News release
The Natural Resources Council of Maine today issued the following statement from Clean Energy Staff Attorney Sue Ely in response to the decision by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to issue a final permit for the controversial Central Maine Power (CMP) transmission line:
“Today’s DEP permit fails to address the fact that CMP’s proposed transmission corridor would result in no real reduction in global carbon pollution while inflicting enormous harm on Maine’s North Woods and the local communities and Mainers who depend on it for their livelihoods. This project remains a bad deal for Maine. The best path forward for Maine people is to focus on the creation of hundreds of real, local clean energy projects that create thousands of long-lasting jobs here at home, not a destructive transmission corridor with no climate benefits designed primarily to deliver billions in profits to CMP’s shareholders and Hydro-Quebec.”
CMP and Hydro-Quebec have already spent an astounding $9 million on an extensive political campaign to try and defend their flagging power corridor proposal. CMP’s deeply unpopular proposal is widely opposed by Maine people. According to a 2019 poll, 65% of Mainers oppose the project. Twenty-five towns have already voted to oppose or rescind their support for the project, as have the Androscoggin and Franklin County Commissioners, two of the state’s largest unions, and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Department of Energy are still reviewing the CMP corridor for applicable permits.
