Letter to the editor: Power line’s benefits to Maine far outweigh its costs

There has been a lot of debate about New England Clean Energy Connect. The project would build a transmission line from Quebec to Lewiston to bring hydropower to New England. Every project has good and bad aspects. To me, this project has a lot more positive than negative aspects for the state of Maine. These […]

There has been a lot of debate about New England Clean Energy Connect. The project would build a transmission line from Quebec to Lewiston to bring hydropower to New England.

Every project has good and bad aspects. To me, this project has a lot more positive than negative aspects for the state of Maine. These include:

• If we can help get clean energy south of us, we will get a lot less of their dirty air back over the top of us.

• These pole lines are our open spaces that we all can use free of any charge for snowmobiling, snowshoeing or just walking our dogs.

• Many businesses in Maine will get the work from building this project as well as from carrying out the maintenance of the corridor long term.

• For allowing this project to happen, Maine has to get a long-term income stream from Central Maine Power, as well as a right of way for future utilities.

Any environmentalist who is against this is a hypocrite. If we want to make electric vehicles work, we need to take advantage of all the low-cost power sources available.