CMP is guilty of a deceptive campaign to win public support for its controversial 145-mile transmission line project. After claiming that its corridor would be built alongside existing power lines, CMP later admitted that 53 miles of lines would be constructed through the heart of the Maine woods.

Now, as the November vote nears, CMP is ratcheting up its deceptions by claiming that Question 1 “retroactively” threatens existing construction projects. Its televised ads feature photos of highway and bridge construction, but not ones of the transmission corridor.

Question 1 simply asks: “Do you want to ban the construction of high-impact electric transmission lines in the Upper Kennebec Region?” CMP refuses to be forthright because polls indicate that most Mainers oppose their project.

Still undecided how to vote? Ask yourself if CMP’s clean-energy claim is another ruse. The energy Hydro Quebec would export to Massachusetts (Maine is little more than a conduit) comes from reservoirs that have flooded thousands of acres of greenhouse gas-absorbing boreal forests, destroyed Innu Nation’s traditional hunting and fishing grounds, and have caused a sixfold increase in levels of methylmercury – a debilitating neurotoxin – prompting Health Quebec to issue fish consumption advisories.

As an expert environmental witness who testified at Maine DEP hearings and a plaintiff in two lawsuits against CMP’s project, I’ve studied the impacts of the proposed transmission corridor and have concluded that it’s bad for Maine. Don’t be duped by CMP’s shenanigans: Vote “yes” on Question 1.

Ronald Joseph
Sidney

Copy the Story Link