NECEC and ‘Christmas Trees’

6 mins read

Maine, and particularly my neck of the woods, has been consumed with the debate about whether CMP should build a huge transmission line through Western Maine. I know where I stand: I think Maine should say no to this corridor because it’s a bad deal.

For those of you who haven’t made up your mind yet, let me put the debate in some context. Consider the plot of a poem Robert Frost wrote in 1916 called “Christmas Trees.”

It’s a story about a city slicker coming to a New England farm to buy Christmas Trees. He offered the old farmer who owned the trees an outrageously low price of 3 cents per tree. As you can imagine, the slicker knew he could sell the trees in the city for a buck apiece – quite a healthy profit off the work of the old man.

I think you can see where this is going: beware of people from afar touting “good deals for Maine.” It’s smart to be skeptical, and I sure am skeptical of the deal CMP and Hydro-Quebec are pushing.

In fact, we’ve seen over the past year that Frost could easily have written this poem about the CMP Corridor.

In this case, the city slickers are CMP and Hydro-Quebec. The old farmer is the residents of Maine.

Our new city slickers have offered Maine citizens a deal. The question is should we take it?

Here are the facts, though I’d encourage you to take a look at many other sources of information about this huge and complex project.

CMP and Hydro-Quebec have offered us $258 million to be allowed to build a power line through Maine, delivering electricity to Massachusetts. At first glance, this does sound like a lot of money (especially when compared to the $0 offer CMP initially tried to convince us with).

Well, it depends on your definition of a lot of money.

CMP will make a $60 million dollar profit per year and HQ will make 10 billion dollar in revenues over 20 years. That’s a lot of money.

Putting their offer on a monthly basis, each Maine citizen would receive a whopping 38 cents per month. That’s NOT a lot of money.

And in exchange, CMP would make $5 million per month and HQ would make a little more than $41 million per month.

Outside of the financial discussion, Mainers should also consider the environmental impact of building this corridor. This is a huge project and our decision is going to have a lifetime effect on our state.

Let’s look a little deeper into the CMP deal on the table. One part of the settlement will include spending $15 million dollars to locate electric vehicle chargers throughout Maine. It may surprise the dealmakers, but rural Maine does not have many electric cars.

The dealmakers may also not have considered the fact that electric cars lose efficiency as the temperature gets colder. Some car batteries see an efficiency drop of 40 percent when the temperature is 20 degrees F. The efficiency continues to go down as it gets colder.

I’m not sure that this is much of a benefit for Maine. My understanding is that it gets pretty cold here, and it probably gets even colder when your electric car runs out of batteries up here in the mountains in the winter.

Speaking of cold, part of the deal is an expansion of heat pump use as a primary heating system. Guess what: heat pumps don’t work very well when it gets less than 32 degrees, and you’d need an alternative heating system, like a gas furnace, to stay warm in the winter. Who can afford two heating systems? Folks who have money!

I don’t mind electric vehicle and heat pump expansion in Maine, but let’s be clear about who benefits: wealthier people, not low income people. Western Maine, where the corridor would be built, isn’t Portland.

Back to the Christmas tree story. The old farmer knew that he was getting offered terrible deal. He knew selling the trees for 3 cents each while the city slicker made over 300% profit off his work was a bad idea and was unfair.

So I think when Mainers take a look at the evidence, they’ll realize that the corridor is a bad deal too. The CMP and HQ city slickers will make over $45 million per month while Mainers will get .38 cents per month and some heat pumps and electric vehicle charging stations for the well-off among us.

That is pretty clearly a bad deal.

So like the old farmer in Robert Frost’s poem…. Mainers should say NO to CMP’s corridor!

Tom Saviello, PhD., is the former Franklin County state senator. He presently serves as a Wilton selectperson and lives in that town. He is a PUC intervenor on the NECEC proposal.

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8 Comments

  1. Thanks Tom !! Not in my door yard, we don’t want to have to look at that crap less than 1,000 ft. from our home. I will be at the meeting on the 25th to vote NO as I ask every one else to do also. Bad deal for all of us.

