AMC among conservation groups moving to add U.S. Department of Energy to CMP corridor lawsuit

Three of Maine’s largest conservation groups have moved to add the U.S. Department of Energy to their lawsuit challenging the flawed federal permits that were granted to Central Maine Power for its transmission line project.

DOE’s substandard review of the project has come under scrutiny because the Trump Administration rushed to issue a presidential permit just days before President Biden was inaugurated. In doing so, DOE violated the National Environmental Policy Act ( and the Administrative Procedure Act by issuing a flawed Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact, by failing to prepare an Environmental Impact Statement, and by failing to comply with NEPA’s public participation requirements. Although it falls within its role and mission, DOE also did not perform an independent analysis of the project’s impacts on greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. Rep. Jared Golden, R-Maine and the Penobscot Nation have called on the Biden Administration to rescind the DOE’s Presidential Permit and EA/FONSI, and go back to the drawing board to conduct a more extensive and transparent environmental review of the controversial CMP corridor.

In their legal filing, the Appalachian Mountain Club, Natural Resources Council of Maine and Sierra Club Maine say DOE committed a clear error in issuing the presidential permit for the CMP corridor without first allowing for public comment. DOE’s approach to the CMP corridor stands in stark contrast to reviews it conducted for similar projects in Vermont and New Hampshire, where it held multiple public hearings and conducted a much more rigorous and in-depth review.

In October 2020, the three groups filed their original lawsuit in federal court challenging the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for failing to rigorously assess the full impacts of CMP’s transmission line on the woods, waters, and communities of Western Maine. In their legal filing, AMC, NRCM and Sierra Club Maine said that by choosing not to conduct an EIS as required by NEPA, the Corps had abdicated its responsibility to assess the full impacts of the proposed transmission line, including a new 53-mile corridor that would cut through Maine’s Western Mountains region.

The First Circuit Court of Appeals has issued an injunction barring construction on Segment 1 of the CMP corridor while the court considers an appeal filed by the three groups in response to a decision by a lower court to deny their motion for a preliminary injunction. Oral arguments for that case were scheduled for March 30.

A lack of transparency has plagued the federal review of the CMP corridor. The groups were only able to obtain a copy of the Corps’ environmental assessment after they submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for documents related to the Corps’ review. DOE failed to live up to a commitment it made to U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine to release its draft permit and EA for public comment before finalizing them.

The groups are represented in their lawsuit by Earthrise Law Center, the environmental legal clinic of Lewis & Clark Law School.

Founded in 1876, the Appalachian Mountain Club is the nation’s oldest conservation and recreation organization. With over 100,000 members and supporters from Maine to Virginia, including more than 6500 in Maine, our mission is to foster the protection, enjoyment, and understanding of the outdoors.

Founded in 1959, the Natural Resources Council of Maine is our state’s leading nonprofit membership organization protecting Maine’s land, air, waters, and wildlife. We harness the power of science, the law and the voices of more than 25,000 supporters from across Maine and beyond to protect the nature of Maine.

Sierra Club Maine is one of 64 chapters nationally with 4 million members and supporters, with 24,000 members and supporters in Maine. Our mission is to explore, enjoy, and protect the wild places of the earth; to practice and promote the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources; to educate and enlist humanity to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment; and to use all lawful means necessary to carry out these objectives.