CMP has requested a CPCN to upgrade existing small-scale transmission & distribution lines in southern Maine across the towns of Yarmouth, Cumberland, Falmouth, Westbrook, and Portland. This CPCN request is tracked in docket 2025-00276, which was opened just over a year ago.
About two months ago, Falmouth residents began to understand the scale (110 feet tall, 150 wide) of the proposed upgrades, and have put together a very impressive response group called Alliance for Responsible Infrastructure.
Falmouth Town Council had a meeting with a resolution about the topic the evening of October 14, 2026. It has some very, very interesting statements. For people following this topic (undergrounding, major transmission lines added to backyards) this is well worth the watch.
Watch the meeting (the issue starts at 18:48)
I particularly direct you to a point at about one hour, twenty-eight minutes into the recording, where the technical advisor mentions (implies?) that in the confidential part of the docket, CMP revealed that undergrounding would not be 6x the cost (the public statement)—and I interpreted the tech advisor’s statement to mean the confidential information said it was less.
Alliance for Responsible Infrastructure (ARI) estimated that the loss in property values in Falmouth alone was $43 million—and this is a conservative estimate. (Remember the study from Chino Hills, CA, where the town saw a 17% property value drop city-wide—not just with abutters! This link is all my property valuation research.)
But amazingly, ARI also looked at the hyper-local property value impacts in Yarmouth next to a transmission line (around 1 hour, 45 minutes in the video above—noticing a 20% decline in home values near the line. WOW.)
As you can imagine, I feel extremely sympathetic to the residents of these towns, and applaud their efforts.