Property owners and town officials will get a first look this week at the Aroostook Renewable Gateway’s proposed power line route, running from Aroostook County and the Reed Plantation area to an existing substation in Lincoln County. But some question the process thus far.
The gateway is a project of New York-based LS Power and would connect Long Road Energy’s King Pine Wind Project in Aroostook County to the New England Power grid.
Officials of LS Power are holding open public meetings this month to give residents and businesses an opportunity to comment on the proposed route for the power lines.
Still, some residents and town officials were completely unaware that the power lines and towers would be running through their towns and wondered why they had not been notified. Additionally, some questioned why the route was not released to the public before the Maine legislature passed in late June LD 924, giving LS Power the approval to move forward with the power line.
“We are releasing the route to the public so they can give us feedback,” said Doug Mulvey, vice president of the New York-based power company, who was driving to the Mattawamkeag meeting on Tuesday. “We will have detailed maps, down to the parcel level, employees and consultants at the meetings to answer questions and note feedback.”
Van White, Reed Plantation Town Manager, had only heard rumors that the power line might be running along Route 2A in his town, but he said he did not receive any formal notification or an invitation to the public meetings, starting Tuesday and running through next week.
“I’ll be going to the meeting today in Mattawamkeag,” White said after he learned about it.
According to a preliminary map, the power transmission lines may run through some of these Maine towns: Reed Plantation, Glenwood Plantation, Woodville, Chester, Howland, Bradford, Corinth, Hudson, Stetson, Etna, Pittsfield, Coopers Mill.
State Rep. Steven Foster said he asked LS Power about the size of the towers and the corridor during hearings on LD 924.
“He said the corridor would be 130 to 150 feet wide and the towers would be 100 to 160 feet tall,” Foster said on Tuesday afternoon.
According to Maine law, large power transmission projects must get legislative approval.
Foster was opposed to LD 924 because they had no idea where the route was going to be located.
“We had a start and an end,” he said. “We basically gave them a rubber stamp with no information.”
Nonetheless, Mulvey said there are several steps before this route is finalized and it won’t be until later this year that they file an application with the Maine Public Utilities Commission requesting approval of a final route.
Selecting the route is a detailed process that includes taking into consideration homes, conservation areas, wetlands, existing power corridors and obstacles, he said.
“We started with 15 to 20 potential routes,” he said.
If the proposed route goes through a property, Mulvey said that LS Power will get an easement and pay the owner at least fair market value for the easement section of the land.
Reed plantation resident and town assessor, Nicole Collins attended the Mattawamkeag meeting on Tuesday afternoon and said she did not see a downside at this point and 200 to 250 jobs will be added along the route if it is approved.
“The project skims through part of Reed Plantation, but from talking with them it seems like a pretty responsible project and it’s going to give a huge boost to local taxes and tax base for townships,” Collins said, adding that the detailed maps and information will be online at LS Power on Wednesday.
LS Power sent letters about the meetings to several property owners.
Steven Ingalls of Stetson received one but was unsuccessful in obtaining a detailed map from the company, he said. When he sent his letter from LS Power to the Stetson town officials, it was the first they had heard about the power lines potentially running through the town, he said.
Ingalls also reached out to Foster regarding the route not being disclosed prior to the Legislature’s late June vote.
Foster said he was contacted by three constituents concerned about the route potentially going near their properties.
Ingalls said he needs more information before he can comment on the project, but he has many questions he would like answered. Issues like eminent domain and health concerns from high voltage towers and lines are among them.
“When I look at Google Earth, I see an existing line all the way down and wonder why they did not use that route,” he said.
The Maine Public Utility Commission selected LS Power and Longroad Energy for the project in February after a competitive bidding process.
According to Mulvey, the 175,000-acre King Pine Wind project’s 170 wind turbines will generate 1,000 megawatts of power, leaving 200 megawatts for another potential project.
The proposed route is preliminary, starting with the public meetings and a final Maine Public Utilities Commission approval of the route, according to LS Power’s Mulvey.
The LS Power meetings are drop-ins from 4 to 7 p.m: Mattawamkeag Town Office, July 11; Howland Town Office, July 12; Bradford Town Office, July 13; Etna Town Office, July 18; Albion, Besse Building, July 19; and Windsor Fairgrounds, July 20.
