BANGOR DAILY NEWS • February 22, 2021
Proponents of a referendum requiring the Legislature to approve the construction of “high-impact” transmission projects over a certain size and passing through the upper Kennebec Valley region gathered more than 80,000 valid signatures, Bellows said. The initiative now goes to the Legislature, which could pass as written or send the issue to voters in November. It sets up what will likely be another back-and-forth battle between the company and opponents of its $1 billion project with Hydro-Quebec to run electricity from Quebec through Maine to the regional grid. Clean Energy Matters, the campaign arm of CMP, said it would be reviewing the signatures and slammed the referendum effort.