Many communities across the country have felt the sting of globalization. I worry that things will get worse and the American economy will not keep growing if energy costs continue to balloon, as they have in recent years. Nationally, three million manufacturing jobs have been lost since 2000, owing in large part to the lower cost of doing business overseas.

It makes no sense that American energy resources in places such as the Gulf of Mexico and off the southern Atlantic coast are off-limits. With gasoline and heating oil prices so high, our elected leaders are doing nothing to drive energy costs down. Action is needed immediately to maintain the competitiveness of America’s industrial sector.

Given the urgency of the situation, Congress must act, and quickly, to open up offshore energy resources.

Sterling Pingree, Kingfield