The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) will lower whole sale electric costs $40 million a year for 20 years. Do the math, that is a lot of savings, which is why the companies selling electricity into the wholesale market are fighting the project.
Retirees like myself pay close attention to electric costs. Maine has the oldest population in the United States, so this matters to a lot of people. We retirees also have grandchildren, many of whom like mine have had to move out of state for good jobs and want to return. Mbaine’s economy stands to benefit from new jobs the NECEC will deliver-3500 in the peak year-as well as cleaner air, but we shouldn’t overlook savings. Lower energy costs will really help Maine.
Walter Anderson
North Yarmouth, ME
What jobs exactly, do you think the NECEC will generate Walter? And what do you think wholesale savings will do for you, the consumer? I don’t really understand you post, you are throwing around random bits of info that do really have any factual base to back them up, my suggestion is for you to do some research into the NECEC and decide then if your post makes any sense. And Yarmouth is quite a way from where the project will be located, there have been a few informational meeting on this in the local areas. Maybe you should pay attention to other postings in this rag and attend one, get informed, and stop griping about things that are not true or relevant.
” If you tell a big enough lie and you repeat that big lie frequently, the people will believe it.” Adolf Hitler
Walter Anderson, Don’t know who you are or what you do. I do know that you do not reside in any of the towns effected by this extension cord to Mass. I do and it is less than 1,000 ft. from our mail box so this is in OUR yard, not yours.
But here is a link to some of the facts https://www.nrcm.org/projects/climate/cmp-proposed-transmission-line-bad-deal-maine/ Maybe you have land or property in on of the towns or own some sort of interests in the development of the power corridor, that I do know about and don’t care about. What I care about is the lies and deals done behind doors to the people of the state of Maine so that some International Company can line their FAT pockets even more. Do you have any more information about the Governor’s trip to Spain? Wondering what that was all about? Here is the link that I posted after the last meeting in Farmington and I do believe that over 200 more people signed the petition. It looks like they only have 90 more signatures to get the 5,000 required. https://nrcm.salsalabs.org/opposenecec/index.html Thanks, Enjoy YOUR woods, waters, views and wonders in the state of Maine don’t go messing then up.
Sounds like you are on CMP’s payroll. Maybe you should move yo Massachusetts
IF! and it is a big IF the savings is $20m per year/ 620000 customers it equals $32.25 per year. Anyone willing to destroy wilderness in Maine for $32? Cheap date
The power is going through Maine
Maine itself has a surplus of power
Maine doesn’t have the lines to ship power out of state
If this line goes in will the small power producers in Maine get to use it?
Conn. payes good on the spot market if you can deliver it there
Don’t believe it. Central Spain power out to steal your money, and your future.
We destroy way more wilderness for wind turbines that produce unreliable power at 3 times the cost. Yet we subsidize them. My small town will at least see a reduction in our property taxes from this power line. It utilizes existing right of ways for a large portion of it’s route and adds true green reliable hydro power to the grid. Benefitting everyone. Wind power and solar power are dependant on deforesting massive amounts of land and only produce power when the wind is blowing or the sun is out. Water flows 24-7- 365 . Producing clean green reliable power. Let’s promote it not fight it.
Walter, my understanding is that CMP is estimating a $40 million cost suppression not a reduction in energy costs to customers over 20 years:
$40,000,000.00/ 665,000 CMP customers = $60.15 per customer over 20 years
$60.15/ 20 years = $3.00/ year per customer
$3.00/ 12 months = $0.25 per customer per bill.
Incidentally an independent consulting company (LEI) estimated that savings considerably lower.
This is capitalism without a conscience. This is predation.
People, this is not a done deal! Get active with your town leaders, this is where we can make a difference!
When you tell a big enough lie about wind energy and tell it frequently the s heeple will accept the big lie and not believe reality.
Going along to get along is a dysfunctional
reality. Critical thinking is becoming extinct.
