CMP corridor foes launch citizens referendum effort

Courtesy / CMP This map shows Central Maine Power's proposed transmission project, which would bring electricity from Hydro-Quebec to the New England power grid.

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By Staff

Opponents of the planned $1 billion, 145-mile electricity transmission corridor through western Maine have asked the state for a ballot initiative that would stop the controversial project.

Tom Saviello, a former state representative and state senator from Franklin County, has filed an application with the Secretary of State for a citizen referendum seeking revocation of the project’s approval, according to a news release Tuesday.

Central Maine Power Co.’s New England Clean Energy Connect transmission corridor would deliver 1,200 megawatts of renewable energy generated by Hydro-Quebec to Massachusetts. The project received a “certificate of public convenience and necessity” from the Maine Public Utilities Commission in April.

The referendum proposed in Saviello’s application would revoke the certificate.

"CMP's corridor has drawn strong opposition from most Mainers," he said in the release. "Allowing Mainers to vote to block this project is only fair."

The Secretary of State’s office is expected to review the application soon, and if approved, NECEC opponents would then need to collect 63,000 signatures in order to get the revocation on a statewide ballot.

“The citizen's initiative process is an enormous undertaking, but we have more than 20,000 motivated Mainers who have signed up to help,” said Sandra Howard, the director of Say NO to NECEC, a grassroots organization formed in response to the plan.

The critics claim the project would endanger Maine’s environment, wildlife and scenic character while delivering little benefit to the state. Saviello said in the release that nearly 25 towns have voted to oppose the project.

Additional hurdles remain. The plan still needs regulatory approvals from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, Land Use Planning Commission, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Massachusetts regulators.