Congratulations on your recent editorial on climate change (“Our View: Climate report sets right goals for Maine,” Dec. 6). We are, indeed, already seeing impacts to our Gulf of Maine fisheries, to our 17 million acres of woodlands, to our 22,000 miles of brook trout streams and to all the rest of our precious Maine flora and fauna.

This is why we need the New England Clean Energy Connect corridor. It will deliver the biggest, quickest and least impactful block of carbon-free energy available to Maine and New England. Clean Energy Connect will jump-start us in meeting our climate goals for a carbon-free future.

It is tragically short-sighted to listen to those individuals and organizations that have focused on 1,000 acres of industrial forest and a few miles of our brook trout streams at the expense of millions of acres of Maine forestland and all 22,000 miles of Maine brook trout streams. All energy infrastructure has environmental and social impacts.

But none will deliver so much new carbon-free electricity, quickly, at such a minor cost. We need to be clear-eyed about the trade-offs between small localized impacts and massive systemic climate impacts over time.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission concluded that the impacts of Clean Energy Connect were significantly outweighed by the benefits.  The professionals we hire to enforce Maine’s strict environmental regulations have approved Clean Energy Connect, which will displace more expensive polluting gas and oil burners.

We need New England Clean Energy Connect now.

Chris Ayers
Pownal

Richard Anderson
Portland

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