Posted on 06/20/2008 7:58:42 AM PDT by Bulwinkle
That’s the word not from Chicken Little, but from former Maine Governor Angus King, who says he doesn’t use the term “catastrophe” lightly.
“This is a human catastrophe coming at us in the state of Maine in terms of energy supply and costs,” King said last week at a daylong seminar on harnessing tidal energy and offshore wind to confront runaway energy costs, costs he sees as a direct threat to Maine being habitable.
“This winter, the cost of fuel oil is going to more than double,” he said. “What’s being quoted now is $4.96 — $5 a gallon. That’s $1,000 to fill up your tank in the basement one time, and most people are going to have to fill up their tank six times.
“How is somebody who is making $350 or $400 a week going to pay to fill up the tank to keep warm? How are they going to pay to fill up the truck to get to work? This is, I think, the most serious crisis to ever face the state of Maine.” ...
... “This is a catastrophe,” he said. “This isn’t business as usual. This isn’t some minor little problem. This isn’t do not pass school buses or what’s the speed limit on the Interstate. This is a disaster in the state of Maine that’s coming at us.” ...
...“Eighty percent of homes in Maine are heated with oil,” he said. “The national average is 9 percent. If you do the math, 87 percent of the total energy bill of the average Maine person is dependent on oil or natural gas, and that is a particularly serious problem.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ellsworthmaine.com ...
Maine is currently considered habitable?
Yes.
Joshua Chamberlain was definitely NOT a whiner.
“This is a human catastrophe coming at us in the state of Maine in terms of energy supply and costs”
I agree with that part and not only Maine but the whole country.
His solutions though are way off in the future if ever and are not going to solve a thing in the near future. So what do we do in the meantime?
Even this will take time but Drill, drill, drill, nuclear power, nuclear power, nuclear power.
I think the solutions being discussed were tidal energy (no good because “studies” will ultimately show it will have a detrimental effect on ocean currents); and wind (no good because the ruling class in New England don’t want to have to look at windmills from their verandas “on the Vineyard”).
“Maine is currently considered habitable?”
Now, be nice!
“Maine is currently considered habitable?”
Well, the Three weeks of summer is coming shortly!!!
Yes. Summer in Maine.
Do you think the high gas prices will cut down on attendance at this year’s annual “Festival of the Squirrel-sized Mosquito” and its associated “Black Fly Dinners”?
Nope. The Somali immigrants will still need to eat.
Propane is about $2.70/g right now. Winter rates depend on supplier and amount consumed, but range from (AFAIK) about $2.50 under a cap/keep full for 975—1200 gallons/year to (I have heard) $3/gal for lesser amounts, no cap.
For the first time in over 33 years, we are still paying off last winter's propane bill. Usually, we have it paid in April and are accumulating cash credits by now. We will have it paid off in August.
Oil was the major fuel here up until the 1970s, when it went up in price and folks converted to propane or electricity. When oil went down, the electric rates didn't and people who had converted were paying huge bills and mostly went to propane. Electric bills will increase this year because of all the constraints on coal use and also of rail transport.
I wonder if this is going to be serious enough this winter to turn purple states like WI red? We not only need gasoline to get to work, it is what powers the road snow removal and the home snowblowers/trucks w/blades.
In town, there are people who rail against wood storage in one's yard, which is all people have if they have no basement, and others who are terrified of air pollution from wood heat. NG and electricity are supplied by a large producer located 90 miles away and rates are high, sometimes around $500/month for gas/electric in older, larger homes, more commonly around $100/mo. Taxes and utility fees (water/sewage) are also higher and privacy is nonexistent.
None of us could afford a move to a larger city. Rents/home prices/taxes/fees/loss of independence/nanny state laws forbidding everything from greenhouses to smoking to working on projects in the yard or driveway or to doing your own home maintenance make it a moot choice with little energy savings except perhaps gasoline.
People have lived in my house or on this property since the 1880s.There was no plumbing until 1967. They survived. It is probably the same in Maine. But, there is a lot of high anxiety about surviving this next winter.
Oh, !@(*#.
I was thinking of moving there. It looks like you can get nice houses cheap, taxes are reasonable... but if it’s going to cost $5,000 a year to heat my house...!
I thought there was a nuke power plant right down the road in Seabrook, N.H. Does any part of Maine benefit from it?
If you build a home that costs money to heat and cool, that’s a choice, not a given. People have built homes that do not require furnaces or air conditioning to maintain a comfortable temperature (55 to 57 Fahrenheit) for thousands of years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_sheltering
There are US builders even today who specialize in them.
http://www.daviscaves.com/index.shtml
Sounds like the folk in Maine (much like the rest of our country) need to decide and decide now.
Do they continue to live on their knees as peasants, or do they stand up like free men and women and kick the crap out of the scumbags playing games with their lives?
Take note. Even Maine’s two GOP Senators vote against drilling.
That should make the constituents pleased.
Texas is happy to take some more Northerners in as the economics situation here is bright as we drill our way ahead to prosperity.
You're serious?
This issue has the opportunity to reveal just how isolated and unrealistic are the Global Warming Democrats.
How did anyone manage to live there prior to heating oil being refined?
I’ve got an idea. Build some nuclear power plants. Quit wasting oil on furnaces.
Maine is one of them blue states, aint it? Maybe they should tell the do nothing Dimwit Congress to stop impeding progress.
Are they less than oil? I don’t know. When I lived in NE Pennsylvania, my primary heat was wood. Five cord a year.
I tend to agree with the govenor. I just saw a quote on home heating oil here at $4.65/gallon. I generally buy it in 400-500 gallons at a time. This is just for heating the house in the long, cold winter. And we have replaced the windows and hod the house insulated and sided.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.