During the recent legislative hearing for L.D. 1587, Rep. Scott Landry’s bill to remove the municipal ordinance exemption for the development of nonessential transmission lines, Central Maine Power singled out the town of Caratunk not once, but twice in testimony against the bill.

After stating that it’s acceptable to benefit some at the expense of “the few,” CMP lobbyist Jim Mitchell said, “I respectfully submit that the 12 citizens of Caratunk, who supported the original ordinance that was developed, written, and considered specifically to stop the (New England Clean Energy Connect) should not be able to usurp the powers of the Maine Legislature exercised through the administrative body your predecessors created explicitly to act on behalf of all Maine citizens – the Maine Public Utilities Commission.”

Mitchell conveniently glossed over the fact that 86 percent of the towns along the corridor route have held townwide votes on the project, and 100 percent of those towns voted in strong opposition. By singling out the smallest town, with a population of 75 year-round residents, along the route for voting to enact common-sense protections for our small town, Mitchell once again demonstrated this foreign corporation’s callousness and contempt for the communities they would like to slash a hideous, destructive corridor through.

In 2018, I voted to adopt the moratorium, and this November, I will be voting “yes” to reject this for-profit corridor once and for all. Caratunk should not be forced to serve as an extension cord for Massachusetts.

Kimberly Lyman
Caratunk

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