Page 38 - Pine Tree Power News Today

Letter

Regarding a recent letter by an engineer in favor of the creation of Pine Tree Power (“Letter to the editor: Mainers deserve power over power grid,” Aug. 28), who stated, “Proponents of keeping our largest utilities private tout the benefits of not having ‘politicians run our grid,’ ” I think it’s probably a hard call […]

The corporations that don’t want Maine to vote for Pine Tree Power are spending a lot of money to confuse us. Let’s take their advertisement about adding an estimated $13.5 billion to Maine debt. The ad is designed to take advantage of our fear of taxes. All corporations have debt. They would rather we didn’t […]

Like Maui, Maine may be unusually vulnerable because more of its surface is forested than in any other state.

Under Pine Tree Power, not only would the state have to borrow more than $10 billion to buy out the two biggest utility companies in Maine, but we’d also be likely to see our electric rates go up for the first 10 years. That’s from a study by the Maine Public Utilities Commission. How in […]

A ballot measure would convert two investor-owned power companies into a public nonprofit. Unionized utility workers aren’t sold.

A top concern for Gov. Janet Mills is that the utility takeover could introduce partisan politics into electricity delivery.

Ultimately, the vote on Question 3 is about whether you think government or private monopolies should hold the keys to the clean electricity future.

I’m retired, but I spent much of my career at Avangrid, and my best advice to Mainers is to steer clear of Pine Tree Power and vote “no” on Question 3 this November. First, running an electric system is highly complex and not well-suited to political decision-making. Yet, Pine Tree Power would hand control to […]

An analysis by the state's public advocate presents information, but few conclusions, about November's utility referendum.