Environment

I grew up outdoors. When I was a kid, we had a black and white TV that got three channels (sometimes you could get the UHF Station, but only if someone was willing to hold the rabbit ears antennae). What was going on outdoors was always more interesting that what was on the TV, and it still is. Outdoors, I spent hours searching for fossils and arrowheads, damming up streams and catching frogs. As I grew older, I swam and fished in the rivers and hunted the surrounding woods. My commitment to a clean environment is borne out of a childhood spent in the outdoors.

Teddy Roosevelt said "Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us." He was right. The great question facing us as a nation is how to preserve our environment for our children.

As your Senator, I will fight to clean up the air that Mainers breathe, protect the water they drink, and get the Federal money needed to clean up hazardous waste wherever it is located. I strongly believe in acting as careful stewards for our environment and for our health today, but also to preserve the legacy of Maine's abundant natural resources and beauty for future generations.

Although every study today is subject to a critical review by experts, as well as pundits and talking heads, medical evidence now suggests air pollution contributes to increased incidence of heart attacks, asthma, cancer, as well as other significant health issues. This is a problem which requires Federal intervention. To reduce air pollution from power plants, most of which operate outside the State of Maine, which emit sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, mercury, and carbon dioxide all of which contribute to poor air quality, smog, acid rain, global warming, and the contamination of fish here in our great state will be a priority for my office once elected. Our children, elderly, and every member of our population who suffers from respiratory problems face an increased susceptibility to these health issues and deserve an advocate who will fight for their right to breathable air.

Maine's vast environmental treasures, such as Acadia National Park, our State reserve lands, and the pristine streams, lakes, and forests which grace Maine from border to border are irreplaceable. Our stewardship of these Natural treasures is a unique responsibility.

I am committed to preserving and protecting all of our wilderness areas in a responsible fashion which measures the competing needs of our traditional industries of producing lumber and other wood products while coexisting with recreational uses such as camping, hiking, fishing, hunting, bird watching, and the many other outdoor activities. It is our duty to provide the highest and best use of our natural resources for all our citizens, preserving, not despoiling, these precious treasures while we maintain, protect and improve upon the traditional uses of our working forests and lands.

I think Teddy Roosevelt hit the right note when he said "I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us."