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Public Comments Open On Wording For Ballot Question Challenging CMP Transmission Project

The first pole of Central Maine Power's controversial hydropower transmission corridor is prepared to be installed, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, near The Forks, Maine. The pole was erected on an existing corridor that had been widened near Moxie Pond. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Robert F. Bukaty
/
AP file
The first pole of Central Maine Power's controversial hydropower transmission corridor is prepared to be installed, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2021, near The Forks, Maine. The pole was erected on an existing corridor that had been widened near Moxie Pond.

The state has opened public comments on the wording of a ballot question aimed at challenging Central Maine Power's controversial transmission project underway in western Maine.

The secretary of state's office announced Tuesday that people could respond to proposed referendum language that reads: “Do you want to ban the construction of high-impact electric transmission lines in the Upper Kennebec Region and to require the Legislature to vote on other such projects in Maine retroactive to 2014, with a two-thirds vote required if a project uses public lands?”

The referendum would enact legislation aimed at halting CMP's construction of the New England Clean Energy Connect project that would bring hydropower from Quebec, through Maine, to the electrical grid in Massachusetts.

Public comments will be open through 5 p.m. May 13. The question is expected to appear on November's ballot.