Maine Voices: New plan to kill CMP corridor will have unintended consequences

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 5, 2020

After their initial efforts to stop New England Clean Energy Connect violated Maine’s constitution, opponents have hastily devised a new plan to kill the renewable-energy project. While their new referendum push will rely on many of the same disproven arguments, opponents are now taking their efforts a step further, in ways that would end up hindering Maine’s ability to attract future renewable-energy projects, including solar and wind. Perversely, the measure would also create loopholes allowing smaller, inefficient transmission lines that would cut more paths through Maine’s forests, affecting Maine’s wildlands on a large scale. If the opponents’ goal is truly to protect Maine’s environment and natural habitats, this measure will backfire. ~ David Vail, professor of economics emeritus at Bowdoin College, and Barbara Vickery, former conservation program director at The Nature Conservancy