You may have observed the abundance of CMP television ads, costing millions of dollars, in support of the CMP corridor in western Maine. The ads portray CMP as an innocent victim of unscrupulous efforts by Maine citizens to defeat the corridor and place all future infrastructure improvements in jeopardy.  Nothing could be further from the truth. CMP is responsible for its own predicament but fails to be held accountable.

It should be noted that Maine law/regulations require the Legislature to approve capital projects that occur on public lands. The part of the proposed Ccrridor that passes over public lands, however, was never presented to the Legislature. CMP negotiated with former Gov. LePage to lease the public lands to CMP without legislative approval. CMP would have Maine citizens believe that referendum Question 1 creates a dangerous precedent that would subject all future capital projects to retroactive laws. Question 1 seeks only to require CMP to follow current law and obtain legislative approval of the corridor.

It should also be noted that if CMP had stopped work on the corridor following the successful gathering of signatures to place the referendum on the November ballot, CMP would not be in the level of distress that it is currently experiencing.

The CMP corridor will not provide additional new renewable energy to Maine and New England. Under the CMP proposal, energy that is currently sent from Canada to New York could be sent to Massachusetts, and New York would have to find replacement energy. CMP will realize net profits of millions of dollars per year for 30 years from this project. No wonder the overkill of CMP ads!

Edward Potter

Gardiner