Pickens Plan District Group ME-02

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Comment by Geoff Bailey on August 19, 2009 at 4:20pm

Good Afternoon!

We are smack dab right in the middle of August Recess. Members of Congress (MOC) are back in their districts, holding events and Town Hall meetings. This is our time to shine army! While the majority of the current Town Hall meetings are focusing on Health Care, other issues are covered as well. I would encourage you to attend your MOC Town Hall and ask them a few quick questions:

1. What is your plan to end our dependence on foreign oil?
2. If you don’t have a plan, do you support the Pickens Plan?
3. If so, would you sign the Pickens Pledge?
4. Are you a Co-Sponsor of HR 1835, “The Natural Gas Act of 2009?” It’s a vital piece of legislation that, for the first time, gives the right incentives for natural gas to become a viable transportation fuel alternative to foreign oil. It currently has 77 bipartisan Co-Sponsors in the House – split almost evenly between Republicans and Democrats.

To find out where your MOC is having their next Town Hall meeting, visit their website and email/call their office for more information. You can do that here: http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml or by calling the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Also, don’t forget about your Senators! S 1408 is the sister bill of HR 1835 and we need to make sure all 100 members of the United States Senate have signed up as Co-Sponsors! You can check out where your Senators are having Town Halls in your area by emailing/calling their offices for dates and locations. You can do that here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm or by calling the United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.

Together, we can end our dependence on foreign oil. But it is going to take all of us working together. The effort we put in today will give us the secure energy future we want for tomorrow!

Geoff
Geoffrey@pickensplan.com

Comment by Geoff Bailey on July 20, 2009 at 12:06pm

Are you interested in becoming a District Leader? It is a great way to get involved, and help others get involved in your community. With all of our legislative momentum going into the fall, and after the Pickens Plan One Year Anniversary, there has never been a better time to get involved!

If you’re interested, email me at Geoffrey@pickensplan.com and I can tell you more about our District Leader program. Come be a part of something special!

Geoff

Comment by Chad Caldwell on April 3, 2009 at 6:08pm

Dear Chad:

Thank you for contacting me about the energy challenges faced by our country. Congress recently took some steps to provide relief for those struggling to fuel their cars and heat their homes, as well as to promote renewable energy and domestic drilling. But, we need to do more to move our economy away from its dependence on oil, which we know all too often comes from hostile and unstable regimes elsewhere in the world.

A substantial increase of approximately $2.5 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) was included in H.R. 2638, the Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations Act for 2009. LIHEAP provides fuel assistance and supports weatherization of homes throughout Maine. H.R. 2638, which provided continuing funding for government operations and federal programs, funded LIHEAP at its fully authorized level of $5.1 billion.

I have also supported efforts to establish a tax credit for middle class families to help pay for heating fuel. Unfortunately, this measure has not yet been passed. In addition, I have supported efforts to draw down on the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve, both of which would put downward pressure on prices by bringing more supplies to market. However, while the House passed measures to tap the SPR, the Senate failed to follow suit.

Congress also needs to reign in excessive speculation that drives up prices. In H.R. 6124, the Farm Bill, Congress began to close the so-called "Enron" loophole, but we need to continue to extended important oversight to previously unregulated markets and create more uniform regulations for international markets that operate in different countries. Again, the House passed a number of bills in the last session of Congress, but the Senate did not take further action on these measures.

H.R. 2638 also opened up portions of the outer continental shelf to drilling by removing the legislative moratorium on drilling. The House of Representatives had previously passed H.R.6899, the Comprehensive American Energy Security and Consumer Protection Act, which would also have opened portions of the outer continental shelf. I supported these bills and believe additional drilling is necessary, but it must be acknowledged that it will be years before this oil is refined and brought to market.

In order to protect our economy and national security in the long-term we must reduce our dependence on foreign oil, by increasing domestic production, investing in renewable and alternative energy, and adopting efficiency measures that will lower costs for homeowners and businesses. I have long supported extensions of the production tax credit and investment tax credit for renewable forms of power, including wind and tidal, voting for these provisions in the House of Representatives. I have also worked hard to push for the commercialization of cellulosic ethanol, a technology that could create jobs in Maine. Some of these provisions were included in the H.R. 1424, the Economic Stabilization Act, which was signed into law in early October 2008.

