In a July 3 letter to the editor, Elizabeth Caruso wrote about how Mainers deserve scientific facts about the Clean Energy Corridor project. Indeed, they do. They also deserve honesty, which is missing from Ms. Caruso’s letter.
The claims she made about the project have been disproven throughout the Clean Energy Corridor’s 30-plus-month regulatory review of the project by impartial, publicly accountable agencies.
Ms. Caruso, and other project opponents working in tandem with oil and gas companies that are trying to keep their smokestacks running, cherry-pick arguments made before these agencies during the proceedings. They systematically hide the following undisputed fact: Experts at both state and federal regulatory agencies, tasked with safeguarding the public interest, took into account input from all stakeholders and, after having arrived at reasoned conclusions based on evidence, granted the necessary approvals, with, in some cases, additional conditions for the project.
This is what the Maine Public Utilities Commission did, as well as the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Land Use Planning Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Energy.
In its approval of the project, the Maine PUC stated: “The NECEC will … result in reductions in overall GHG (greenhouse-gas) emissions through corresponding reductions of fossil fuel generation (primarily natural gas) in the region.” The Maine DEP, following its own review of the project, accepted the PUC’s finding on this matter. The DEP also stated: “Climate change … is the single greatest threat to Maine’s natural environment.”
The Clean Energy Corridor has been thoroughly vetted and approved by experts. By trying to keep that a secret, oil and gas companies, along with project opponents, are being dishonest toward Mainers, and as such pose a great threat to Maine’s natural environment.
Lynn St-Laurent
spokesperson, Hydro-Québec
Montreal, Québec
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