CMP’s Habit of Incomplete Filings Raise Serious Questions
Statement of Sue Ely, Clean Energy Attorney, Natural Resources Council of Maine
“Today, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), notified CMP that its application to build a massive 145-mile-long transmission line through Maine is still incomplete. The DEP said it cannot move forward with evaluating its proposal until CMP provides the mandatory information. This pushes the timeline for review even further into 2019.
“This is the second time in as many weeks that a Maine agency evaluating CMP’s proposed transmission line found that CMP failed to provide the information required to evaluate this project. Just last week the Maine Public Utility Commission delayed its decision on CMP’s project at least three months – until March 2019 – because CMP failed to provide information in a timely manner.
“CMP’s attempt to ram this flawed project through the state permitting process is backfiring as officials uncover missing information about the project’s real impacts on Maine. The only way for Maine regulators to evaluate this project is for CMP to provide all of the required information to decision makers, something that CMP has so far failed to do. We are encouraged that the DEP is doing such a thorough review of CMP’s application.
“We still do not know where this power will actually come from and what the real impact on the climate and Maine electricity rates will be. We are still concerned that this transmission line will cause significant harm to Maine’s environment while failing to reduce harmful climate pollution at all. Maine people deserve decisions based on facts.”
