Should Mainers have adopted the Green Partys Clear-Cutting proposal, or the Compacts?
I supported the compact. I think that pulp and paper industry is still one of major industries in this state. You have to place some limits on as far as lumbering practices, and to make sure that there are some basic rules. I thought the compact was the right way to go because it tightened restrictions against clear-cutting while having at the same time the support of the paper companies, the support of environmentalists, such as the Maine Audubon Society and the Natural Resources Council, and also the support of the legislature and the governor. And all these groups don’t agree very often. So I think it was a missed opportunity to tighten up the regulations. I don’t know how you get back to that place now because it’s still true that the pulp and paper industry is fairly strong in the legislature. So many people in Maine depend on the paper industry for their jobs. It’s a situation where you have real division between some people who are not connected with the industry who don’t reali
