Yes, the Central Maine Power corridor project will leave an ugly scar across the landscape of Maine. However, the real concern should be the actions that will be taken for decades in the future to keep it open.

Brush control will be necessary every few years. The normal and economical way this is done necessitates the aerial spraying of herbicides such as Roundup. Maine hardly needs this addition of chemicals to its groundwater and perhaps also to areas adjacent to the corridor.

I am a former member of a U.S. Department of Agriculture/Economic Research Service and Environmental Protection Agency joint task force that analyzed the economic costs and benefit of pesticide use.

Oliver Ray Stanton, Ph.D. 
natural resource economist
Portland