*The views expressed are the opinions of Dr. Meserve. The Maine Medical Association does not have a formal position on Question 1. Please vote regardless.

Yes on 1

The CMP corridor is not good for Maine or the environment. The New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line benefits foreign companies that want to sell their “clean energy” to higher rate markets in Massachusetts. Let’s look at the supposed “benefits” of this 145-mile-long corridor through much of Maine’s wilderness:

• Clean Power: The foreign companies Hydro Quebec and Iberdrola want to export  power from Canada to more profitable markets in Massachusetts. Hydro Quebec will derive profit from its sales, while CMP, a subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola, will pick up revenue from the new line. What’s more, there’s no guarantee that the power won’t come from non-renewable sources. This power line will not help Maine meet its own green energy goals or supply Maine customers. Mainers are losing out to foreign interests.

• Jobs for Mainers: Opponents of the bill claim the corridor will generate 1641 jobs in the state of Maine, yet CMP has already hired out of state companies such as Irby Construction of Mississippi, Sargent Electric of Pennsylvania and Northern Clearing Inc. of Wisconsin to perform most of the construction. They will not say how many of those jobs are actually awarded to Mainers. Once completed in short time, the corridor claims to create 262 jobs in Maine. Balanced against the loss of tourism, recreation, other land uses and decreased investment in local green energy projects we stand to lose far more, higher paying jobs. Mainers are again losing to out of state interests.

Some have expressed concern that the law gives too much power to the legislature with retroactive laws limiting land use. In reality, Question 1 only grants the Maine Legislature power to retroactively approve or disapprove high-powered transmission lines and certain other projects requiring leases on public lands. There are no additional retroactive powers, largely because the legislature already has this power and has passed over a hundred bills in the past 20 years with this affect. This law changes the legislature’s power minimally and only in the context of high transmission power lines on public lands.

Don’t be fooled by foreign and out of state interests. At stake are Maine’s greatest resources: our outdoors and way of life. Before we embark on a permanent destruction of Maine’s woods affecting recreation, tourism, hunting, fishing and wildlife habitat we should ask: how does it benefit Maine? The answer is: it doesn’t. The CMP corridor is bad for our environment, our economy and our state. Vote Yes to block the corridor on November 2^nd.

-Jonathan Meserve MD FAAP

Pediatric Anesthesiologist

Falmouth, ME.