Logging crews have begun clearing trees to widen the existing Central Maine Power transmission corridor near Moxie Pond in The Forks. Photo courtesy of Susannah Warner
LIVERMORE FALLS — The Planning Board will review New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission’s application Wednesday. It requests approval under town ordinances related to proposed construction of transmission line poles and overhead wires associated with the project.
The New England Clean Energy Connect will transmit hydropower from power stations in Québec. The above provided by Hydro-Québec, shows the company’s main hydropower facilities and transmission lines. The red and green lines indicate transmission lines that will connect to Central Maine Power’s transmission corridor to be constructed across 145 miles in Western Maine. Hydro-Québec
The proposal is to build a 145-mile high-voltage power line to bring hydropower from the Quebec border to a new direct current to an alternating current converter station in Lewiston to link to the New England power grid. It will be capable of delivering “up to 1,200 megawatts of clean, renewable energy” to the grid, according to company.
The board meeting is at 6:30 p.m. at the Town Office. The meeting room space is limited to 25 people because of COVID-19 guidelines. After factoring in five members of the Planning Board and Code Enforcement Officer Rob Overton, that leaves space for 19 people, according to interim Town Manager Amanda Allen.
Overton said he would strongly suggest to the Planning Board that if the number of people who plan to attend exceeds the guidelines that the meeting be postponed to another date. It is a public meeting and anyone who wants to attend should be able to, he said.
The company filed its application with the town Jan. 15. It is requesting approval under the town’s Site Plan Review Ordinance, Shoreland Zoning Ordinance and Floodplain Management Ordinance. Ordinances can be found on the town’s website at lfme.org/ordinances/.
The application is at the Town Office for review. The office will be closed Monday, Presidents Day.
The transmission lines and wires will run in Central Maine Power Co.’s existing corridor in the town. The the transmission line will enter Maine from Canada at Beattie Township in Franklin County and run through parts of Androscoggin, Franklin and Somerset counties.
“The project in Livermore Falls will include 48 pole locations, 40 single poles and eight, two-pole poles,” according to Ted Varipatis, a representative of Serra Public Affairs.
The length of the project through the town is 7.89 miles.
Two pole locations, No.’s 95 and 96, will be within the shoreland zone, the Stream Protection District at Hunton Brook, Varipatis wrote in an email Friday. No.’s 96 and 97, each consisting of two poles, will be within the floodplain of Hunton Brook, he wrote.
New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission sent out a certified letter dated Feb. 10 to abutters of the existing corridor and town officials notifying them of the meeting.
It is not a public hearing, Overton said Friday.
“One thing I’m going to do is caution the board that this has nothing to do with the overall project or merits of the project,” he said. It is only to look at the application, he said.
The focus will be on the Shoreland Zoning and Floodplain Management ordinances, he said.
In consideration of the limited space at the Town Office, the letter directs abutters and officials to contact Overton at 207-242-6798 if they plan to attend.
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