Maine doesn’t need a politician-controlled  power grid.

The Pine Tree Power petition puts seven politicians elected as board directors and their six handpicked “expert directors” in charge of the grid. These politicians will be elected to lengthy six-year terms, with no term limits, and no possibility of voter initiated recall. They will essentially have no accountability.

Equally troubling is that the petition creating Pine Tree Power also charges the new entity with eight mandates. The bill behind the ballot question says that, for Pine Tree Power, the purpose of advancing “social, environmental, and economic justice” is equal to its purpose of delivering electricity reliably or affordably. Furthermore, the six “expert directors” to be chosen by the elected directors, are required to have expertise in “social, environmental, and economic justice.”

As laudable as advancing “social, environmental and economic justice” sounds, the meaning of these words are not defined in the petition. So, they will mean whatever the politicians elected as directors say they mean.

Advancing “social, environmental, and economic justice” are political questions and highly partisan battlegrounds. These are not questions for Maine’s electric grid to answer.

I want my electric delivery service company to be focused on their job of bringing me electricity. Pine Tree Power won’t be.

Let’s keep divisive political questions and partisanship out of the grid. Please vote no on Pine Tree Power.

Scott McIntire

Alna