CMP Corridor

To the Editor:

What is your vision for the future of Maine? Vacationland? Or a cold New Jersey?

While there are literally dozens of reasons the people of Maine overwhelmingly opposed the CMP corridor, my biggest is perhaps the fact that Maine has something currently unique – and valuable – in the eastern United States.

We are a destination for people to “get away from it all.” And while people are “getting away from it all,” they are spending money. Revenue from tourist-related overnight stays in Maine totaled $4.7 billion, generating nearly 500 million in state taxes. Tourism supports over 100k jobs in Maine and household income generated through jobs in tourism was more than 2.5 billion in 2017. That’s BBBbillion folks.

The area CMP chose to run their much-maligned corridor through was based on “the cheapest option,” and we all know the cheapest option is seldom the best option. They chose a circumventuous route, looping awkwardly through the mountains and waters of the Moose River Valley from the source in Quebec to the destination in Massachusetts.

CMP understands that once this corridor is built it will open the door for additional projects that will be much easier to permit “after all, the damage has already been done.” CMP’s owners have interests in fossil fuels, solar, wind, and making money. They have zero interest in preserving Maine’s iconic brand or future prosperity. Ask New Jersey about what happens once they get inroads.

There is a grassroots movement in Maine opposed to the corridor, because we care about Maines’s environment and future. Just last week, despite massive spending on a frankly unethical disinformation campaign by the Province of Quebec and CMP front groups, Mainers overwhelming told CMP to take a hike, cease and desist, we see what you are up to, and we don’t want it here. CMP’s reaction? Sue everyone and everything and double down on the cutting and destruction associated with the corridor construction.

This despite NECEC CEO Thorn Dickenson’s promises to support the will of the people “I think the people of Maine should have the right to have a say in this.” And his comments on a recent televised debate, paraphrased: “I’ll be headed to the Forks tomorrow to shut the project down if it gets voted against.”

You see the fact that Thorn’s words and the words or actions of CMP/Avangrid/Iberdola/NECEC cannot be trusted also played into the citizen’s vote. Even if the project was a good idea and could stand on its own merits, would you want the worst-rated utility in the United States, controlled by a foreign power monopoly, to do the project?

So here we are, watching a massively unpopular project being bulldozed in our faces with arrogant belligerence by decision-makers in Spain who are willing to spend hundreds of millions to make billions to turn Maine into a cold New Jersey. The project is now in the hands of the courts and the DEP. Does Maine belong to its people or the suitors of its court and administrators? We shall see, and the fight is apparently not over. But you can participate.

The DEP can and should shut down the project immediately, and they have scheduled a public hearing for Nov. 22 at 5:30 p.m. If you wish to participate, email Ruth Burke at Ruth.A.Burke@maine.gov to get in line to testify.

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