By Staff
While a legal battle continues over the future of New England Clean Energy Connect, Central Maine Power Co.’s planned 145-mile electricity transmission corridor through the western part of the state, construction of the line has already gotten underway.
Workers on Tuesday raised the first of 829 utility poles that will carry renewably produced hydropower from Hydro-Quebec in Canada and deliver it to the New England power grid via a junction in Lewiston.
Nearly 300 Mainers have been hired to work the corridor’s construction, with Pittsfield-based Cianbro Corp. and other local contractors planning to hire hundreds more, according to project officials.
The work is getting started even though the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals delayed construction of a new 53-mile section. Three conservation groups are seeking an injunction to delay the project while they sue to force the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to conduct a more rigorous environmental review.
PORTLAND, Maine Construction on part of a $1 billion electricity transmission corridor through sparsely populated woods in western Maine is on hold because of legal action, but that doesn’t mean all building has been halted. Workers installed the first of 829 steel poles Tuesday on a widened portion of the existing corridor that is […]