The reason that Maine limits the amount of hydropower that can be part of our energy portfolio is that it is not completely clean. It destroys ecosystems and initially creates a large amount of methane (which is more harmful than CO2) from decomposing vegetation. It blocks the passage of anadromous fish species and keeps them from their breeding grounds which has contributed to the depletion of stocks of those species affected. It creates conditions in rivers that kill other fish and plants due to the stream beds either being almost dry then very full.
For anyone who has traveled north of Quebec City, you have a sense of the destruction that these remotely located sources of electricity cause. There are powerlines and corridors everywhere and the vegetation under these corridors is kept from growing by spraying herbicides, most often glyphosates, a known carcinogen. What we don’t see are the flooded valleys and dry streams that are the by-product of this.
When dams were the only option we embraced them. We now have other sources of clean, renewable technology to generate power. We have locally placed individual solar and solar farms that are particularly active at times of high demand. We have offshore wind that has great potential to generate power even at night without disturbing any neighbors. We have in-flow turbines that do not need large impoundments of water and that can also supplement solar. These are the types of generation we need to encourage and support.
The reasons given for this power line and corridor are that it will reduce CO2 emissions, yet Hydro Quebec has already said that this would just allow for a redirect of existing resources which will not reduce emissions. This also begs the question of what they will do to sell more power to the market from which they remove this power, and we are back to being complicit in their environmental destruction.
The supporters claim that any amount they have offered for allowing passage through our state is better than nothing. It isn’t. We were offered much less than New Hampshire and Vermont and yet they both felt that the benefit didn’t outweigh the negatives. One of my colleagues on the Energy Utilities and Technology Committee computed that it would save each CMP customer about $ .40 cents a month. That is not a benefit that makes the destructive nature of this plan worth considering or accepting.
I had a bill before the legislature, LD 271 An Act Regarding a Transmission and Distribution Utility’s Use of the Right of Eminent Domain To Locate Its Transmission Lines, that would remove the right of eminent domain from CMP unless there is a proven benefit to the people of Maine. $ .40 per customer does not justify the taking of land from property owners who do not want to sell. We did not take the bill up in our truncated session so I will bring it back next year.
The wilderness of Maine is a more valuable draw than anything that has been stated as a benefit of this proposal. We need to protect our uniqueness as a state from the greed of multinational corporations that use our utility laws to fatten their profits.