BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 8, 2021
The pounding voters gave Central Maine Power Co.’s hydropower corridor in Tuesday’s referendum may not knock out the project, but it leaves deep uncertainty about how Maine and New England will meet ambitious clean-energy goals. With the CMP corridor at risk or facing costly delays, Maine and Massachusetts need to quickly hone energy strategies. Experts predict that New England will need anywhere from two to four new electricity transmission lines in the next 30 years. In Maine, CMP could move lines underground in a disputed public land section of the corridor or find an alternate route. Either CMP or another company might take is a proposal to connect Aroostook County to the regional grid approved by the Legislature this year. That would require Hydro-Quebec moving its electricity route east at high expense. Another option is a third proposed project in Vermont, which is permitted and would be built entirely underground.