PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 4, 2021
A group that helped lead the opposition to a $1 billion electricity transmission line through western Maine asked state officials on Thursday to order that clearing and construction work on the project stop immediately. The Natural Resources Council of Maine asked the state Department of Environmental Protection to order the work be stopped two days after a referendum to kill the project passed with about 60 percent of the vote. After the votes were counted, work clearing land along the route of the corridor resumed despite the rebuke of Central Maine Power Co. and its parent corporation, Avangrid, at the polls. The company also immediately filed a lawsuit in Maine Superior Court challenging the constitutionality of the referendum. The Natural Resources Council said the stay is needed to avoid “irreparable harm” if construction on the corridor continues.