Do you remember in 2010 when the U.S. Supreme Court decided corporations were people? This decision gave corporations the freedom to speak (a.k.a. ‘spend money’) by backing political candidates who would in turn back them. If corporate citizens now have a right to their voice, let’s be sure human citizens still have one too.
A trial in Portland is in the process of deciding the fate of NECEC (CMP Corridor). Thankfully, this is a jury trial, so Maine people will decide if CMP sped up clearing and construction on NECEC prior to the 2021 referendum so the project would be far enough along to be ‘vested’ (meaning if voters rejected NECEC, which we did, construction would continue since the builder had already ‘invested’ so much.) Let me repeat that. The results of the referendum are moot if CMP can prove they were so entrenched in construction by 2021 that it would be unreasonable to ask them to stop. And the corridor they are constructing in western Maine is extensive; 723 new steel monopoles (which stand on average 94.5’ above ground) stretching across 54 miles of wetlands, streams and waterfowl habitat. Additionally, 92 miles of existing transmission lines will be widened. In total, 146 miles of high power transmission lines will run through Maine forests to bring power to Massachusetts consumers.
CMP aims to sway us with their deep pockets and sense of urgency that they have come too far on this project to be challenged. I disagree. As President Lincoln famously said in The Gettysburg Address; “this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” Your voice and my voice still matter.
Amy Partridge-Barber
Carrabassett Valley, Maine
Opinion pieces reflect the views of the individual author, and do not reflect the views of the Daily Bulldog, Mt. Blue TV, or Central Maine Media Alliance. Publication of an opinion piece does not equate to endorsement of the content of the piece.
