Do you think we should pre-approve transmission lines with zero details?

Provide testimony March 11.

If you were impacted by the proposal of a transmission line through your small town or backyard, please write and share testimony with the Energy, Utilities, and Technology (EUT) Committee.

When: 1pm, March 11, 2025
Where: EUT Committee, Cross Building, Room 211. Augusta, Maine.
What: LD 596 "Resolve, to Provide Legislative Approval of Northern Maine Transmission Infrastructure" and LD 810 “An Act Regarding the Approval of Transmission Lines”

There are two bills the afternoon of March 11th to watch. Both aim to pre-approve transmission lines.

The first, LD 596, would pre-approve the transmission line from Northern Maine. This is the current bill text:

There are so many things wrong with this. Here are some bullet points:

• Generation (electricity source) is unknown.

• Contractor (owner of the transmission line) is unknown.

• Cost is unknown.

• Location or route is unknown.

• The ostensible purpose of the legislation that led to requiring legislative approval for high impact transmission lines is the western Maine CMP corridor, NECEC. It was so controversial it led to a state referendum, a lawsuit, and over $60 million in legal fees spent. CMP won.

• This proposed legislation aims to circumvent the prior legislation for this particular transmission line.

• The Maine PUC has not yet released an RFP. That means no bids have been received and no winner selected.

• The Maine PUC is intending to release an RFI (Request for Information) as a next step. That will be the third RFI they have released on this project. (Source: email with PUC staff.)

• An RFI comes prior to an RFP, typically. This means that the PUC is probably a year or more away from awarding this in an RFP process.

• ISO-NE, the regional grid that connects most of Maine to New England, is also releasing an RFP soon to firm-up the Maine-New Hampshire transmission border. The ISO-NE RFP and the Northern Maine RFP need to work together.

Some legislators respond more to emotion. If you have an emotional story to tell about the Aroostook Renewable Gateway fiasco, tell it in your testimony.

The second piece of legislation in hearing the afternoon of March 11th is LD 810. “An Act Regarding the Approval of Transmission Lines” has the same, broader purpose of the legislation mentioned above. It aims to pre-approve all transmission lines proposed by state agencies, again subverting the NECEC-caused legislation.