BANGOR DAILY NEWS • November 29, 2022
The $1 billion hydropower corridor proposed by Central Maine Power Co. cleared one obstacle when the state’s high court upheld a public land lease on Tuesday, but other hurdles remain for the controversial project. In a 50-page opinion from five justices, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled a lease covering about 1 acre crucial to the project in rural Somerset County was granted lawfully by the administration of Gov. Janet Mills, turning back an argument from anti-corridor officials that it needed legislative approval. The milelong, 300-foot-wide parcel in question was initially leased to CMP in 2014 under former Gov. Paul LePage for $4,000 per year. On the same day in June 2020 that corridor critics filed a lawsuit challenging that lease, the administration of Gov. Janet Mills finalized a renegotiated lease with the utility and its partners, raising the fee to $65,000 per year.