A 2-3 year project that destroys the best wilderness in Maine and spoils the some of the best whitewater rafting in the US, which is purported to employ up to 3,500 people, is not going to entice your grandchildren to come back to Maine. As for hydro being green energy, there are many places to find information that shows the opposite in this specific case. Do some research – Canada will make sure Mass has hydro power while they pollute to deliver power to themselves or other places like NY. More and more information is coming out about how hydro power is warming the ocean in our neck of the woods too and making negative impacts. What if this went through Baxter State Park and over the slopes of Mt. Katahdin? Would more people that live in the southern part of the state care about it then? The only difference between running it through a state park and the Enchanted Forest is that you don’t pay to enter the forest that they want to carve up. It’s a working forest and still beautiful and full of native brook trout, another jewel that is very hard to find anywhere east of the Mississippi. Wildlife abounds and all you have to do is just go see it. Coburn Mountain (3,750ft), one of the tallest in the area, will have the powerline go right over it complete with red lights on it. I can’t even believe that after seeing that mountain for the last 28 years and having a camp on it for the last 12 years that this is a possibility. If only it were as tall as Katahdin – I guess it’s just not pretty enough. I understand and support capitalism, but some things are too precious to reap in it’s name. Managing and logging this forest is a way to help the economy, while the trees grow back. Renewable! Just as tourism would be affected if you ran this through Baxter State Park, it will have a profound impact on tourism for rafting, sightseeing and guiding. People don’t want to see this when they “get away from it all.” They will keep going until they find that peacefulness they seek.
Walter,, methinks u are actually an opponent of this project just trying to get a rise..
Good job.
This project is a bully scam for the people of Maine.
The answer is NO….
And Joe,, u r correct about wind and solar.
Hydro works,, !!!
I agree a powerline isn’t attractive. I also know that the wildlife benefit from the new food source. Have you ever hunted or just watched the wildlife , they flock to the low bushes and plants. We are talking about 53 miles of new powerline the rest of the corridor is already cut. As for rafting? Come on people. Without the evil power companies dams there wouldn’t be any. Do the research, this project will not have the detrimental impact the opposition is complaining about other than its not pretty. Sorry I don’t see a powerline running over a river as such an eyesore that I would stay away. Ive lived, hunted fished and hiked the area my whole life and will continue to do so.
My numbers where off in my earlier post.
4442 Signatures
99% Goal: 4500
https://nrcm.salsalabs.org/opposenecec/index.html Thanks and the PUC have already postponed the permitting date until March of next year to get more information, now the company is willing to go UNDER the George instead of having the transmission lines go over head. Why do we have to be ripped off and our land damaged so that Mass. can get so called green energy? Joe how many of those job will Mainers get? How much money will the Mainers get? For how long will this money last? If it quacks it’s a duck, if you step in it it’s S*#^ and you know it right away. As to the rest of the corridor that is already cut. BS they just recently found out which side of the now existing right of way the new BIGGER poles go and they will cleat out another 75 ft. on that side of the right of way and some of the property owners are quite upset about this. If they fight it, it will cost money that most of us don’t have and in the end eminent domain will come in for CMP and the people will lose their land to this crap.
I was always a proponent of hydro power until I started to understand the scope of the destruction that will be caused by allowing this power project. There is nothing here for Maine besides a few dollars, which would never repair or replace the damage to our forest, rivers, lakes, streams and vistas from building the power lines. Hydro power dams are also restricting the passage of silica into bodies of water down stream from the dams. This stoppage has caused a decline in many marine organisms, which rely on silica to build their skeletons. These organisms are the base of the food chain for aquatic life. Think of the damage it has and would cause here.
This project will only create temporary jobs, and only for a couple of years. Many of the jobs will be taken by out of state workers contracted in by out of state sub contractors. As Deke mentioned, 40 millions sounds like a lot, but equals a savings of around $35 per household. Maine can create enough energy on its own for what we use. This power is going straight to Massachusetts. CMP is greenwashing the idea by saying it will generate more power for the entire New England Grid, which Maine only uses 8%. This project will destroy a 53 mile path, up to 300 feet wide. It goes entirely too close to several Class A native brook trout ponds, it will be TUNNELED UNDERNEATH the Kennebec River Gorge, about 400 yards UPSTREAM of Cold Brook, which is basically the largest spawning grounds for the Brook Trout that live in that section of the Kennebec. It will be totally decimated no matter how much silt fence or mitigation is done. This proposed powerline is a terrible idea for Maine. New Hampshire, and even Massachusetts stopped the project from their own state because of how destructive it will be. There is no vote, we can only voice our opinions. Get in contact with your local representatives. We can STOP THE CORRIDOR
We have allowed money to replace God, and that is so much of what’s wrong with this country. Money, money, money! Money cannot, nor ever will be, able to buy everything, but I’ll tell you this: once you sell your soul to the devil you can never get it back. To the people of Maine: Please, I beg you, don’t allow corporate greed to sell out Maine’s soul!
