To the Editor:

Clean Energy Matters, NECEC, Mainers for Fair Laws, NewsUpdate Maine, Avangrid, Iberdola. These are all CMP, trying to avoid their worst in the nation reputation by calling themselves anything but what they are.

First it was about jobs, then the environment, now it’s about deceitful advertising intended as scare tactics by their front groups. You wouldn’t even know it was about CMP and the corridor they are so deceitful.

From the beginning CMP’s MO has been to stuff this corridor down our throat. Before the real work started, they signed illegal and unconstitutional leases to cross public lands. Then they met behind closed doors with town officials telling them “sign up, we’ll make it worth your while, it’s a done deal anyway.”

The first flyer I received said the corridor would produce 3,600 jobs. We now know it is 38 permanent jobs and most of the temp work is being done by Northern Clearing, a Wisconsin company.

Then they advertise the project as green, one that will save the planet. Yet they fought an independent study on the subject and lobbied against an Environmental Impact study (as was done in New Hampshire which turned the project down) by the Army Core of Engineers.

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Personally, I am an unpaid volunteer who donates time and money to the cause. Yet I have been called dark money in public meetings by energy consortium lawyers. The spin is ridiculous but relentless.

Now, groups with names intentionally disassociated with CMP concoct propaganda ads on television, print and social media. We are talking blatant lies, such as the retroactive ad that warns “any project can be undone, including your back deck.” Truth is the referendum is specific to massive transmission lines crossing public lands in the Upper Kennebec Valley region. Watching CMP leak their disingenuous “goodwill” stories to the press while overtly lying about retroactivity in paid ads on the same channels is quite the dog and pony show. They are shamelessly trying to buy us off. Are people going to fall for it?

I am voting YES on 1 this fall for many reasons, including: 1) this project will absolutely not impact climate change 2) There will be a net loss of real Maine jobs in biomass, small scale renewables and eco-tourism 3) Maine is currently energy independent 4) This line is not the end, they have big plans for additional infrastructure once they have the corridor to do it 5) The true value to Maine is that it still has wide open vistas, brook trout and unexploited acreage, unique and valuable in the east 6) CMP is shamelessly unethical in the way they have approached this project from day 1.

Step back and ask yourself what future generations will thank us for- approving a rapidly becoming obsolete massive overhead transmission line bringing power from Quebec to Massachusetts, or preserving a unique region with priceless value to future generations?

Darryl Wood

New Sharon

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