BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 7, 2023
I was very disappointed to learn that U.S. Rep. Jared Golden was the sole Democrat to vote with the House Republicans on the oil stockpile bill. This bill would require the government to offset any non-emergency withdrawals from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with new drilling on public lands and oceans. What concerns me the most is the destructive environmental consequences of this bill, as fossil fuels extracted from public lands account for about 20 percent of energy-related U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, making them a prime target for emissions reductions intended to slow global warming. It is very unlikely that this bill will even be brought up in the Senate, and of course President Joe Biden would never sign such a bill. But I am very disappointed that my Democratic congressman voted for such a bill, ignoring the destructive consequences to the environment. ~ Elliot Benjamin, Winterport