I attended the Central Maine Power meeting in Hallowell on Oct. 17. It encouraged me to me express some views. I listened to a lot of testimony and many of those testifying against the proposed power line expressed their concerns for the value of “Vacationland” on our license plates.
One real estate agent said that in her experience the reason people come to Maine, and western Maine in particular, is because western and central northern Maine is because of the lack of development and unspoiled vistas. Otherwise they wouldn’t come to Maine.
The power line would permanently scar a very large piece of virgin land in Maine forever. Is it worth it? I don’t think so. But if, by chance, CMP gets their way, as usually happens, we should make it a requirement that they build a distribution station where it enters the state so that Maine gets first dibs on the electricity before it goes to the New England grid. Additionally, I must mention that this power is for people in Massachusetts, so we should insist that Maine gets paid a pass-through fee for every kilowatt on this new power line.
Fred Drew
West Gardiner
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