Letter to Barack Obama, President of the United States - Supporting Natural Gas

Letter

Dear President Obama,

Madison Paper Industries in Maine recently closed for two weeks, in great part, due to the high cost of energy to operate its machinery. Approximately 215 middle income families lost their paychecks in the dead of winter.

Last year, three other paper mills in our Second Congressional District permanently shut down, primarily for the same reason. Another 1,000 hard-working families lost their incomes in one of the most rural Districts in America.

To save our mills, factories and jobs, government should do everything possible to lower the costs to run our businesses. Falling gasoline, diesel, and heating oil prices will also help our hurting families fill their vehicles, heat their homes, and pay the monthly electric bills.

For this reason, I respectfully ask that you please sign the forthcoming legislation passed by both the U.S. House and Senate to allow the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. Doing so will increase the production and environmentally safe transportation of American and Canadian oil to help fuel our economy and create more jobs.

Additionally, after your State of the Union address, and again last week at your hospitable reception for new Members of Congress, I asked that you please approve the expedited permitting to construct natural gas pipelines throughout our nation. I recently co-sponsored the Natural Gas Pipeline Permitting Reform Act, which would do just that. It passed the House with bipartisan support and is awaiting consideration in the Senate. Maine is in desperate need of more pipeline capacity to keep our manufacturing businesses open.

Thousands of deserving Maine families and their small communities are highly dependent on the good-paying jobs provided by our mills and factories. Please reconsider your public statements about vetoing the aforementioned critically important legislation.

If helpful, I'd be delighted to ask the owners of one of our paper mills to provide you with a tour of their facility. Maine is the proud home of the most skilled paper makers in the world. I'm confident the workers can make a strong case for cheaper energy in order to keep their jobs, pay their mortgages, and put groceries on the table.

I stand ready to work with you, your staff and Cabinet, and my Congressional colleagues to help lower the cost of domestic energy so our mills, factories, and other businesses can grow and create more jobs.

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