PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - A Maine utility spent more than $2.3 million in the most recent quarter to rally against a potential statewide vote about whether it can build a transmission line to bring hydropower from Canada.
The utility, Central Maine Power, wants to build a 145-mile line to bring power to the regional grid from Quebec. State campaign finance reports released this week show a political action committee supported by CMP spent most of the money on television advertisements.
CMP and parent company Avangrid consider the effort a public education campaign designed to counter misinformation about the project, said CMP spokeswoman Catharine Hartnett. An effort to gather signatures to halt the project would be bad “for all future clean energy investments,” she said.
Natural Resources Council of Maine, one of the environmental groups opposed to the transmission project, said the utility is trying to prop up a proposal that is unpopular with Maine people.
“CMP is spending a stunning amount of money on a campaign aimed at preventing Maine people from getting a chance to vote on CMP’s highly controversial and unpopular energy corridor proposal,” said Pete Didisheim, advocacy director for NRCM.
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