As we know, there’s a lot of debate happening about who we trust with our electrical grid. Proponents of Pine Tree Power tout the benefits of keeping profits within our state and not placating investors who don’t use our system. Proponents of keeping our largest utilities private tout the benefits of not having “politicians run our grid” and not having to take out large loans to purchase the existing companies.

Our grid is complex. It is critical infrastructure for our society. As we continue our path into a further complicated cyber and physical world, we face even more vulnerabilities every day. New technologies, more demanding emission goals (both state and federal) and an increase in severity of storms have all led to more interest from the public. I think it’s great that people care and want to talk about what we can do.

As a professional engineer who has worked in the utility industry for 10 years, I will be voting for Pine Tree Power. I believe that we Mainers are not only competent enough to run our own grid, but that we should also have more local influence in decisions that are made regarding our critical infrastructure.

Trevor Henry
Topsham