I’m sure Walter does pay close attention to his electricity costs, but so don’t the rest of us especially with CMP’s track record of overcharging and lying about it. Why would you believe the figures they give you about this project or anything for that matter. This project does absolutely NOTHING for the people of Maine and for the gentleman that claims this transmission line would do nothing to prevent him from hunting, fishing or enjoying the area hasn’t fully contemplated what this mean for those areas. Not only would it change the type of access he enjoys or the habitat that currently exists there, but how this project is merely the opening that the Spanish owned corporation of Iberdrola/Avangrid needs to start raping and industrializing Maine’s magnificent woodlands with more windmills of their own. This whole thing is a scam that we are being sold. Stop this dead in it’s tracks and let this major Spanish conglomerate take their lies and greed somewhere else.
For the comment by Joe: I’m a guide, but for me, this has never been just about the river. That’s one tiny section of this. Drive up north where they are proposing this. Look at the area, now imagine lines and poles twice the height of most existing electrical lines in the state. These will tower above the tree line (though CMP’s ‘simulated’ photos purposely try to make it look as though they are the same height as the trees). The 53 miles of new cut is designed in a way to make use of every mountain next to it for wind towers, introducing far more environmental devastation within a few years. New feeding grounds? They use nasty chemicals on their powerlines, you think that’s good feeding? The ‘rest of the corridor’ is NOT already cut. CMP wants you to think they are just using ‘existing corridor’. They will be WIDENING the entire length of the ‘existing’ corridor, and adding this line, which is twice as tall as the existing line, again towering above tree line views for over 100 miles, doing more environmental damage, adding high tension lines, the kind that cause health damage, proven health damage. These will be quite close to homes in the more populated areas of our state. Regarding rafting: sorry to debunk that theory, but even without Harris Station, there would be rafting. Not the same consistency in water levels, but there would be rafting. Also, just because Harris Station currently exists, and is a hydro station, that does not just excuse ruining a massive area of Maine’s ecosystem, which happens to be a huge financial impact area in Maine, to get power to a state that refuses to use their own lands to make their own power, and to great financial windfall for a Spanish owned company which consistently underperforms for their current obligations to the state of Maine. CMP has two law suits against them now. If you hire someone to build your house and they mess it up, lie to you about it, and overcharge you, do you turn around and ask them to build you a garage next? In addition, the comment about not staying away because of a power line: There was a large study done a year ago by a trusted organization, the Muir Foundation, that actually confirms that a majority of people WOULD look for other places to recreate, rather than go to an industrialized area. Seriously, would you REALLY go to power lines to recreate if you could go somewhere else? This line is simply bad for Maine in too many ways. Don’t be a cheap date. The 40 Million/year adds up to NOT MUCH. Sounds big in one lump sum, but in reality, it’s ridiculous.
Put it to a vote. The only people I have seen in support of the corridor, have a horse in the race.
Once it is built, hopes you all will still visit the remaining vast wilderness where the energy corridor isn’t and you will get used to it, just as we have gotten used to the local windmills selling their electricity to those places down south.
It pisses me off that my state is allowing itself to have our best assets ruined forever.
I hope we brown out the whole state of mass and it burns out all their friggin “stuff”..
Go the hell away.
NO, NO, NO…..It is not good, take your jobs and shove them, we need them like another hole in the #$$, Maine is supposed to be kept beautiful. Big companies always trying to play us like a bunch of dummies, just hoping we will jump at the opportunity, not this time, back off!
What’s the alternative?
More wind farms?
More dammed rivers?
Re build Maine Yankee ( lot cost per KW over life span)
Natural gas sub stations?
I’ll take this,
Simply reduce your electrical consumption habits.
Educate yourself about microwaves and “smart”
electronics. You may find a relationship between the products and the “energy” suppliers. Discover the difference between a want and a need. Ask yourself who really gets the “smart” end of the stick.
” Tell a big enough lie and tell it often enough, and the people will believe it” A. Hitler
Do not allow electrical “power” to enslave you or your family. People lived without it in the last century. We will survive with less consumption.
Just say no. No is a complete sentence.