MAINE PUBLIC • February 18, 2020
A legislative committee is questioning the legality of a lease for state lands that Central Maine Power needs for its proposed transmission corridor through Western Maine. Lawmakers say the lease requires approval from two-thirds of the Legislature. Members of the Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry Committee say that a lease between CMP and the Bureau of Parks and Lands for a mile-long parcel of state land that was signed in 2014 should be canceled. They cite a statute requiring that state lands can't be conveyed for a transmission project unless it has received a permit from the state's Public Utilities Commission — a permit CMP did not win until 2019.