Golden’s Letter to Army Corps of Engineers Yields Public Hearing on CMP Line, Release of Documents

WASHINGTON — Following an October 16th letter from Congressman Jared Golden (ME-02) to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) concerning a lack of transparency and opportunity for public input for Central Maine Power Company's New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project, the USACE has announced a public hearing to be held on December 5th in Lewiston.

Golden pressed USACE for the hearing, citing the precedent of public hearings held for similar projects in New Hampshire and Vermont. He also called for the release of additional documents requested by the EPA from Central Maine Power and the USACE. USACE has committed to providing those documents to Golden's office, which will in turn make them available to the public when they are received.

"Mainers deserve to be heard, especially when it comes to big energy projects like CMP's NECEC transmission line. This needs to be an open and transparent process,"said Golden. "That's why I asked the Army Corps for a public hearing on the CMP line and the release of important documents that are informing the agency's decision-making. I applaud the Army Corps for their decision today and I'm pleased that Maine people will have a chance to give their input publically."

The hearing will be held on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2019 at the Ramada Inn & Conference Center at 490 Pleasant Street in Lewiston, Maine. Hearing registration will start at 4 p.m. The formal public hearing will start at 4:30 p.m. There will also be a public information session starting at 4 p.m, which will allow the public to ask questions and obtain information about particular aspects of the project from the project proponent, as well as obtain information from USACE about the permit evaluation process.

Read Congressman Golden's October 16th letter to USACE here.

Read the public notice of the hearing from USACE here.