I am one of hundreds of volunteers who have been trying to educate Mainers about why the CMP corridor is a bad deal for Maine. It’s important for voters to understand why a vote of YES on 1 will ban the CMP corridor.
CMP’s front groups are trying to confuse Maine voters and separate the corridor from Question 1. So, here’s the truth about Question 1 – and I’m not a paid spokesperson.
In 2020, this citizen’s initiative was filed to the secretary of state. It put CMP on notice that Mainers would petition to allow the people of Maine to vote on the largest infrastructure project in Maine since the Maine Turnpike. At that time, they did not have all of their permits and they hadn’t started construction. By starting to clear-cut the corridor route, CMP is taking a huge financial risk because a YES vote on 1 would only halt the corridor project in the upper Kennebec region – not roads, bridges or your back deck.
In 2014, when CMP was granted their lease to cross public lands, the Bureau of Parks and Lands did not seek out the required two-thirds approval from the Legislature (a law passed back in 1993). Question 1 will clarify and remind that Maine’s constitution already requires legislative approval for projects like the CMP corridor that would substantially alter our public lands. Recently, the Maine Supreme Court ruled CMP’s lease for their for-profit corridor to be unconstitutional and invalid.
Question 1 is about protecting western Maine, its public lands, its natural resources and making sure that high-impact transmission lines greater than 50 miles will undergo a fair and transparent process.
Join me in voting YES on 1!
Carol Howard
New Gloucester
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