Maybe, just maybe, the people of Maine will benefit from the wind we own, which blows along our shore, by using it to generate our electricity.

The Associated Press story Sept. 23 makes it clear that the people, so far, have not been privy to the discussion of our energy future. Neither the legislative leaders involved, nor the governor nor the PUC have helped us understand how much the various options will cost us in future rates. The range of costs I have seen during the past decade has been from 5 cents per kilowatt hour to 42 cents per kilowatt hour, depending on all sorts of variables. Since we use 9 billion kilowatts per year, that is a lot of money.

It seems clear to me that our best bet is near-shore generated electricity. Since the people of Maine own the wind within three miles of shore, we won’t have to purchase the right to use it from the federal government or from some corporation from away. So far, only the folks of Vinalhaven have taken advantage of that proximity to the ocean.

Maybe the rest of us will catch on before our leaders condemn us to send billions of dollars each year to Norway or some other far away place.

At the very least, we should demand that the PUC do a cost analysis of the various options before giving its stamp of approval. Certainly that information should not be secret.

James Tierney, Auburn