To anti-NECEC fabrications, we respond with facts.
This time it’s a letter claiming that “nothing about New England Clean Energy Connect will benefit Maine.” That’s false. Correcting the record is the reason why Hydro-Québec has been responding to the repeated promotion of misinformation.
Maine businesses and consumers will benefit greatly from the project. Here’s why:
• The project is providing work to Mainers. Close to 300 are on the job right now. Building the clean energy corridor will create more than 1,600 good-paying jobs during construction.
• $258 million will help fund a series of priorities in Maine, such as providing rate relief; helping Mainers install energy efficient heat pumps; and expanding electric vehicle infrastructure.
This project will also help bring energy costs down. When fossil fuel prices spike during high consumption periods (like winter), electricity prices go up as well. By introducing hydro power into the New England grid, we can temper those spikes. The 2020 reduced-cost power agreement between Hydro-Québec and the State of Maine will help lower electricity costs even further in the state.
The NECEC and its benefits has more support than opposition in Maine. Our recent poll has shown that. Project opponents like to point out that 100,000 Mainers signed the latest petition. What they consistently fail to mention is that fossil fuel companies funded their signature gathering efforts to the tune of $1 million dollars. It’s all very clear on the Maine Ethics Commission’s website: the opposition is funded by fossil fuel companies that seek to block new energy supply from the market.
Hydro-Québec has provided Mainers fact-based information about this project because that’s the kind of information Mainers deserve. And here’s another fact: the NECEC is a significant step towards the clean energy future of Maine and New England.
Lynn St-Laurent
spokesperson
Hydro-Québec
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