Central Maine Power has failed to look at other alternatives to an energy corridor that will stretch across Maine’s northwestern forest. CMP’s best route is to break up a pristine forest.

CMP’s corridor was to cross over the Kennebec Gorge and also destroy a public protected brook trout habitat. CMP told officials that any other route was impossible. When it looked like the Maine Land Use Planning Commission would reject the corridor because of this, miraculously, alternate routes became available.

I have to ask: Why then would CMP be able to use alternatives that they had told officials were impossible before? What other alternatives exist?

There is one alternative that would bypass this pristine forest entirely and still give tax benefits. There is an existing corridor in Eustis, close to the border of Quebec. This corridor is located only a few miles from where CMP’s corridor enters Maine.

Why has this not been looked at as an alternative? Is it because Massachusetts will pay $1 billion for a new corridor and would pay less if an existing corridor were used?

Ed Buzzell

Maine Guide; New England Clean Energy Connect intervenor, Maine Land Use Planning Commission and Maine Department of Environmental Protection

Moxie Gore and West Forks