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The Bangor Daily News editorial, ”Skepticism should improve, not unravel, Aroostook power line,” of July 27, hinted that, just maybe, there is a touch of NIMBYism among those who have had questions about the proposed LS Power Grid Maine corridor that would bring newly generated windmill power south from Aroostook County to Kennebec County.
That was not what I detected at the “informational meeting” in Albion I attended. Among the many questions that were left avoided or unanswered was: Why are you proposing to build a new corridor when there is already the existing Maine Electric Power Co. corridor that runs in parallel? This line goes from the New Brunswick border to Lincoln, down the Penobscot River to Orrington, crossing the river at Winterport, continuing south to Coopers Mills. There is a connecting line to Pittsfield that intersects the line to the Albion Road substation in Benton — all exactly as the LS Power version does. Indeed, the proposed line uses this corridor north of Lincoln.
Meanwhile, in Vermont and New Hampshire, a similar line is being built to move Quebec hydropower. That project, the Twin States Clean Energy Link, uses existing routes to upgrade existing lines and bury new lines along state roadways. The questions the Public Utilities Commission, the Legislature, voters and reporters should ask are: Why is that approach not possible in Maine? And how would the proposed LS Power project be faster, cheaper, or more environmentally responsible?
Greg Rossel
Troy