Androscoggin County Commissioners should be thanked for voting to rescind their support of the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line project. The commission’s voice is especially important in view of the recent revelation that CMP has spent over $2 million to combat the growing number of Mainers against the project.

Thirty-five years ago, Sierra Club joined other activists in protest of a similar transmission line project. “No Thank You Hydro Quebec” prevailed and is still relevant today.

Importing electricity from Quebec and Labrador is not the solution to the energy needs of northeastern states. Most Mainers don’t realize the Hydro Quebec business plan is to continue to destroy free-flowing rivers, boreal forests and the culture of indigenous peoples living in the areas of destruction.

Hydro Quebec has been expanding its dam complexes and building new ones on pristine rivers ever since the 1960s, and is building new dams even now. “Build it and they will come,” is its approach. Policymakers can then argue, conveniently, that “the dams are already built, let’s use the power.”

The North America Megadam Resistance Alliance (NAMRA) and Sierra Club Maine reminds Mainers that, in spite of claims being made, hydro electricity from large dams is neither clean, green nor renewable energy. Maine should not be complicit in their expansion. Currently communities in Labrador are gearing up to protect their iconic Gull Island from a third project on the Grand River (Mista shipu) as Hydro Quebec and New Brunswick sign new power agreements.

Joan Saxe, Freeport