MAINE SUNDAY TELEGRAM • April 3, 2022
Last year, our identity was on the ballot with the Central Maine Power corridor. Voters rejected the proposal for various reasons. Federal officials refused to do an environmental impact study and CMP and Hydro-Quebec, refused to do more analysis. The public begged both parties to reconsider, but to no avail. A procedural roadmap exists in 19 other states, which have established an option to conduct their own environmental analysis of big projects. If Maine wants to protect its future and what makes it special, it needs a way to define large projects on the basis of significant impact and public controversy and to issue standards for how these projects must be evaluated. For projects that could alter the landscape forever, asking for the facts is not asking too much. ~ Jake Plante, author of “Uncle Sam and Mother Earth: Reflections on the Environmental Movement and the Role of Governance”