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Residents rally against proposed CMP power line

Some residents and business owners who live between the Forks and the Canadian border say the project is a bad deal for customers in Maine because it won't deliver on cleaner air and lower energy costs.

AUGUSTA (NEWS CENTER Maine) — The public outcry over a proposed power line set to blaze through Western Maine continues to grow.

A group of residents and business owners who live in the proposed corridor won't stop fighting to convince Maine utility regulators to reject the project.

Dozens of protestors rallied earlier before a meeting being conducted by the Department of Environmental Services and Land Use Planning Commission. These agencies will decide on permits for the nearly billion dollar project.

Protestors say 100-foot tall power lines will lower property values, damage the environment and negatively impact recreational areas in a 53 miles stretch from the Forks to the Canadian border.

The line will deliver hydropower from Quebec to ratepayers in Massachusetts. CMP says Maine customers will see the benefit in cleaner air and lower energy costs to the tune of 45 million dollars a year.

"This is one of the largest initiatives New England has even taken to clean up its air with a single action," said John Carroll, a spokesperson for CMP.

"This power line won't do anything to reduce climate change emissions for our air quality in Maine," said Nick Bennett, a staff scientist with the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

The meeting before regulators set the scope of the agenda for a series of public hearings scheduled for later this month. If the permits are granted CMP could break ground in early 2020.

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