Samantha,
Thanks to you and to WCSH for such patience in getting to the bottom of this. I first got involved a long time ago at the request of Larry Warren back before the 2018 election and even before it was known that the NH proposal would fail.
The general concept of bringing a New England power line down from Hydro Quebec had been endorsed by many responsible environmental groups and it was public policy in Massachusetts.
Larry foresaw that CMP’s proposal would win out over the NH proposal, that the line through Maine was probably inevitable, and that someone should start thinking about how to mitigate the effect of the line on the mountains and rivers of Somerset and Franklin Counties.
In the end, larger entities like Maine’s Public Advocate and Maine State Government itself were able to negotiate very substantial mitigation benefits in addition to those proposed by WM&R.
In spite of local frustrations and hostilities, it is hard to get around the fact that the project will bring in huge quantities of carbon free power with genuine benefits to Maine and New England that are validated by independent experts employed by Maine's PUC.
Peter Mills