George Smith, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, posted a review of the gubernatorial forum sponsored by the Natural Resources Network. The article appeared in The Kennebec Journal.
Below is the coverage of Eliot’s answers:
ENERGY
Cutler sees natural gas as an important ingredient in lowering costs, and he supports an LNG plant in Maine. He would shift home heating from oil to electricity. His most innovative idea — and it’s really an old one — is to create a public power authority.
NORTH WOODS
Cutler called for changes in the way we do easements, citing landowners’ concerns about liability and value. He said resolving these concerns is “centrally important to continuing uses in the North Woods.”
CONSOLIDATION OF STATE AGENCIES
Cutler elaborated on his opposition to consolidation, saying, “I’ve done government reorganizations at the federal level; some worked, some didn’t. Moving boxes around is not smart business. When you have agencies that relate directly to what centrally defines our state and manage our resources, mergers don’t make sense. What does make sense is changing the way we do business to reduce costs and tear down the wall of ‘no.’”
I really like that “wall of ‘no’” concept, but I would expand it to say no harm should be done to our environment as we use it to expand our economy.
Please click here to read the complete article here.