NRCM news release
November 2, 2021 (Augusta, ME) – A strong majority of Maine voters today delivered a devastating blow to the controversial Central Maine Power (CMP) corridor project, according to results being reported by Maine media outlets. Question 1 was on track to pass overwhelmingly despite CMP and Hydro-Quebec shattering all previous referendum campaign spending records in a desperate bid to salvage the beleaguered project.
In response to today’s vote, Maine’s leading environmental advocacy organization, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, released the following statement from Advocacy Director Pete Didisheim:
“Maine residents have voted decisively to terminate the CMP corridor, which means the time has come for CMP to respect the will of Maine people by stopping this project immediately. If CMP fails to halt construction activities right away, then the Department of Environmental Protection should move quickly to suspend the permit and require that CMP begin restoring areas of Western Maine that already have been damaged.
We also call on Massachusetts to honor this electoral outcome by selecting an alternative option for meeting its climate goals without imposing significant environmental harm on another New England state.”
By any measure, today’s results in support of Question 1 were a landslide. Even though CMP and Hydro-Quebec spent more than $72 million over the past two years telling Maine people how to vote, Question 1 appears to have passed by a larger margin than Senator Susan Collins’ election results in 2020 and a larger margin than any candidate for Maine governor has received in more than 20 years.
