The Maine Wire
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • Podcasts
  • About
  • Contact
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending News
  • Two Men Arrested in Sanford Stabbing and Bike Theft Case
  • South Portland High School Locked Down This Morning After Suspicious Individual Spotted Near Entrance
  • Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Longest-Serving Female Senator, Dead At 90
  • Angus King and West Virginia Senator Partner to Designate September as ‘National Recovery Month’ Amid Rise in Overdoses
  • Senate Unanimously Approves Official Business-Appropriate Dress Code
  • ‘Enough is Enough’: Portland Business Owners Speak Out About Crime and Violence in City’s Homeless Encampments [VIDEO]
  • Low Approval Ratings for Congress and Biden Persist as Government Shutdown Looms: Gallup Poll
  • Sanford Man Stabbed Multiple Times After Having His Bike Stolen Near City’s Homeless Hot Spot
Facebook Twitter Instagram
The Maine Wire
Login
Saturday, September 30
  • News
  • Commentary
  • Maine Wire TV
  • Podcasts
  • About
  • Contact
The Maine Wire
Home » News » Opinion: Forces behind anti-corridor campaign employed shady tactics, in Maine and elsewhere
Commentary

Opinion: Forces behind anti-corridor campaign employed shady tactics, in Maine and elsewhere

Nathan WadsworthBy Nathan WadsworthAugust 8, 2022Updated:August 8, 2022No Comments4 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Email LinkedIn Reddit
PHOTO SIMULATION (not a real photo) that shows view looking nortwest from Wilson Hill Road in West Forks toward the proposed HVDC transmission line. (Rendering/simulation coutesy of CMP)
Share
Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email

Maine’s Supreme Court is set to rule any day now on an appeal of the referendum that passed last year blocking the continued construction of the New England Clean Energy Connect Corridor–a transmission corridor that would connect 1,200 megawatts of clean energy onto our power grid in Lewiston. 

In the months since the referendum, it has been increasingly common to hear Mainers express a form of buyer’s remorse when they look at their energy bills and say, “I voted for that referendum but now I think I made a mistake.”

Not long after the referendum vote, we learned that the price most of us pay for power, what’s called the standard offer, was going up by 83%. The sting from that sharp price increase was made worse in the months that followed as we watched the cost of gas, home heating oil, and just about everything else spike as well. Had Mainers not voted against the power line, it would have put downward pressure on future regional energy prices, bringing down the cost of electricity for everyone in New England. That’s a deal we should have taken last fall.

Today, as the Court considers whether the referendum rests on sound legal principles or not, it’s worth remembering that the primary opponents of the referendum were the out-of-state fossil fuel interests who are now making a windfall profit from that 83% increase. Chief among them was NextEra Energy, which donated more than $20,000,000 to the referendum campaign opposing the power line. Those profits aren’t reinvested in consumer programs or the power grid and they are not used to help our state transition to clean energy like our regulated utility companies do. It’s pure profit for companies like NextEra.

As it turns out, NextEra’s interference in the Maine referendum was not the first time they’ve been caught using their money to rig the outcome of public policy debates. In Florida, a series of newspaper investigations unveiled a pattern of interference in campaigns and elections that has now come under scrutiny as part of a criminal investigation. It seems that consultants working for NextEra recruited “ghost candidates” to run for the Florida Legislature – a scheme that would have placed non-existent candidates on the ballot to siphon votes away from elected officials they dislike.

NextEra’s political consultants even recruited a candidate with the same name as an existing candidate and got him on the ballot. This caused enough confusion among voters to flip that seat NextEra’s way. These political consultants were able to flip three Senate seats with these tactics. Now at least one of the ghost candidates admitted he was bribed to run.

The ghost candidate scheme now appears to be only the tip of the iceberg in Florida. In Jacksonville, a journalist who wrote critically of a NextEra company found himself being spied on. Meanwhile those NextEra consultants behind the ghost candidates acquired a Florida news outlet and then posed as journalists to dish out dirt on NextEra’s critics. And separately, when a State Senator proposed new legislation that could eat into the profits of a NextEra company, theirCEO fired off an email saying “I want you to make his life a living hell….seriously.” 

While this behavior has begun to catch up with NextEra in Florida, there is some evidence they employed similar tactics here in Maine to oppose the Clean Energy Corridor. The Maine Ethics Commission is still conducting its investigation into Stop the Corridor, a dark money LLC linked to NextEra that has funneled untold millions into Maine opposing the corridor. They have also openly used their market position to delay clean energy development by refusing to upgrade critical breaker equipment at their Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant.

I am hopeful that justice is coming. Just last month a leading investment firm downgraded NextEra’s stock, citing growing media scrutiny of Florida Power and Light’s lobbying practice, and last week a Member of Congress from Florida wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting an investigation into “apparent corruption.”

No one knows how Maine’s Supreme Court will rule on the constitutionality of the referendum campaign against the corridor, but I think it is high time all Mainers know the truth about the anti-corridor campaign and the forces behind it. 

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
clean energy Commentary electricity energy energy prices Featured NECEC NECEC Corridor
Previous ArticleOpinion: Lawmakers must clarify vague mineral mining law on lithium next session
Next Article Congress is supersizing the IRS. Here’s why that’s bad news for everyday Americans
Nathan Wadsworth

Rep. Nathan Wadsworth is in his third term as a member of the Maine House of Representatives and currently serves on the Appropriations Committee. He formerly served for two terms as the ranking member of the Energy, Utilities and Technology Committee that deals with broadband expansion and net neutrality.

Related Posts

Pickett Mountain Mine: Unbridled Hypocrisy (Again) on Display in Augusta

September 28, 2023

Troy Jackson’s Lawsuit Reeks of Dirty Politics: Lockman

September 27, 2023

Offshore Wind Making Everything More Expensive, From Lobsters To Electricity: FRANK LASSEE

September 26, 2023

Leave A Reply

Recent News

Two Men Arrested in Sanford Stabbing and Bike Theft Case

September 29, 2023

South Portland High School Locked Down This Morning After Suspicious Individual Spotted Near Entrance

September 29, 2023

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Longest-Serving Female Senator, Dead At 90

September 29, 2023

Angus King and West Virginia Senator Partner to Designate September as ‘National Recovery Month’ Amid Rise in Overdoses

September 29, 2023

Senate Unanimously Approves Official Business-Appropriate Dress Code

September 29, 2023
Newsletter

News

  • News
  • Campaigns & Elections
  • Opinion & Commentary
  • Media Watch
  • Education
  • Media

Maine Wire

  • About the Maine Wire
  • Advertising
  • Contact Us
  • Submit Commentary
  • Complaints
  • Maine Policy Institute

Resources

  • Maine Legislature
  • Legislation Finder
  • Get the Newsletter
  • Maine Wire TV

Facebook Twitter Instagram Steam RSS
  • Post Office Box 7829, Portland, Maine 04112

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.

Sign In or Register

Welcome Back!

Login below or Register Now.

Lost password?

Register Now!

Already registered? Login.

A password will be e-mailed to you.