Kurt Pullman’s main reason to be against Pine Tree Power seems to be concerns about the potential for preferential treatment when dealing with utility requests (“Maine Voices: Government-owned electrical systems not as perfect as Pine Tree Power’s supporters want us to believe,” Aug. 1). These are internal operational issues. They can happen in any organization with bad leadership that puts connections over the long-term goal, and they should not be the reason to vote against Pine Tree Power. They are valid concerns, but by airing them now, we can make sure PTP does not succumb to the same folly as Pullman’s previous employer.
Speaking of long-term goals, Pullman states that “at CMP, everyone shares the same goals and values.” CMP is a for-profit organization. Their long-term goal is making money for their shareholders. Pine Tree Power will be a not-for-profit. Their goal will be to provide power for Mainers, not line the pockets of non-Mainers.
Another long term goal of PTP is affordable clean energy. There is a finite amount of fossil fuels on Earth. Investing in switching our power supply to renewable sources makes short- and long-term sense. PTP will give us – the consumer – a say in how fast we make that transition rather than that switch being at the whim of a corporation’s bottom line.
Like Pullman, I too used to live in a town that owned its own utility. Unlike Mr. Pullman, our town did not struggle like his with bad leadership. Rare outages and 10-times lower rates than surrounding towns were some of the benefits we experienced. Efficient, reliable consumer-owned utilities can be done. There are 10 such consumer-owned utilities serving 98 communities within Maine already. Now we just need to make that the reality for all Mainers.
Sarah Miller
Winslow
Send questions/comments to the editors.
