John McCain’s energy policy is to sacrifice the lives of a few Mainers for oil company profits.

Barack Obama is proposing a $1,000 check; Rep. Tom Allen, a $2,000 tax credit and loans. Both would regulate oil speculation, which adds $40-60 per barrel to the cost of oil.

Sen. John McCain offers the oil companies’ energy plan. That plan centers on off-shore oil drilling and building 45 nuclear power plants.

Am I the only one who can’t image public support for 45 nuclear plants? There hasn’t been one built in 30 years because they don’t make a profit, can’t be privately insured, and haven’t solved their 250,000-year waste disposal problem. That’s a big hole in McCain’s plan.

Drilling off the Continental Shelf? According to a Department of Energy study, it takes the oil companies seven years to produce any oil, and 22 years to produce enough to affect prices. This is confirmed by the about-to-go-on-line Tahiti oil field in the Gulf of Mexico that was discovered in 2002 and will begin producing its first drop of oil next year.

So the McCain plan is to keep prices above $100 per barrel for the next 22 years in hopes that the oil companies will find some oil. Nothing he proposes will affect prices now. He’ll let people freeze first.

And he got $1 million last month from the oil companies to change his position.

Jonathan Albrecht, Dixfield