Well, This Didn't Turn Out Like We Had Hoped -- CMP-- November 3, 2021

Note: this whole subject is well beyond my expertise but this is how I see it. Facts and opinions and personal understanding (which is often wrong) are interspersed in the post below and it is impossible to tell what is fact and what is fiction, but I bet I'm not too far off the mark.

In a long note like this, especially with a subject I know nothing about, there will be content and typographical errors. 

For this next news item / this next post to make sense, one must understand this diagram:

ISO-NE: The diagram shown here illustrates, in relative geographic location, the substations, transmission lines, and interconnections with neighboring grids that make up the New England power system. 

The diagram above shows existing facilities and facilities that are expected to be placed in service in the near future. If you feel this diagram is insufficient and that you need more detailed information, you can download a more detailed version of the diagram at the link. 

Okay. Now that you have the diagram, here's perhaps the most interesting news story of the day. 

"ISO NE" must meet -- by law -- certain renewable energy milestones. Massachusetts and more specifically, Boston, are most affected by these rules and regulations. 

Plan A, then Plan B, then Plan C ... Plan Y mostly fell back to Plan A: expensive hydroelectricity from Quebec to meet the renewable energy requirements for Boston as promulgated by law. 

Only one problem. 

There's this big state called Maine that sits between Massachusetts and Boston. 

Which reminds me. 

This is so ironic with a capital "I." 

Maine, at one time, was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In 1820 it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become a separate state for the sole purpose of raining on Boston's parade, as they say in Brookline. On March 15, 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, Maine was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state. 

Maine's one claim to fame is the fact that it is the only state whose name consists of a single syllable. 

Maine has a nasty habit of poking a stick in Boston's metaphorical eye. LOL. 

And that brings us to the most interesting story in the past twenty-four hours.

This link was sent to me by a reader. Thank you. 

For Boston to meet its renewable energy mandate, the only viable alternative is to bring expensive hydroelectricity in from Quebec, but that requires a really big transmission line and that line would go through Maine.

Well, a woman who I will call Rosa Parks, of Farmington, Maine, wouldn't go for that. She felt that this really, really big transmission line would only benefit Quebec and Massachusetts (of course, she is/was correct). It offered nothing for Maine. And so Rosa Parks and friends killed the project.

At the linked story: 

Central Maine Power -- CMP -- was dealt a major blow yesterday when voters voted to kill the utility's $1 billion hydropower corridor project.

The vote on the project has been nearly four years in the making. After a similar project was killed by New Hampshire regulators in 2018, the 145-mile corridor to bring Hydro-Quebec power to the regional grid through western Maine emerged as Massachusetts' best hope to fulfill a massive clean-power request.

Much more at the linked article. 

Rosa Parks harnessed grassroots anger, but look at this: the anti-hydro-electricity movement was funded by .... no, not George Soros ... but rather .... drum roll ... the fossil fuel industry.

LOL. I can't make this stuff up. 

Anyway, you get the gist of the story. If not, go to the linked story and google CMP hyropower corridor for background.  

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End of the Line

End Of The Line, The Traveling Wilburys