Re: Tony Marple’s Oct. 28 Maine Voices column (“Western Maine power line needed to fight climate change”):
Marple argues that “in order to meet Gov. Mills’ 2050 (climate) goals, we need … to look at the larger picture, not just ‘What’s in it for Maine?’ ” in reference to Central Maine Power’s proposed western Maine transmission line. He goes on to say: “We need to fight climate change like a war… . Wars require heroic sacrifices.”
Responding to climate change will require sacrifice, yet Marple’s solution demands sacrifices of people with the fewest resources to fight for more equitable solutions: Canada’s Indigenous people and rural Mainers whose livelihoods depend on wilderness recreation pay the real costs, while CMP investors benefit.
CMP claims the New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line will transmit “green power” and decrease greenhouse gases, but how green can it be if the power is created by massive dams destroying the rivers and heritage of Canada’s Indigenous peoples and a bulldozed, Jersey pike-sized corridor across our western mountains? Keep in mind that Massachusetts’ natural gas and other energy plants are under no requirements to cease operations as part of this plan. Those plants will continue to operate as long as they can make a profit, and with our growing thirst for energy, the idea these plants will close if not mandated to do so is laughable.
No, the only green in this equation is the $60 million that CMP and parent companies Avangrid and Iberdrola stand to gain. That’s $60 million a year in guaranteed income for 20 years – 20 years! Once again, the top get rich while the common folks lose. This model does not share the burden and in fact puts the entire Northern Hemisphere at risk by destroying our boreal lungs. No, CMP’s transmission lines are not a good deal for Maine, or for a warming climate.
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