Court upholds referendum on $1B CMP transmission corridor
A citizens referendum to block Central Maine Power Co.’s proposed $1 billion electricity transmission corridor has received enough valid petition signatures to go to a November ballot, a Superior Court judge ruled Monday.
A group of opponents to the planned 150-mile power line through western Maine had petitioned Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap to hold a vote that could disapprove the project. Last month, Dunlap certified that the group, No CMP Corridor, had delivered enough valid signatures to create the referendum.
Since then, CMP and supporters of the New England Clean Energy Corridor have sought to disqualify the petition. Most recently, they asked Kennebec County Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy to overturn Dunlap’s certification, claiming some of the 69,714 approved signatures were invalid because notaries involved had participated in other No CMP Corridor activities.
But on Monday, Murphy disagreed, saying there was a “competent record” to support Dunlap’s certification.
No CMP Corridor spokeswoman Sandi Howard said in a statement, “The court made the right decision today — Mainers deserve a vote on CMP’s corridor.”
A group of corridor supporters, Clean Energy Matters, is expected to appeal the judge’s decision to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.
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