Residents of the Franklin County town of Wilton voted last night to rescind the community's support for Central Maine Power's proposed transmission line, known as the New England Clean Energy Connect Project.
About 200 people at a special town meeting also voted to direct the board to issue a statement opposing the project.
“I think there was only one dissenting vote when it came down to deciding to pull our support,” says Wilton selectboard chair Tiffany Maiuri.
Maiuri says the community and the board initially signed off on the project in 2017, but decided to revisit the issue.
“The more we heard about the detrimental impacts to the environment, fishing, wildlife, we thought it would be prudent for us to have a meeting for the townspeople to have a voice,” she says.
Wilton is now the eighth town to withdraw support from or oppose the project; the selectboard will now issue a statement opposing it.
And Maiuri says community members are being urged to speak at a public hearing on the issue Friday before the Public Utilities Commission.
