Why the U.S. has a massive power line problem

For the past six years, energy companies and Maine residents have been in a fierce stand-off over the construction of a 53-mile power line extension that would deliver 1,200 megawatts of renewable hydroelectric power from Canada to Massachusetts, which is enough to power approximately 1.2 million homes.

For two-thirds of the distance, the electricity would follow a transmission line corridor which already exists. But without the 53-mile, 54-foot-wide extension, the $1 billion construction project is a at an impasse.

The power line has already received all of its state and federal permits. But in a state-wide vote in November, Maine voters rejected the project. Now, the constitutionality of that referendum vote is being battled out in court and will be decided this summer, according to Anthony W. Buxton, the lawyer representing the power companies that want to complete the transmission line. If the Maine court system rules that the referendum vote was unconstitutional, then the energy companies involved can continue construction.

Concerned citizens opposing the construction of the transmission line organized together in a group called, “Say NO to NECEC,” which is an acronym for the name of the project, the New England Clean Energy Connect. The head of that opposition group is 46 year-old Sandi Howard, an an 8th generation Mainer who lives in the region on her family’s property. She is a professor of music at Keene State College and has led commercial whitewater and outdoor adventures for 26 years.

Howard says Mainers don’t trust the utility company because, among other reasons, Maine is one of the states suffering the worst increase in outage duration, according to an Associated Press analysis of government data. Also, “Mainers want to protect its environment and way of life,” Howard told CNBC. If the power line were to be constructed, “there would be a dramatic impact to Maine’s natural resources, scenic character, economic impact to Maine’s four-season recreational tourism industry,” she said.

Also, she said opponents to the project are concerned about the health of the local ecosystem. For example, “the last stronghold of native brook trout are in western Maine, an area devoid of large scale infrastructure. Clearing the tree canopy for this transmission line will heat the waters in the habitat, which is critical for their survival,” Howard told CNBC.

But it’s not just citizens like Howard who oppose the construction of the power line. Incumbent energy companies have of business on the line. In Maine alone, power companies have spent collectively $94.5 million lobbying both for and against the extension through investments…