Bill Resnick interviews Matthew Cannon, a leader of a Maine ballot Initiative campaign that successfully prohibited the construction of a superhigh voltage electricity line. The initiative won by a stunning margin of 60% to 40%. The immense power grid would have cut a huge swath through the pristine forests of Maine to bring electricity from mega-dams in Quebec to Massachusetts. Maine's big utilities are challenging the win in the courts. But win or lose, the Sierra Club and other sponsors of the initiative are now collecting signatures for a second initiative to take over Central Maine Power, the state’s largest Investor Owned Utility. They seek to replace it with a large cooperative of many smaller cooperatives, who are committed to building out local solar and wind power.
Photo by Jean-Francois Lemire, courtesy of The Museums of Quebec
- KBOO