PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • October 7, 2025
The Passamaquoddy Tribe can move ahead with a plan to install hundreds of solar panels on homes and administrative buildings in Indian Township, regulators unanimously said Tuesday. The project’s fate is now largely up to the Environmental Protection Agency — and whether it will still allow the tribe to access a $7.4 million grant secured more than 13 months ago. The fight has revolved around whether the local utility, Eastern Maine Electric Cooperative, should be required to provide billing credits for households that get rooftop panels installed as part of the project and produce more electricity than they use. That answer relies largely on whether the installations are viewed as one large project, as the co-op has contended, or as hundreds of smaller projects, as the tribe has said.