Mark Katz of Hallowell, ME Frank,

I just composed and submitted a thoughtful reply.

As happens all too often, the software behind this site "gobbled it up".

Sorry about that, but I'm too frustrated with sloppy programming to bother resubmitting now.

Maybe a little later if I'm up to fishing out old keystrokes. Thanks for your thoughts.report abuse

Frank Heller of Brunswick, ME Mark, point well taken; but while Maine 'fiddles', several Canadian provinces and a few U.S. states are 'on fire' with plans for pellet factories and fast-growing plantations of renewables like switchgrass.

Maine's environmental regulations are a stone wall when it comes to the fast moving 'wild fire' of alternative energy technologies....just look at the history of cellulosic ethanol refinery development...everywhere but Maine!

Smothering new technologies and entrepreneurial zeal with a thick blanket of environmental 'concerns' expressed as regulations, only drives new enterprises out of state....and drives up our cost of imported fuels and now electricity.

Governor Baldacci has mediated the 'war' between the Dept. of Agriculture and Forest resources and DEP, which wants to expand its power over all ag. and forestry industry, large & small; illustrating this expansion of regulation over everything.

...remember the KOI fish?...without firm boundaries mutually agreed up, you could have a DEP inspection of your garden, indoor plants and aquariums this summer.report abuse

Mark Katz of Hallowell, ME RU forgetting that government involvement is often leveraged through tax policy in ways that significantly impact the private sector's "free markets"? The article addresses potential concerns as regard competing industries.

Government has a legitimate role in assessing resource utilization and sustainability, particularly on public lands.

Regulation is not a dirty word. Government responsibilities extend to questions of environmental quality and public health, e.g. soil conservation and water quality issues and particulate emissions, and safety, e.g. boiler safety and transportation issues.

At costs as high as $10,000, tax deductions are hardly equitable. Credits or grants may provide desirable equality of access and better market penetration.

As every ecologist knows, everything is connected to everything else. Adherence to strict dichotomies between public and private does not advance progress.report abuse

Frank Heller of Brunswick, ME The wood pellet industry is fueling a revolution in two other areas:

wood fired cars & trucks(see SWEDEN's precer.com for a high tech atv that runs on pellets or FINLAND's home built cars/trucks at http://www.ekoautoilijat.fi/tekstit/kalustoesittely.htm )

Home electric generators the size of dishwashers that run on wood pellets(see Whispergen at http://www.whispergen.com/content/library/WTL1408AC_BrochureEng.pdf )

Both use STIRLING ENGINES to generate electricty quietly and effortlessly, and, for now, expensively.

An appropriate role for government is to finance the planting of renewable cellulosic crops and the building of energy efficient pellet factories in high bio-mass regions of Maine.

Leave production to the private sector; especially since the machinery for producing pellets from varied feedstocks is still emerging and being perfected.report abuse