Everyone agrees that the environment should be protected. The question is, to what extent and where are the lines drawn between science, common sense and what is the best for the survival of the country.

Talking with a friend, whose opinion I respect, I was telling him how the country has gone too far in pushing the “green” theory. He replied, “Gordon, don’t you realize how much better the Androscoggin River is compared to 1970?”

I agreed, but here is the problem — great strides have been made but now things have gone way overboard.

I compare the situation to the growth of unions.

In the early 1900s through the 1950s, unions grew and were necessary as management did take advantage of the labor source. Then union officials killed the fatted calf with their demands and the pendulum swung the other way.

Now, people are realizing, especially at the state level, that the public cannot afford the demands that were allowed.

On the environmental front, the public is finally recognizing that the gloom and doom of the environmental community isn’t necessarily so. More people are saying “wait a minute.”

In closing, I have a question. I wonder if members of the Democratic Party and the environmental community realize the harm they have done and are doing to the American economy and the survival of this country.

Gordon Howe, Hanover