One of the things that I most love about the state of Maine is its beautiful forests. I love to go hiking and cross-country skiing in these forests – the same forests that the Central Maine Power corridor would cut through. The loss of this pristine land would be devastating for me and many other Mainers.
The CMP corridor, sometimes called the “clean-energy corridor,” would put 53 miles of new transmission lines right through the beautiful Maine woods. The corridor would carry power from hydroelectric dams in Quebec to Massachusetts without benefiting Maine. Big hydro dams are not even clean energy, and the negative environmental impacts of the project make it even less clean. The corridor would be devastating to wildlife habitats across the state.
The Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands issued a lease that allowed the CMP corridor to pass through two sections of public land. This was done with no public say in the matter. The Maine government should not be able to lease public land for purposes like the CMP corridor without any public input. L.D. 471, An Act to Require Legislative Approval of Certain Public Land Leases, would help hold the government accountable.
L.D. 471 would require a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to approve leases of land like this. This would give the people a say in what happens to public land. This would ensure that projects like the CMP corridor could not go through public land without public input in the future.
Audra Hufnagle
Damariscotta
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