Good news: legislative update

The two bills we support unanimously approved by committee

As described a couple of weeks ago, there are three bills that will impact the progress of this proposed transmission line.

They are:

LD 1963: Senator Jackson’s revised update to “An Act Regarding the Future of Renewable Energy Transmission in Northern Maine.” This bill received a divided report out of committee (the Republicans voted against, and the Democrats voted in favor.) LD 1963 is a bill we have been very concerned about because it expanded the provisions that led to the proposed route in the first place.

LD 2087: Senator Curry’s bill to protect property owners from eminent domain. This bill passed unanimously out of committee with “Ought to Pass.” This is great news and a truly bipartisan effort.

LD 2205: Representative Cyrway’s bill on a transmission line study. This bill passed unanimously out of committee with “Ought to Pass.” Again, great news and a bipartisan effort.

Final bill texts should be available next weekend.

And I should emphasize: participating in the public process is extremely time consuming. It is not achievable for most people who have jobs or kids - this session has required multiple people on our team to spend dozens of hours - my estimate is 40+ each - in Augusta during business hours. This is why money talks: paid lobbyists are the only people who can realistically afford to do this work.

Preserve Rural Maine did an amazing job (and that is unpaid time, I would point out!) Thank you.