Restore rights
Bangor Daily News | Monday, Feb. 24, 2014 | bangordailynews.com
The Maine House will soon vote on a citizens’ rights bill that received overwhelming, bipartisan approval in 2013. The Democratic-controlled Senate chose not to vote on this bill but carried it over into the 2014 session for further review. The review has been completed. The bill received another “ought to pass.”
A mailer recently sent out by the wind industry asks citizens to contact legislators and urge them to vote against LD 616 – this same citizens’ rights bill.
The industry blatantly misrepresented the intent and language of LD 616, saying: “Bills like LD 616 … seek to squeeze out new wind projects with bad policies that threaten jobs, clean air and a future less dependent on foreign fossil fuels.”
LD 616 doesn’t seek to “squeeze out” anything. It has nothing to do with wind projects, jobs or clean air. LD 616 will simply provide a means for a few disenfranchised Mainers to have equal rights restored to them. It provides a vehicle by which they can attempt to have their communities removed from the expedited permitting area – an “area” they were placed into without their knowledge or permission and which denies them due process – something they had prior to 2008 and which more than 99 percent of Mainers still have.
This powerful corporate lobby mustn’t be allowed to muddy the waters.
LD 616 is straightforward and fair.
LD 616 will not disallow wind development in the communities affected.
LD 616 is about citizens’ rights – period.
Don’t be misled. Voting to restore equal rights to all Mainers can only be a good thing.
Karen Bessey Pease
Lexington Township
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2014/02/24/restore-rights/