The northern Maine transmission line
What they say
On October 6 he said he passed a bill to create a transmission line to Aroostook County, to bring in wind power and jobs. On October 8 he said the line has not failed and that the Public Utilities Commission has bids for it.
What the record shows ·
In 2021, as Senate President, he sponsored LD 1710. It became Public Law 2021, chapter 380, signed June 29, 2021, which set up the Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program and has the Public Utilities Commission seek bids for a line to connect at least 1,200 megawatts of new renewable power in northern Maine. The commission ended its first round of bidding in December 2023 and started over; it reopened its new call for bids on April 28, 2026. The program is still law, amended in 2023 and 2025.
Limit: A law that puts a line out to bid is not a built line. The first round ended without one, and the commission's page shows no award from the second yet, so whether and when the line gets built is not settled.