Black-eye blackouts
A front-page story this week concerning intentional power outages reminds us that, although we hate to admit it, we lowly energy-dependent moderns are not in control of our own destinies. Mother Nature, the government, and power companies, which provide the necessities of life, are more in control than we individuals will ever be. (Sorry all you rugged individualists out there!)
Rolling blackouts. They’re not just for California anymore, as we learn in a front-page story this week. This issue is a scary one for everyone who uses power (that means everyone!) because, at any moment, an electric company can flip a switch and send thousands of customers into the dark and off-line. Central Maine Power announced in a flyer attached to this month’s bill that rolling blackouts may be necessary as the natural gas (the fuel behind CMP’s electricity) supply remains low because of the southern hurricanes last year.
If blackouts indeed become reality, and power is intentionally shut off for a few hours when usage levels burden the system, CMP should be required to notify customers beforehand. Since CMP seems to know outages could become reality, the electricity-reliant public deserves a comprehensive warning system so it can prepare.
CMP is an excellent power supplier. They attend to outages quickly and provide a good price for consumers. Many users, however, are disturbed that a service they pay for can cease without notice. CMP promises that it will notify customers, but, somehow, it seems the customer should be able to take some recourse when their company fails them. Before rolling blackouts occur here like they did in California (and here’s hoping CMP’s warning won’t become reality and blackouts don’t occur), the Maine Public Utilities Commission should look into what recourse customers have when their power supplier fails them.
Imagine the confusion these blackouts would cause. Shoppers would be forced from stores. Businesses would be down and miss deadlines. Residential customers would lose heating or air conditioning, depending on the season. If the blackout lasts long enough, refrigerators will warm and food spoil or pipes could burst. It could be bad, and if a blackout happens, some organization (presumably the PUC) should investigate thoroughly why it occurred.
The utilities commission should look to the public’s best interest and make sure these blackouts are avoided at all costs. And if a blackout can’t be avoided, then some sort of notification should be provided a day before – or at least six hours before – an intentional shut down to CMP customers.
Be thrifty with gov’s wage
Not much praise comes from these pages for Gov. John Baldacci’s job performance, but on the symbolic issue concerning a pay raise for the governor, he is right on the mark.
If the Legislature ends up approving a pay raise for the governor, Baldacci says he will veto Standish Rep. Gary Moore’s proposal because, as Baldacci puts it, the lives of Maine’s poor and needy need to be improved before a politician’s salary can be increased. And he is right on the money.
Baldacci looks humble by resisting this wage increase, there’s no political doubt about it. He has nothing to gain by agreeing to an increase, since the raise only affects future governors. But, while we can’t know what his motivations are, we admire Baldacci’s standing on principle and saying no to a higher salary for Maine’s gubernatorial class, probably the least needy segment of Maine’s population.
The bill, while well intentioned by the Standish representative, is weak. Who really cares if Maine’s governor makes the least in the nation? Politicians on both sides of the aisle are making this into a big deal, when all it is is a fluff bill that speaks more to symbolism than anything else. Is raising the governor’s salary akin to keeping up with the Joneses? Do we have to be like every other state and pay our guy the same? How silly.
What makes being a New Englander different is that we have a lineage of thrift. But, unfortunately, thrift is a lost art nowadays. We need to retrieve our thrifty ways. Thrifty people don’t give arbitrary pay raises. If frugal folks don’t absolutely have to spend money, they don’t. Paying our governor more money, especially if we’re doing it to prove we can hang with the big boys, shows wanton disregard for the expenditure of tax dollars, which should be a serious enterprise.
It’s ironic this bill is coming from a Republican, since the GOP is traditionally known as being tight with tax money. But, then again, in this age of symbolic and in-your-face wealth – where one’s importance can be quantified using dollar signs A?¬- it’s not surprising.
We think it’s great that Maine has the lowest salary for governors. Someone should submit a bill requiring that Maine always have the lowest salary of the 50 governors. Now there’s a light bulb of an idea. (Here’s hoping a rolling blackout doesn’t snuff it out!)
-John Balentine, editor
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