Energy independence can save Maine soldiers’ lives

I find it morally reprehensible that anyone with the power to save the lives of Maine citizens fails to do so. I was taught growing up that if you recognize a problem and fail to help solve that problem, you own it. You become responsible for the consequences.

This is the position that the state and the Land Use Regulation Commission find themselves today in deciding whether to approve wind power projects for the state.

Practically every member of the Maine National Guard, including me, has been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan at least once. Our nation’s dependence on Middle Eastern sources of fossil fuel is killing these Maine citizens. LURC has the ability to make a commitment, to take a stand and to put Maine on a morally responsible energy path.

No one will argue that it is morally right to knowingly watch a neighbor abuse his spouse or child and do nothing. No one will argue that it is right to watch a friend’s depression turn to suicide and do nothing. Whether from a Judeo-Christian “I am my brother’s keeper” ethos or from a secular ecologist “we are all interconnected on the planet” perspective, we are responsible for each other.

Our responsibility includes economic choices we make. Economists call it “Dollar Democracy.” When we buy food, clothes, books and entertainment we are sending a signal that we approve of those goods and services and every action it takes to bring them to our door. When we buy toys and electronics from other nations we are approving of their labor, wage and environmental laws or lack thereof. When we buy Middle Eastern oil and gas we are approving whatever it takes to bring those supplies to our door.

I will not argue whether the current administration’s decision to invade Iraq was to secure oil and gas supplies for the American economy or to liberate the Iraqi people. However, the first Gulf War was clearly promoted as a way to prevent a power-crazed dictator from controlling one-quarter of the world’s oil.

America’s thirst for oil and gas is underpinning the world price for fossil fuels. There is a direct flow of money from the gas pumps and electrical grids of America to the governments of Saudi Arabia and Iran. It was our money, through the Saudis, that supported the 9-11 hijackers who destroyed the World Trade Center. It is our money funding the Iranians’ nuclear weapons program and the Iranians’ support of Lebanon’s Hezbollah and their war with Israel. It is our money supporting Palestinian suicide bombers.

If, as the U.S. government contends, oil-rich Middle Eastern governments are funding the Iraqi insurgency, then it is American money that is paying for attacks on Maine citizens deployed in Iraq. The only moral choice for Maine and America is to pursue energy independence.

Wind power provides one avenue to lessen our dependence on imported energy. Once constructed, a wind farm sends no money to help kill Mainers.

A wind farm has its own drawbacks. There is a slight amount of noise and it may irritate some people’s sense of aesthetics by being visible. But when I see a wind farm I take satisfaction in knowing that Maine citizens can have lights and warm houses without having to send our young people off to die in the desert.

Staff Sgt. Michael Hall of Trenton served with the Maine National Guard in Iraq with the 1-121st Field Artillery Battalion.