NATURAL RESOURCES COUNCIL OF MAINE • June 12, 2025
Central Maine Power’s proposal for conserving land in western Maine as mitigation for its transmission corridor fails to meet the requirements in its permit for protecting and connecting mature forests and safeguarding the region’s wildlife, according to joint comments filed today by several of the state’s major environmental groups. The Maine Council of Trout Unlimited, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Maine Audubon, and the Natural Resources Council of Maine consulted with leading scientists, foresters, and forest ecologists in developing their comments. Those experts assessed the proposal submitted by CMP’s affiliate company, NECEC Transmission LLC, and determined that the plan fails to meet the permit requirements in multiple ways. The DEP must deny it and require a meaningful plan that truly compensates for the significant negative impacts of the NECEC.” The groups also call on DEP to require NECEC to secure 15,000 acres to 20,000 acres of fee acquisition land outside of the proposed plan area that already is in a mature forest condition or approaching mature forest.