FARMINGTON — The Maine Department of Environmental Protection and the Land Use Planning Commission will host a series of public hearings in the coming week to garner feedback on Central Maine Power’s New England Clean Energy Connect project.

The dates and times for the hearings, all of which will be held at the University of Maine at Farmington, are as follows:

• Monday: North Dining Hall, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (DEP)
• Tuesday: North Dining Hall, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (DEP & LUPC). Testimony will be accepted starting at 10:30 a.m.
• Tuesday: Lincoln Auditorium, 6 p.m. (DEP & LUPC)
• Wednesday: North Dining Hall, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (DEP)
• Thursday: Lincoln Auditorium, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (DEP)
• Thursday: Lincoln Auditorium, 6 p.m. (DEP)
• Friday: North Dining Hall, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. (DEP)

The daytime sessions will be devoted to receiving testimony from intervenors, who have been approved by the state as being impacted by the project. Members of the public may attend but not participate in the sessions.

The evening sessions will be devoted to receiving testimony from the public.

The joint sessions Tuesday will focus on the Land Use Planning Commission’s review criteria related to potential effects on scenic character and existing uses and an analysis of alternatives.

Topics on which testimony will be received at the other hearings are potential effects on scenic character and existing uses, potential effects on wildlife habitat and fisheries, alternatives analysis, and proposed compensation for damage and mitigation of damage.

Along with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, the DEP and the LUPC are the two state agencies whose approvals are needed before CMP can move ahead with its plans to build the 145-mile transmission line from Beattie Township in Franklin County through Somerset County and on to Lewiston.

The PUC is expected to make a decision on the permitting of the transmission line corridor in late April.

CMP is hoping to get the required permits from the DEP and the LUPC in the third quarter of 2019 and is hoping to have all necessary permits, including those from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and U.S. Department of Energy, by the end of the year.

 

Copy the Story Link