BANGOR DAILY NEWS • December 2, 2022
A year after voters soundly rejected a power line corridor through western Maine, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the referendum was unconstitutional. Whether you support or oppose the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), this is troubling. State law and policy allows questions to appear on the ballot even though they may not later pass constitutional muster. This is a practice that lawmakers should strongly reconsider. Adding a provision to state law that allows the Maine secretary of state, after consultation with the state attorney general, to reject initiative petitions that don’t comply with the U.S. or Maine constitutions simply makes sense.