BANGOR DAILY NEWS • July 20, 2021
Both chambers of the Legislature approved a joint order opposing the Central Maine Power corridor late Monday after bigger policy efforts failed this session. In the final vote of the night, lawmakers approved a resolutionarguing that the transmission project constituted a “substantial alteration” of public lands and should have been subjected to a two-thirds vote in the Legislature. It was symbolic pushback against the corridor project, which is well underway in western Maine despite popular grassroots opposition and a planned referendum later this year that aims to revoke its permit. The Senate — where major CMP critic Sen. Rick Bennett, R-Oxford, introduced the measure — adopted it in a sweeping 28-6 vote. The House was less enthusiastic with a 66-52 vote.