy manufacturing facility is concerning and frustrating. This is a major opportunity that should not be blown.......................................

The proposal drew supposedly environmental arguments out of unlikely corners. A right-wing news site, complaining “Gov. Mills thinks she can change the weather,” posted an op-ed warning that Sears Island could “be the next victim of Maine’s radical climate agenda.”

What’s radical about an attempt to forge an offshore wind industry in 2024 – in a place where the winds are among the strongest and most consistent on earth? We’re not sure..................................

Opponents to the siting seem to have lost sight of the bigger picture. Let it be said: It’s not a pretty picture. The climate emergency is making uncomfortable demands of communities the world over. Reminders of the unfolding climate crisis are everywhere, Maine’s latest warm and destructive winter among them. Our grid is going to need the power and our energy mix must get away from
At what cost? At the costs of hundreds of well-paid permanent manufacturing jobs – by one estimate, Maine could gain up to 33,000 short-term and 13,000 long-term jobs – and a significant setback to the state’s appropriately ambitious climate goals.
If we do not move to green energy sources and reduce our reliance on carbon, none of our beloved environments will be “safe.”.......................................................

Fifteen years ago in 2009, then-Gov. John Baldacci’s Ocean Energy Task Force formally reported on the promise of wind to supply energy to Maine and to make it a “net energy exporter.” Due to relentless foot-dragging and other obstructionism, we have not even begun to realize that vision...............................

The longer this kind of unproductive and complacent zig-zagging continues, the longer we squander the high-quality wind that blows in the Gulf of Maine....................................

Maine simply can’t afford to continue like this, economically or environmentally. There is no perfect location for an offshore wind turbine port. Years have passed since the development of this industry was first mooted and still, despite knowing better, we are running down the clock. These hard realities should make people who continue to stand in the way of obligatory progress think twice......................................

https://www.pressherald.com/2024/04/14/our-view-perfection-is-the-e...

************************************* 

Fair Use Notice: This website may reproduce or have links to copyrighted material the use of which has not been expressly authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available, without profit, as part of our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, economic, scientific, and related issues. It is our understanding that this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided by law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.