Corridor should not be built

To The Editor;

Hats off to the citizens of Greenville. Thank you for voting on June 11, 2019 to oppose (290 to 58) Central Maine Power’s plans to build a 145-mile hydro transmission line from the Quebec border through the state of Maine, right smack thru the Western Maine mountains. Right through some of Maine’s finest scenery, wildlife and brook trout habitat. Right through the wildness. The huge line would transport power from Hydro-Quebec’s northern dams to Massachusetts.

There are many reasons why this destructive line should never be built. The power is produced in Northern Quebec by building mega dams on, and also diverting wild, powerful free flowing rivers. Dams that flood millions of acres, not hundreds, not thousands, but millions. The flooding destroys the best land, the rich river valleys, the habitat of the North — the habitat of otter, beaver, lake trout, walleye, northern pike, loon, wolverine, caribou, mink , marten, black bear, lynx, snow goose, Canada  goose, millions of migratory birds, and the Cree and Inuit people. These mega projects consume the untouched wilderness of northern Quebec. The utilities apparently view this vast wilderness as a commodity. They see living, powerful, free flowing rivers as something to be dammed, diverted, and turned into profits.

The flooding pollutes the pure, fresh water. These huge dams create not lakes, but muddy stump strewn deadwaters, and at certain times of the year, extensive mudflats. In addition, flooding has caused the intensified release of deadly mercury which enters the food chain. The mercury reaches highest concentration in fish which are the Cree’s most reliable source of high quality protein. The end result is that the water is no longer fit to drink and the most important food source no longer fit to eat. Plus the critical shoreline habitat of birds, animals and people can no longer exist. In terms of native people, wildlife, and habitat, these James Bay Projects are causing the northern hemisphere equivalent of the destruction of the tropical rain forests.

The difference between the rich river systems after daming, diverting, and flooding, as compared to before is the difference between death and life. 

Cheap clean power is how the utilities bill this destruction, indicating that it is environmentally acceptable. How can destroying someone else’s homeland and millions of acres of critical habitat be environmentally acceptable? The utilities can get away with that kind of false information because most people don’t have a clue as to what is going on in Northern Quebec.

So the massive proposed  transmission line would wreak havoc through Maine and on to its destination in Massachusetts where it would go to work delivering more power to facilitate and promote endless growth, rampant development, relentless unthinking consumerism, insatiable greed,  lights burning 24 hours a day, endless congestion, noise, etc.

There is not enough material on Earth to sustain  our overpopulated planet and the  consumerism that we have created. The more power these utilities can sell, the more incentive they have to brutalize additional areas. The citizens of New Hampshire put a stop to the utilities’ intention to put that massive power line through New Hampshire. As a lover of Maine, a camp owner in Shirley and a good friend of many Cree and Inuit, I hope the good people of Maine will do the same. 

Bob Hoffman

West Danville, Vermont