In the May 20 Press Herald editorial, promoting wind power, the Editorial Board states that Maine might finally be ready “to capitalize on its human and natural resources to become players in the burgeoning offshore wind industry.” It lists leading manufacturing companies in this alternative-energy source, which come from Norway, Denmark and Germany. Why are there no companies from the U.S. listed as leaders in wind industry manufacturing?

Know this: We have a deeply rooted congressional commitment to use our tax dollars to support a military-industrial complex. Most congressional districts in the country are beholden to the jobs that build the financially profitable infrastructure for endless war (including modernizing nuclear weapons and building the weapons and infrastructure for the Space Command). Did you notice that the Pentagon, after decades of belligerent recalcitrance, finally allowed an audit of its $2.7 trillion books? And, when it failed miserably, a spokesperson said they’d never expected to pass!

Studies such as “Costs of War,” by Brown University’s Watson Institute, show that tax dollars spent on building an alternative-energy infrastructure create far more jobs than military production. Employees at Bath Iron Works just worked long and hard to complete the third Zumwalt destroyer, only to read in the Portland Press Herald coverage of a Government Accountability Office report concluding that “after 20 years and more than $25 billion, the Navy will have three new ships without a usable weapon system or a defined role in the U.S. fleet.”

Let’s start taking our federal dollars away from the Pentagon and prioritize dealing with the most important security threat in the world: the climate crisis. Let’s change our public priorities and pay our BIW employees to convert their shipyard to start production of wind energy systems, light rail, tidal power and other renewable-energy products.

Mary Beth Sullivan

Brunswick