PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • March 17, 2021
A Superior Court judge ruling’s Wednesday may have created another hurdle for the builders of a 145-mile energy transmission corridor through northwestern Maine. Justice Michaela Murphy ruled that the Maine Bureau of Public Lands did not have the authority to lease public reserve lands to CMP affiliate NECEC Transmission LLC, which is building the corridor, without first determining whether the lease would substantially alter the land in question. If a review finds the state-owned land would be significantly altered because of the lease, the question would go to the Legislature, Murphy ruled.