Spokespersons for CMP/Avangrid/Iberdrola often repeat the untrue claim that they own the land on which their transmission line corridor will be located, Why? Because this falsehood hides the fact that they will use one mile of public land without obtaining the approval of 2/3 of the Maine Legislature, as required by statute and the Maine Constitution.
Their second untrue assertion is that the transmission line corridor will be a good investment in Maine. It would be an investment in the New England power grid to meet the energy goals of Massachusetts, not Maine. That is why Massachusetts is willing to pay $950,000,000 to build the transmission line corridor. The return on investment for Maine will be the destruction of the scenic quality, environment and natural resources of the western Maine mountains.
Who would believe that the destruction of 3,600 acres of forests, that remove CO2 and release oxygen, and the erection of approximately 7,000, 100-foot-high transmission towers to create between 19 and 38 permanent jobs would be a good investment for Maine? The individuals who promote billions in profits for two multi-billion-dollar foreign corporations would think so.
It’s a bad deal for Maine!
John Nicholas
Winthrop
Bureau of Parks and Lands planner David Rodrigues said when he was working on the lease back in 2014, he had no idea the parcel was destined to be a major transmission corridor — and didn’t consult the relevant statute. “To me, when I was working on it, I believed that it was for renewable energy and possibly windmills to be built in that region,” Rodrigues said. “I knew nothing about any other reason for the corridor.”
CMP already has the permit, it is not CMP’s fault the state regulator didn’t do his due diligence to find out what the project entailed. And here is the law.
Lease of nonreserved public land for utilities and rights-of-way. The bureau may lease the right, for a term not exceeding 25 years, to:
A. Set and maintain or use poles, electric power transmission and telecommunication transmission facilities, roads, bridges and landing strips; [PL 1997, c. 678, §13 (NEW).]
B. Lay and maintain or use pipelines and railroad tracks; and [PL 1997, c. 678, §13 (NEW).]
C. Establish and maintain or use other rights-of-way. [PL 1997, c. 678, §13 (NEW).]
It is a legal matter, not a legislative one. Maine has a supreme court for dealing with such things.
HB addressed the first question. As to the who? of the second question, Anyone who enjoys the advantages of having electricity that can backstop wind,solar and batteries at a reasonable price. 95% of all new proposed electrical generation proposed for New England is wind, solar and batteries ( ISO-NE 2020 Regional Electricity Outlook )
HB – actually cmp IS culpable for ‘not mentioning’ the use, so you are not really correct with your statement. Sorry to have to bring you the bad news on that one. I know that you really want this cmp corridor at all costs, but you will have to do better than that. After all, the law is the law, and obviously something was slipped under the table. Have a nice day.
Well Hrtlss,
Looks to me like it IS a legislative issue. And as of now, the lease is terminated with CMP until the legislative body has a vote on it. The people who made this decision know full well that CMP and its parent companies may take the State of Maine to court over the matter. Those same people are also confident the attorney general will defend their decision.
Just when l thought CMP’s Public Relations couldn’t get any worse….
Too bad one big “no” group lost the support of so many Republicans/Conservatives by using the ‘movement’ to recruit more socialists. They’re under investigation for this now. I’d tried to get them to be more neutral, but no dice – there’s another agenda there.
Enjoy the corridor; Maine takes out its own hyrdo, but it’s ok to use Canada’s, right. Let the ‘green’ energy harvest begin! Most of you support such climate change initiatives, so time to do your part!
Over regulated…huh? socialists? this is the most bipartisan effort in the history of Maine. And yes, CMP will attack us with their team of lawyers at every step of the way- they stand to make millions per month, exchanging wildlands of Western Maine for power to the golden banana and the Danvers industrial parkway.
We stand for Maine, and we stand for integrity in the process and we stand no chance, right? We will see, I think Mainers can’t be bought by shiny rhetoric.
#nocorridor
Ozerki, What you say makes no sense because CMP has planned 150′ wide, 54 mile long corridor right from the get go.
Terry, the lease is still a go, a bill just got voted on by a committee to send it to the full congress and senate, should it pass those, it goes to Mills, who will kill it, that is almost a given. which has a rather unfortunate side effect for the Antis, since the bill sends the matter back to congress, it pretty much kills the people’s initiative, clever ploy by the government or happy accident, either way, it’s interesting.
Folks, i would like to make a suggestion that may help us in the long term. But i will start with a short
History lesson. Our problems started over 20 years ago when our Democrat run legislature and governor
Decided it was in “our” best interest to destroy our mountains and install giant wind turbines. Some folks
Like me complained, but we were basically ignored. Most of the state residents seemed fine with building
These things in our backyard to help the folks in Massachusetts and beyond. The Dems have been on a
“Save the planet” at any costs journey ever since, and now many of them believe the world will be destroyed
If we don’t make drastic changes in the next 12 years. Have you all been listening/watching??? Looks like
the CMP corridor may be a done deal folks, the dems have complete control of the legislature…. don’t count
On them to block this due to some minor legal issue (as stated above). Now my suggestions. Many of you
Folks who are soooooo upset by this “green” power corridor should not complian because you voted for
These lawmakers for years and years. How ironic right??? Anyhow, looks like this is gonna happen people.
But we can stop the madness in the future. Our current governor and legislature are making BIG plans to go
Green in this state, and it’s going to cost all of us ALOT of money in the coming years. And it will hurt our
Businesses too. We can all do our part to save the planet and maybe stop the madness. All the libs out
There can sell their gas guzzlers and buy a nice new electric car (charge it at home with the green energy
Flowing from the updated green grid). Install solar on your homes, businesses. Toss out those electric
Water heaters and install the heat pump water heaters (huge rebates for this). Toss out the wood stoves
And oil/lp gas furnaces and install heat pumps ( more rebates coming on those as well). If my math is
Correct, about 55% of the state residents are libs, and most of them have well paid jobs (college educated
You know) so money isn’t an issue. Plus, the money invested will pay you back in the long run, so it is money
Well spent. If everyone does their part, the dems controlling the state will be happy and maybe they will
Curtail some of the massively expensive initiatives they have planned for us. I am unemployed now and
Struggling to pay my bills :0), so i may keep my wood stoves and my old rusted gas guzzlers. Sorry folks,
I may not be able to help out on this one, but i will do my best to burn “dry” firewood and I’ll do more walking.