AUGUSTA — Job seekers and employers got together Tuesday at a job fair put on by companies working on a $1.4 billion upgrade of Central Maine Power Co. transmission lines.
The project, known as the Maine Power Reliability Program, aims to build or upgrade 440 miles of power lines and substations from Eliot in southern Maine to Orrington and Pittsfield in the north.
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By early afternoon, Kim Parker of Clinton and Bruce Chandler of Bath were filling out applications at the “Become a Lineman” booth of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 104.
Parker, who said he has been out of work “for a while,” was pleased to find so many potential employers in one place at the fair, held at the Augusta Civic Center.
“Instead of getting one contact, you have a chance at many,” he said.
Parker was applying at project contractors Asplundh Tree Expert, Cianbro Corp. and S.W. Cole.
“I’m looking into everything here,” he said. “I work outside. It doesn’t bother me. I’m used to it.”
Chandler, who had been studying computer information systems at the University of Maine at Augusta until this semester, said he was hoping Local 104 would offer him an apprenticeship.
“I don’t mind heights, and I don’t mind working outside,” he said. “It makes it worth it on those beautiful sunny days.”
Derek Poirier of Belgrade was seeking employment as a construction worker. He said he has been laid off for the season.
Most employers at the fair told him they would begin hiring in the spring, he said.
At its height, the CMP project is expected to employ 3,000 people – 1,000 are already working on some phase of the construction. Tree cutting is being done in Pittsfield and Livermore Falls, said Douglas Herling, a CMP vice president who oversees special projects. Site work also has been done for construction of a new substation in Benton.
Behind-the-scenes work on the project – gaining regulatory approval, purchasing 700 pieces of property and flagging the corridor – has been going on since 2006, Herling said.
“We’ve been working on it for a while,” he said. “Now it will become visible to the public.”
In her welcoming remarks at the job fair, CMP President and CEO Sara Burns said the 17 companies at the fair “all need people, equipment, supplies and services over the next five years.”
Burns said the power company so far has spent $215 million on the project.
“In our view, the timing for Maine couldn’t be better,” she said. “We get jobs and spending at a time when Maine families really need a boost. And when this project is finished in 2015, Maine will have a state-of-the-art (power) grid.”
Among the entities represented at the fair Tuesday were Burns & McDonnell, the firm managing the program for CMP; TRC Companies, Inc.; Hawkeye, LLC; Irby; CPM Constructors; Comprehensive Land Technologies; E. S. Boulos; Owen Haskell; FMC CAD Drafting; R.J. Grondin & Sons; Maine Department of Labor Services; RLC Engineering; Sargent Corp.; SGC Engineers; MYR Group; Shaw Brothers; Eagle Veteran Construction Co.; Terry Tree Service; and Power Engineers.
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