LEWISTON – About 70 people toured a Ramada Inn banquet room filled with Central Maine Power Co. representatives, computerized maps and information sheets Tuesday to learn about the power company’s plan to upgrade and install high-capacity power lines throughout the area.

Some left satisfied.

“This is good,” said Bonnie Leclair after learning that larger power lines would not encroach on her family’s Main Street home. “As long as they stay 600 feet away, I’m OK.”

Others were not so happy.

“They’re going to take away every tree that abuts our land,” said Mike Parent, whose Old Webster Road home is 8 feet from CMP’s right of way and a planned set of high-voltage power lines. “We didn’t think it would be so dramatic.”

At issue is CMP’s Maine Power Reliability Program, a massive, $1 billion project that calls for upgrading a nearly 40-year-old swath of power lines. The lines start south in Eliot and pass through central Maine in Litchfield, Monmouth, Leeds, Greene, Lewiston and a corner of Auburn at the Durham line. They run for 370 miles and stop in Orrington, where they connect with lines from Canada.

In some places, lines would be rebuilt or replaced. In other places, lines would be added, including 115,000-volt and 345,000-volt lines. Those lines would run cross-country, not along streets or roads. The 345-kV poles, not common in Maine, are wider and can require dozens of feet of additional land and are, depending on location, about 20 to 25 feet taller than the lower-voltage poles. Opponents say the 345-kV lines buzz and emit an electromagnetic field they fear could cause cancer.

On Tuesday night, many property owners learned for the first time exactly where the lines were slated to go and whether their homes would be next to a common 115-kV line or the bigger and more controversial 345-kV line.

Susan Bouchard was dismayed to learn that the bigger lines are expected to run less than 350 feet from her Lewiston home.

“If this goes through, my house is going to be worth nothing,” she said.

Bouchard said she had researched the bigger lines and learned they buzz and emit an electromagnetic field. She fears the lines contribute to childhood leukemia.

She didn’t trust CMP’s informational handouts.

“I don’t believe any of this stuff,” she said.

She and others were also upset by the event itself, which had been billed as a public informational meeting. Instead of a formal forum for people to hear from officials and ask questions, CMP offered a roomful of computer stations and informational kiosks manned by CMP representatives.

“This is not a forum,” said Jim Parakilas of Lewiston, who attended with his wife. “We thought this would be an open discussion with everybody hearing the same answers.”

CMP officials said the nontraditional event gave property owners a better way to get individual questions answered.

“Everyone who goes through the door gets their questions answered,” said CMP project manager Mary Smith.

Some people liked the unconventional forum.

“It seems like they know what they’re doing,” said Diane Inman, who found out the CMP project wouldn’t greatly affect her family’s 200 acres in Monroe. “Everybody was quite helpful.”

CMP has held similar meetings in Saco and Waterville. It expects to hold another, though officials had not determined where or when.

CMP says it needs to go through with the project in order to upgrade Maine’s power system, deal with the state’s growing electrical needs and head off reliability problems.

The Maine Public Utilities Commission must approve the project. The commission is expected to spend months holding hearings and gathering information. It likely won’t have a decision until May, a spokesman said.

About 4,000 abutters would be affected statewide. If approved, the project is expected to take three to five years to complete.