ROCKLAND, Maine – Independent candidate for governor Eliot Cutler, speaking at a forum today on issues affecting islands and coastal communities, reiterated that he is vehemently opposed to any drilling for oil off the coast of Maine.
“Anyone who has read a newspaper or seen a newscast in the past few months has to be horrified at what has happened in the Gulf of Mexico and deeply concerned about what could happen to our Maine coast in a similar situation,” said Cutler. “As governor, I will not allow it to happen. They will have to drill right through me to get to the Gulf of Maine.”
Cutler spoke at a forum in Rockland today hosted by the Island Institute, a community development organization focusing on the Gulf of Maine, particularly the year-round island communities off the Maine coast. The forum, which was attended by all of the candidates for governor except Paul LePage, focused on issues such as fisheries, alternative energy, education and affordable housing.
“I helped write the first federal oil spill prevention and cleanup law, the one that protected Maine’s first-in-the-nation law, and I think that Paul LePage’s support for offshore drilling is unconscionable,” Cutler said. “A spill like the one in the Gulf could destroy our lobster and ground fisheries, cripple clam and mussel harvesting and aquaculture, and devastate our tourism and recreational marine industry. It literally could change overnight the way of life we have known in coastal Maine for generations. Unlike Paul LePage and the ‘drill, baby, drill’ crowd, that’s not a risk I will take.”
Cutler urged participants in the forum to check out the website www.ifitwasmyhome.com, which shows graphically what the impact of a spill like the one in the Gulf would do to Maine. For example, a similar spill offshore from Swan’s Island would blanket the entire Maine coast with oil.
Cutler also questioned LePage’s absence from what was the first gubernatorial forum since the June Primary. “Maine’s islands and coastal communities are a vital part of our state. The people who live in and care about these areas deserve to hear the views of all the candidates for governor,” Cutler said.
Cutler said that he supports aggressive conservation efforts and the further development of offshore wind, tidal and solar energy, and biofuels from wood and other fiber as ways to increase renewable energy sources in Maine and reduce our reliance on imported oil. He also has called for the creation of an energy finance authority to help Maine businesses and energy entrepreneurs develop new sources of low-cost power that could be used to help create jobs here in Maine.
# # #
SOURCES:
In the “Your Vote 2010 Republican Gubernatorial Debate” on May 27, 2010 on the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, LePage answered “Yes” to the question “Would you support offshore drilling in the waters off the Maine Coast?”
http://video.mpbn.net/video/1506788602
In an interview for Seacoastonline.com, LePage said the following:
“They [the Maine PUC] fought drilling off the coast of Maine, they fight cheap hydro power from Canada, they fight nuclear power,” he said.
All are needed to bring down energy costs in Maine, he said.
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20100422-NEWS-4220423