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| 📷 Workers connect a section of the first pole of Central Maine Power's hydropower transmission corridor on Feb. 9, 2021, near The Forks. (AP photo by Robert F. Bukaty) |
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📣 The hydropower corridor should be built posthaste, an advocate says.
◉ After last week's jury decision in favor of the $1 billion Central Maine Power Co. corridor, Public Advocate William Harwood, whose office argues for utility ratepayers, issued a Monday statement saying work should "resume and continue unabated" on the project rejected by voters in 2021.
◉ It is rare for a public advocate to go against public sentiment, but it tracks with the history of the corridor. Harwood, a longtime energy lawyer, got his job in early 2022 after a stint advising Mills. Both the governor and Harwood's predecessor, Barry Hobbins, were instrumental in working out a benefit package that locked down early political support of the project in 2019.
◉ CMP and its partners in the project have said they could get the corridor up and running to meet the terms of a large Massachusetts clean-power request by the end of 2024 if construction restarted this year. They will have to get the final word in court and secure state permits again if that is going to happen.
◉ "We trust that work will continue diligently and transparently to ensure that the corridor is constructed to maximize its benefits for the people of Maine," Harwood said.
🔵 The president is running for reelection, drawing some more Maine support.
◉ President Joe Biden confirmed he is running for reelection in a Tuesday video. It sets up a possible — or even likely — rematch between the 80-year-old Democrat who has been unpopular for most of his presidency so far and former President Donald Trump, who is 76 years old with worse favorability yet remains the frontrunner for the Republican nod despite legal issues.
◉ Big-name politicians in Maine have mostly avoided questions about the political futures of those standard bearers. A query of gubernatorial hopefuls and the congressional delegation in August only yielded one Biden endorsement from Rep. Chellie Pingree, a Democrat from the 1st District. Mills did not take questions after a Portland event on Tuesday morning.
◉ Biden's announcement pushed some state-level Democrats to voice their support, which is unsurprising since the president faces no major threat for the party's nomination.
◉ "He is working hard to repair and protect so much of what we hold dear in this country, and that’s work we should all want to do," Rep. Dan Ankeles, D-Brunswick, tweeted of Biden. |
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| Correction: Monday's newsletter gave the incorrect hometown for state Rep. David Boyer, R-Poland. |
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What we're reading
📰 A nonprofit's effort to buy several Maine newspapers began last year.
💬 This conservative activist goes to court this week in free-speech battles with school boards.
🐟 A $2 million dam project will open a key eastern Maine river to sea-run fish.
🦌 Maine shrinks a wildlife "do-not-eat" advisory around Fairfield.
🚨 Lewiston police are investigating a Black resident's encounter with an officer, the Maine Monitor reports. |
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