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Mills has a chance to fill key energy post as LePage appointee’s PUC term ends
The 6-year term of Bruce Williamson, an economist who was nominated to the Maine Public Utilities Commission by then-Gov. Paul LePage in 2015, ended in March.
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An expired term on the three-member Maine Public Utilities Commission is giving Gov. Janet Mills an opportunity to advance her climate change mitigation agenda with a key nomination to a panel with an outsize influence on state energy policy.
The six-year term of Bruce Williamson, an economist who was nominated by former Gov. Paul LePage in 2015, ended in March. Mills already has begun interviewing candidates for the position, although their names have not been disclosed.
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The New England Clean Energy Connect will build high-transmission lines alongside Central Maine Power existing poles such as the cleared area in Wilton from McCrillis Corner Road, pictured above, to Wilton Road/Route 156. New pole heights will range from 91 to 113 feet.
Andrea Swiedom/Franklin Journal
REGION On Tuesday, April 13, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows opened up public comment for the November 2 referendum ballot question that places restrictions and stipulations on the development of high-transmission lines. If passed, the citizens’ initiated act has the potential to block the New England Clean Energy Connect LLC’s (NECEC) corridor project.
The corridor is posed to bring Hydro-Québec (HQ) hydropower from Québec via a 145-mile high-transmission line to supplement New England’s power grid. NECEC has obtained all state and federal permits for the corridor, but is still securing local town permits throughout Maine.
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LEWISTON Construction could begin soon on new transmission lines traveling in and out of the recently-approved converter station for the controversial New England Clean Energy Connect project.
In unanimous votes this week, the Planning Board approved two new sections of line in Lewiston: one that will connect to the Merrill Road converter station from Greene, and a longer section between the converter station and the Larrabee Road substation.
While both sections will be constructed on CMP corridors, both will be widened by roughly 75 feet to accommodate the larger lines. According to project details, the line from Greene will have poles with an average height of 128 feet, while the section connecting to the Larrabee Road substation will have poles averaging 115 feet tall.
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JAY The Planning Board voted Tuesday to accept an application for a shoreland zoning permit as complete for the New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission corridor.
About 7 miles of the proposed 145.1 mile high-voltage, direct current transmission line from the Quebec border to Lewiston is to run through Jay, though not all of it falls under the town’s Shoreland Zoning Ordinance. The line would connect to the New England power grid to bring “clean, renewable energy to Massachusetts consumers,” according to developers. The cost is estimated at about $1 billion.
The line is capable of delivering up to 1,200 megawatts of electric generation.