Sounds like a great deal right? Actually, Maine won't be getting many of the benefits. Here's why:

• The proposed transmission line won't be available to most Maine power producers. This puts Maine's blossoming renewable power market at a disadvantage and favors Canadian power producers. The result is less green power, fewer jobs and higher taxes for Maine people
• The transmission line will make all Maine power projects less competitive.
• Canada will create thousands of jobs building power plants and will become a major energy hub for the Northeast while Maine will simply be a pass-through state. Maine will no longer be at the end of the tailpipe. Maine will be the tailpipe.
• Meanwhile, Canada is working overtime in Washington, DC to block energy projects - and the jobs they will bring - from being built here in Maine.

Right now, a special committee formed by the Legislature is examining this issue. The Energy Corridor Study Committee is supposed to examine whether Maine will get a fair price for the land that the corridors will be built on, whether Maine's alternative energy facilities will have a market for their electricity, or will we be giving Canadian power producers a competitive advantage?

As USM economist Charles Colgan said in an April 15, 2009 Maine Public Radio broadcast discussing Maine's many past energy proposals, "How many times have we gotten it wrong? How many times have we said this is the answer and it didn't work out? We've gotten it wrong more times than we've gotten it right."

This time, let's get it right. We believe that no power line from Canada to to Boston should be built unless it helps create jobs and benefits here in Maine. And if Canada wants permission from Maine to develop its energy proposals, it should drop its opposition to energy projects planned in Maine.

Contact your legislator today! Tell them to support fairness and jobs here in Maine.

For more information, call 221-1076 or e-mail us at info@mainejobsfirst.com

KEEP MAINE JOBS IN MAINE!