Low-cost energy for Maine

Early in December, I had the opportunity to meet with officials at the Georgia-Pacific mill in Old Town. At this meeting a citizens group from the city was briefed on the future of the mill here in Maine. One of the primary considerations that G-P has on whether to expand operations at the Old Town mill is that the energy costs here are by far the highest of any G-P mill in the United States.

Despite the high productivity of our workers and other favorable considerations that we have, this extraordinary high cost for energy wipes out these advantages by a substantial margin.

This disturbing message prompted me to seek a meeting with Jack Cashman, who heads Maine’s economic development department. Also invited to the meeting were Professor Richard Hill, an energy expert, and Carroll Lee, the former head of Bangor Hydro.

At this meeting a general discussion was held regarding the various options for power generation that are in use in the state, and also some of the pros and cons of each to include environmental concerns, safety concerns and most importantly the resulting cost per kilowatt-hour of each. It became apparent to all of us that there is a general lack of credible information available to the public on this subject in a comparable form.

For those of us who want jobs and opportunities to be available in Maine, so that our young people will not have to travel elsewhere to support their families, there should be a high priority on developing a cheaper energy source. This would enable us in Maine to have lower electric bills which we could afford to pay. Also, when a business of development proposal is considered, we would not lose out at the stare because of our high energy costs.

I am therefore strongly suggesting that the governor, backed by a resolve of the Legislature, direct that a highly credible study committee be formed of experts in power generation, in environmental concerns, in safety matters, and financial considerations.

This committee should be charged to develop a comparative study of all the realistic power sources. This study should be displayed in an easy-to-understand comparative chart of each. These should include hydro, oil, gas wind, tidal, biomass, nuclear and any other realistic sources.

I would further suggest that the state, led by the governor and the Legislature, immediately appoint an action committee to begin a process to encourage a quasi public-private entity of some sort to build a new major power plant. This same committee, backed by the governor and the Legislature, should assist in streamlining the permitting process so that “no growth advocates,” and those with an agenda to defeat this process with delaying tactics would be discouraged.

This emphasis by the leadership of the state should attract investors to back the project, and perhaps help put us on the map as being a pro-active state determined to take positive steps to change the direction for economic growth in Maine. This effort could do more for Maine what the Tennessee Valley Authority did for the South.

I feel certain that the study will show that it would be possible to build a power generation facility that would dramatically lower our power costs in an environmentally safe manner.

For all this to happen politics would need to take second place to doing what is right for our citizens.

Ralph Leonard is a resident of Old Town.