I am hopeful that the new administration will work with Congress to take responsible action to secure our energy future. Americans understand that no single solution will solve our energy problem, and that the answer lies in supporting the development of a variety of energy resources and technology while at the same time conserving and implementing efficiency measures available today. I will continue to urge congressional leaders in both chambers and from both parties to come together and negotiate. The solutions to our energy crisis will not come from one political party, but from consensus policies that are rooted in fact and that provide real results.

Thank you again for sharing your views with me. In addition, I also provide occasional email updates on a range of issues affecting people in Maine. If you would like to receive this information, please visit my website at http://michaud.house.gov/email_newsletter.asp and sign up for my email newsletter. I appreciate the opportunity to represent you.


With warmest regards,



Michael H. Michaud
Member of Congress

Comment by Geoff Bailey on April 2, 2009 at 10:49am

VIRTUAL MARCH DAY 2 - Boone Needs YOU

The Department of Energy has released the oil import figures for the month of March 2009. The data shows we imported 386 barrels at a cost of $18 billion. While we are importing less oil because of the recession, the percentage of oil we are importing is remaining disappointingly stable. The March numbers show we imported 65% percent of the oil we used.

Over the past 12 months, America has had to import nearly two-thirds of the oil we need. In 2008 that amounted to $475 billion dollars. Keep in mind, this is not a one-time payment like a stimulus package or a bail-out bill. This is an annual cost of over $400 billion per year.

CLICK HERE TO EMAIL YOUR MEMBERS OF CONGRESS TODAY AND ASK THEM TO TAKE ACTION TO REDUCE OUR DEPENDENCY ON FOREIGN OIL.

Geoff

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on April 2, 2009 at 3:57am

By Stephen Pizzo, News for Real
Posted on April 1, 2009, Printed on April 1, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/134392/I

I voted for Barack Obama, and I continue to wish him nothing but success. But I have to admit his and Tim Geithner's solution to the banking crisis is exactly the wrong solution. The administration seems to believe the best thing to do is to throw the drunken "money center" bankers into detox, hose them off and put them back in the game.

It's a bit like asking ExxonMobil to run the Environmental Protection Agency, or appointing Charles Keating to head the General Accounting Office.

The strange thing is that others in the administration, particularly those tasked with straightening out the auto industry, are taking the opposite -- and correct -- tact. They fired the head of GM and cleaned out GM's board of directors for good measure.

That's how you begin fixing stuff that's broke -- first you get rid of the folks who broke it. What you don't do is hand them billions of free bucks, a hearty slap on the back and a rousing "Now, go get 'em tiger!" (Because they will.)

But that's precisely what the administration is doing for America's failed money center banks. The nation's largest banks are often referred to as money market banks or money center banks.

In addition to the traditional markets, to be a money center bank today means to have a global presence as well as heavy involvement in wholesale banking with clients including many retail banks and large corporations. Citibank, JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America fit this description. Here's a list of America's leading money center banks.

So, it appears we will have to take matters into our own hands. By "we" I mean anyone with a checking account, savings account or certificates of deposit. That, my friends, would be you. You are up at bat, and we're counting on you.

What we need to do is force the administration to do to these tumorlike institutions -- currently hiding behind the myth they are "too big to fail" -- what they just did to GM. Tell them that, since taxpayers are now major stakeholders, they must fire their senior management and either clean up the mess they made or face immediate seizure and liquidation.

And just how are you going to force such a change? It's just this simple:


1) If you bank with any of these money center banks, withdraw your funds immediately

2) Go to this site and find an independent community bank in your area and deposit your funds there instead. (Credit unions are another excellent and safe alternative to banking a money center bank.)


That's it. That's the whole enchilada. The outflow of what bankers call "retail funds," if large enough, will become the final straw that breaks the backs of these bulls in our fiscal china shop.

But, you ask, will my money be safe in a small, community bank?

Of course it will be safe, just as safe, maybe safer, than it was at Citibank or BofA. First, community banks are covered by exactly the same deposit insurance as money center banks. But beyond that, community bankers are community bankers. They live in the communities they serve. They know their towns. And, most importantly, they know their borrowers.

Community banks are, for the most part, the last remaining healthy sector of American banking. If they are hurting at all, it's because their customers are losing their jobs, not because they lent a godzillion dollars to some fly-by-night schemer or invested in anything with an AIG logo on it.

A good community banker's definition of a toxic asset is more along the lines of Farmer Jones' wrecked pickup on which the bank holds the paper.

So, if you are customer of one of those money center banks, institutions currently hoarding hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout funds, walk right in, sit right down and tell them you want the dough that still has your name on it, and you want it now.

