53 MILES IN MAINE, Part 3 of 5

Welcome back to 53 Miles in Maine, our 5-part series covering a controversial clean energy project that got shut down by a pubic referendum in Maine in November 2021 and is now being decided in the courts.

In this series, we are looking into what happened in Maine as a lens into 3 broader themes impacting our much needed transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy when it comes to our electricity grid.

In Episode 1, we provided a detailed timeline of what took place in Maine

In Episode 2, we discussed why Environmental Activists & Clean Energy Advocates are increasingly at odds with these projects

And now here, in Episode 3, we are discussing why and how these big Clean Energy Projects are shifting from a solely Regulatory review process to a hybrid of a Regulatory + Public Review and how that played out here in Maine

In Episode 4, coming next, we will tackle our 3rd and final theme, the playbook big energy companies are using to stall and block clean energy projects that are not their own

The regulator system designed to govern these types of projects was not really built for the variety and volume we are seeing now as we shift of fossil fuels, let alone the new world order we are in where everything also needs to go through the court of public opinion. In the case of the New England Clean Energy Connect in Maine, they checked all of the regulatory boxes but were unable to convince the public.

This is especially important for renewable energy and the infrastructure needed to support it because so many of these projects will live and die at the hands of local support.

There are a lot of lessons learned here and we aim to bring this out to the forefront.

Here are a few documents and studies that are referenced or in support of the conversations in this episode:

Nationwide Local Infrastructure Study