In the June 26 BDN, Josh Tardy, the Republican leader in the Maine House of Representatives, states that it is patently absurd not to drill for more oil off our coasts and wants the voters to remember who is responsible for this not happening. I couldn’t agree with him more, but he’s blaming the wrong people when he tries to lay the blame on the Democrats. He needs to point the finger at the oil companies that he and his Republican cronies have catered to so they would fill their campaign coffers.

Tardy failed to mention that the oil industry now holds lease to 41 million acres of territory to drill on but amazingly they are only pumping oil from 10.2 million acres of the territory available to them. That leaves 30 million acres untouched or 79 percent of their capability not being explored. Maybe Tardy would like to give us an explanation for this. One could make a case that they were not exploring these fields to keep the price of crude high to further line their pockets, and they’re looking to their Republican friends to bless them with millions of acres of more territory so they can control oil prices for years to come.

I especially love it when Republicans say oil companies could drill in these closed waters in an environmentally friendly way. Somehow the words “oil company” and “environmentally friendly” don’t seem to go together very well.

Mike Avery Sr.

Milford