Mainers oppose offshore driling

Maine Public Broadcasting -The Department of the Interior is proposing to open nearly all of the nation’s coastline to exploratory drilling for oil and gas. The feds held an open house in Augusta  to collect public comment, which was largely in firm opposition.

“Now is the time for Maine people to speak up and oppose this short-sighted giveaway to the oil industry,” says Lisa Pohlman, the executive director of the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Pohlman says studies have shown that there is little potential for finding oil or gas off the Maine coast while the risks from exploration, she says, are enormous.

“The Trump Administration’s plan to sell off our ocean waters to the oil industry poses a major, unacceptable risk to Maine’s coast, residents, economy and marine life," she says. Melissa Gates of the Surfrider Foundation told the group that neither Maine nor the rest of the country can afford to risk the harm that would be caused by a spill or drilling accident off the coast.

“We say loud and clear, No!” Gates says to the crowd. “Can you all join me in saying that? No! Not here in Maine, not here in New England and not anywhere in America.”

Others say even exploratory drilling could cause serious harm to existing Maine industries, including tourism and commercial fishing, which are part of Maine’s identity.

“There’s no one that comes to the state of Maine to the coastline to eat a chicken sandwich,” says State Rep. Mick Devin, a democrat from Newcastle. “If we don’t maintain our pristine coast we might as well pack it up and become part of Massachusetts again because we won’t be able to survive.”