AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) - Legislators voted to endorse a bill to require the state to cancel and potentially renegotiate a lease for Central Maine Power’s proposed $1 billion transmission project.
The Legislature’s Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee voted 9-to-0 on the bill Tuesday, the Portland Press Herald reported.
The opponents of the 145-mile-long (233-kilometer-long) transmission line through the western part of the state are hoping to use the renegotiation requirement to block CMP’s New England Clean Energy Connect project. The line would serve as a conduit for 1,200 megawatts of electricity from Hydro Quebec.
The proposed bill would require any new lease agreement on the 36-acre parcel to be approved by a two-thirds vote in the full Legislature.
“To me, it’s huge because now they potentially don’t have a lease for a portion of this corridor,” said Tom Saviello, a former state senator from Wilton and a vocal opponent of CMP’s project.
The bill would direct the state’s Bureau of Parks and Lands to cancel a 2014 lease granting CMP usage of a 300-foot-wide (91-meter-wide) corridor through public reserved lands.
Supporters of the lease say there will be benefits for all of New England by suppressing electricity rates and reducing carbon emissions by the equivalent of more than 700,000 vehicles.
CMP says the transmission line will save Maine residents about $40 million annually. The utility company says over 1,500 direct and indirect jobs will be created during construction.
The proposal now goes to the full Legislature for consideration and if it is passed, it will have to get by Gov. Janet Mills.
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