BANGOR DAILY NEWS • October 27, 2020
Even before this year’s coronavirus crises, this administration was putting Mainers last. Trump had the audacity to feature a Maine lobsterman at the Republican National Convention, but his trade war has driven up the cost of lobster traps and caused exports to China to drop by 50 percent. While farmers and food processors in other states quickly received federal relief, Maine lobstermen have had to wait. Climate change — which this administration refuses to recognize — is driving lobsters north. It is killing clams and mussels and threatening haddock. Sugar maples are becoming stunted and sick and producing less sap for syrup. Mainers are enduring more and more power outages from extreme weather. Joe Biden will put the health and safety of the American people first. ~ Jonathan Hale, senior counsel, U.S. Senate, Skowhegan