WILTON — The Board of Selectpersons voted 3-0-1 Tuesday to file a petition with the Public Utilities Commission to intervene in Central Maine Power Co.’s New England Clean Energy Connect project.

Chairperson Tiffany Maiuri, David Leavitt and Keith Swett voted for the filing, Phillip Hilton abstained and Tom Saviello was absent.

The $950 million project proposes building a 145-mile transmission line to deliver power generated by Hydro-Quebec to users in Massachusetts. The line through Maine would begin in Beattie Township in Franklin County and extend east and south into Somerset, Androscoggin and Cumberland counties.

As an intervener, Wilton will have a seat at the table in any decisions, requests, or filings that are made in proceedings and would be copied on all correspondence in the docket, Maiuri said.

“Central Maine Power Co. and the New England Clean Energy Connect Project has ceased negotiations with a group that had formed to work out something that was more amenable to the people of Franklin County,” she said.

Selectperson Tom Saviello previously said a group of representatives from the Franklin County Commission and the towns of Wilton, Farmington, Chesterville and New Sharon had been talking with CMP officials to reach an economic agreement. A meeting scheduled for Aug. 30 to continue discussion of the agreement was canceled by CMP at the last minute, he said.

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“Since they are not negotiating, we do not really have all that much information. So we have a decision to make if we want to file as an intervener for the town of Wilton,” Maiuri said.

In other matters, Daniel Bolduc, director of the Bureau of Labor Standards, announced the town has earned the Safety and Health Award for Public Employers. The certification recognizes exemplary performance of public-sector organizations that undertake a deliberate and rigorous safety program for employees, he said.

Since 2005, about 90 entities have earned the distinction. The Fire Department and Police Department have earned the Safety and Health Award for Public Employers certification, he said.

dmenear@thefranklinjournal.com


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