Mainers Have Their Say on $1B Electric Transmission Line
Maine voters are weighing in Tuesday on a 145-mile (233-kilometer) conduit for Canadian hydropower that’s billed as either a bold step in battling climate change or unnecessary destruction of woodlands.
More than $66 million was spent on the battle over the $1 billion project ahead of the referendum on Tuesday. But the statewide vote won’t be the final word. Litigation over the project will continue long after the votes are counted.
Funded by Massachusetts ratepayers, the New England Clean Energy Connect would supply up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid.
The project would remove carbon from the atmosphere and stabilize electricity rates across the entire region while helping Massachusetts reach its clean energy goals, supporters said.
Critics contended the environmental benefits are overstated, and that it would forever change the forestland.
It was the most expensive referendum in Maine history with more than $66 million spent on the battle this year. Critics of the referendum said it was bad public policy to retroactively vote down a project that already was approved by multiple state and federal agencies.
Three-quarters of trees already have been removed for the project, which calls for a transmission line that mostly follows existing utility corridors. But a new section needed to be cut through 53 miles (85 kilometers) of woods to reach the Canadian border.
The project has divided the environmental community and made for strange political bedfellows with some owners of fossil fuel-powered plants aligning themselves with environmental opponents.
The political parties also were divided with some Republicans and Democrats opposing it while current Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and former Republican Gov. Paul LePage both support the project.
Related News
From Archive
- OSHA issues 16 citations following fatal sewer confined space incident
- 27 pipeline safety violations tied to deadly Pa. chocolate factory explosion
- Contractor gas line strike triggers home explosion in Missouri
- LA recovery reports call for $650 million power line burial, major utility upgrades in Pacific Palisades
- FiberLight to build 1,400-mile West Texas dark fiber network in $350 million expansion
- T-Mobile to expand fiber broadband infrastructure footprint with $4.9 billion Metronet acquisition
- First tunnel boring machines complete testing for Hudson Tunnel Project
- NWPX grows water infrastructure portfolio with Colorado precast facility
- Cityside launches $100 million fiber build in Corona, Calif.
- FiberLight to build 1,400-mile West Texas dark fiber network in $350 million expansion
Comments