  2. Tom, If I remember that poem correctly, the old farmer never said he wouldn’t sell the trees, he just valued them at more than three cents, the farmer also acknowledges that all things change, and that either something should be done because the trees will just die and lose any intrinsic beauty or value they once had.

    And by your analogy, you are saying you would be willing to push for the NECEC, should it be more to Maine’s benefit, sell out in other words. I fully support the NECEC, having a nice groomed ATV trail through there, thrills the hell out of me.

    But why should Maine reap more benefits, when all it is giving is a right of way, Maine bears none of the expense of paying for the work to be done, Maine bears none of the expense of buying the materials to build the line, Maine bears none of the responsibility of maintaining the line once it is in. The $258 million up front, the $15 million a year in property taxes, the line that can support high-speed internet lines, something that area is sorely lacking in, is more than enough recompense for the scrub that must be cleared for the new line. And some poles in the ground are more eco-friendly than the bird butchering wind turbines that Angus King and Baldacci put in there years ago.

  3. Since poetry and art is always up for interpretation, the reader or viewer is always free to put their own “spin” on it. Thank you Tom for your thoughtful letter. I think your interpretation is closer to what Robert Frost was getting at than Hrtlss Bstd’s attempt to spin it in favor of the corridor. Hrtlss Bstd, you are free to interpret it any way you wish, but from what I can see and from those I know, this project is clearly not wanted by the majority. (HB), I applaud your consistent attempts to try to influence people in favor of it, but I don’t think it will change very many folk’s minds. And I stand with my fellow Mainers (“the farmer’s”) in saying, in this case, NO DEAL!

  4. Hrtlss Bstrd: Sounds like you should be living in the city. Maybe even in Mass. Us country folk like looking at the beauty Maine has to offer.

  5. Mort,

    You’re going to have a lot of backup on the 25th. I wouldn’t want that monstrosity 1,000 ft from my home either.

    Hrtless,

    That well groomed ATV trail has nothing in place for maintenance after 40 years…..
    Guess who might be maintaining the Corridor here in Maine after that. That’s right, Maine taxpayers. Hope you have some room on that ATV of yours for some scrub cutting tools.

    Oh, and “buy” the way, just an interesting piece of information here since Hrtless brought up the scrub maintenance issue. We learned from John Carroll at the CMP Presents to The Farmington Select Board that if your town objects to the type of herbicides used to maintain that corridor running through the county, well, the town can use other maintenance options. As long as the town pays for it….

    I think that kind of takes away the 38 cents a month paycheck that Mainers will get in recompense from CMP. Hey, maybe we’ll even lose out in the long run….

    The vote is on the 25th of this month. I will be voting for the option that states that the Selectboard should rescind and oppose, the NECEC. Hope to see you there.

  6. Thanks Terry. Looking forward to meeting you on the 25th. Let’s put this s**t to bed.

  7. Tom, great analogy. My recollection of that story is the wisdom of the country tree farmer versus the condescending nature of the city slicker. seems apropos to the NECEC situation.

    On a related note, the flyer sent to Farmington residents from the pro corridor folks said, and I quote
    ” opponents of the corridor are “from away” and they represent dirty energy generators.” I find that quite hilarious, as every meeting against the corridor I have attended or organized is a bunch of regular Mainers outraged by CMP’s underhanded and back room tactics.
    Last Friday, I attended the natural resources committee hearing at the state house on the Brownie Carson bill (to require a study be done to prove CMP’s claims of a reduction in green house gasses by the project). Approximately 50 people testified- 41 of them people like me who just showed up and spoke for the study. The other 9 were lawyers and businessmen in suits who were PAID to be there.
    This is what we are up against folks, CMP making claims that “we the people” are the bad guys. Don’t take the bait.

  8. Very well said. Spanish owned CMP cares nothing about the Maine Woods and Rivers. They only throw money and false promises around. Bribes too. Their paid lawyers and consultants conspire with the Rafting companies and Huts and Trails people that sold out for money and high speed internet.

    We need to deny them the permits that they feel are their right. Leave our beautiful Maine mountains and rivers for future generations to enjoy without Giant Wind Towers on every ridge.

    Massachusetts needs to generate their own power. Buying power from a foreign country is unamerican and stupid.

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