Otherwise these tumor-banks will survive Geithner's weak-kneed chemo treatments to emerge intact to pillage another day.

I don't know if what I am suggesting is legal or not. I remember back in 1983, when I wrote my first story about how a savings and loan was using deregulation to put taxpayers at risk. The thrift's lawyers contacted me at the paper and warned me that they were going monitor withdrawals and, if there were a lot of customers withdrawing their money, they ask that I be arrested and charge with breaking a federal law -- still on the books -- that made it illegal to spark a run on a bank.

I took my chances then, and was proved right. I'll take my chances again. So, run baby. Run.

Stephen Pizzo is the author of numerous books, including Inside Job: The Looting of America's Savings and Loans, which was nominated for a Pulitzer.

© 2009 News for Real All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/134392

Comment by Geoff Bailey on April 1, 2009 at 2:02pm

As you know, today is the start of the Pickens Plan Virtual March on Washington. I included some messages below that you should feel free to use when trying to get friends and family to participate.

This is going to be my Facebook status over the next three days:

“Boone Pickens, Rock the Vote and I urged policy makers to pass energy legislation. You can too: http://tinyurl.com/c6b53s”

This is what I emailed my friends, family and neighbors – and then sent to all of my Facebook friends:

“Join me, Boone Pickens and Rock the Vote in telling Congress and the President: Help improve our environment, economy & bring us toward energy independence by passing energy legislation now! Be heard today! http://tinyurl.com/c6b53s”

April 1-3 is going to be an exciting time for the Pickens Plan and everyone involved! We have over 4.5 million people participating in this March with us. The more folks who contact Congress, the more impact we have on the debate.

For the first time in our nation’s history, we have millions of people converging on Washington, speaking with a unified voice, and demanding a viable, sustainable energy policy that ends our dependence on foreign oil.

It’s Go Time! Contact your member of Congress today!

Boone is counting on you. Visit http://www.pickensplan.com/virtualmarch/ today and let your voice be heard!

Geoff
Geoffrey@pickensplan.com

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on March 25, 2009 at 12:34pm

May I ask who the Group Leader is in Maine 02 ?

Comment by Judy DePalma on February 4, 2009 at 7:53pm

Way to go, Mike.

DC is starting to listen! Boone’s latest email and today’s video blog has some great news, but he still needs your help. Please tell your Senators you want them to support the Pickens Plan components of the stimulus package.

There is now a Contact Congress function on the Pickens Plan site specifically for this issue. Go here or to the tabs at the top of this page: “Take Action”, then “Contact Congress” and follow the prompts from there.

We are also encouraging everyone to place calls directly to your Senator’s offices. Here is contact information for Senators Collins and Snowe:

Senator Susan Collins
413 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-2523, Fax: (202) 224-2693

Senator Olympia Snowe
154 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Phone: (202) 224-5344, Toll Free: (800) 432-1599

We’re tracking Congressional response, so please let us know when you get a reply.

“Let’s keep the pressure on!”

Judy

Comment by Mike Anthony Fernald Sr. on February 3, 2009 at 3:38pm

February 3, 2009

Dear Mr. Fernald:

Thank you for contacting me with your views regarding the economic stimulus package. I appreciate your taking the time to do so.

Every day, we hear more reports of massive job losses, and Maine is no exception with an increase in its unemployment rate to seven percent. Congress must work with President Obama to get the economy moving again. I believe, however, that it is critical that Congress pass an economic stimulus bill that achieves the right balance, right size, and right mix of tax relief and spending programs to ensure that any stimulus legislation will actually boost the economy and create jobs, not just add to the soaring deficit.

In that regard, I have serious concerns with the $819 billion bill that has been approved by the U.S. House of Representatives. I am working with Senator Ben Nelson (D-NE), on a bipartisan, compromise plan that would result in a smaller and more targeted bill that would help get our economy back on track.

In addition to infrastructure investments, the stimulus should include funding to help states avoid cuts in essential health care programs, tax relief for low and middle-income families, tax incentives to help small businesses, and investments in energy conservation to help create jobs and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.

Again, thank you for contacting me. I will continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to come up with a final stimulus package that is bipartisan, targeted and effective.

Sincerely,
Susan M. Collins

United States Senator

SMC: dsc

Comment by William E Higgins Jr on February 3, 2009 at 3:11pm

http://www.mainebiz.biz/news44046.html

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