BANGOR DAILY NEWS • August 24, 2020
Hours after Maine’s high court struck down a referendum aiming to kill Central Maine Power’s proposed corridor project earlier this month, a legislative critic issued a statement saying they “may not be able to stop this corridor,” but they could stop similar ones in the future. The sentiment from Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, illustrated the increasingly limited options opponents have to kill the project. But they are still hoping for the success of a bank-shot effort consisting of two lawsuits and challenges to final permits that could do it in theory. Natural Resources Council of Maine attorney Sue Ely characterized as “clearest path” to challenging the project. There is the DEP environmental permit and a second lawsuit charging that the Bureau of Public Lands violated state law by not requiring a Somerset County land lease to go to a two-thirds vote in the Legislature.