Dear Editor:

I am very disappointed with our local state representatives, Hawke, Handley and Pierce, for not voting to override Governor LePage's veto of the solar energy bill (LD-1949). Together, the electric utilities, Maine solar installers, the House Energy Committee, and the Office of Public Advocacy (OPA (advocating for utility customer's interests)) worked for more than six months, to put together a compromise bill that would create about 600 good paying Maine jobs, lower electricity costs (in the long run), and increase Maine's energy independence, not to mention air and ocean heat rise, and cleaner air to breathe. (Burning fossil fuels contribute to asthma.)

The defeat of the solar bill gives the Public Utilities Commission the authority to decide the future of solar in Maine. The PUC can delay making a decision; thereby, jeopardizing the Maine solar industry this year. If this occurs our representatives should take responsibility for the loss of good paying solar jobs.

I challenge our representatives to help their political party, to develop a bill to support the growing solar energy business.

Marty Fox

Wiscasset