State of Maine Department of Environmental Protection
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1 1 STATE OF MAINE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 2 AND MAINE LAND USE PLANNING COMMISSION 3 4 IN THE MATTER OF CENTRAL MAINE POWER COMPANY'S 5 NEW ENGLAND CLEAN ENERGY CONNECT PROJECT 6 7 NATURAL RESOURCES PROTECTION ACT SITE LOCATION OF DEVELOPMENT ACT 8 SITE LAW CERTIFICATION 9 10 HEARING - DAY 5 FRIDAY, APRIL 5, 2019 11 12 PRESIDING OFFICER: SUSANNE MILLER 13 14 Reported by Robin J. Dostie, a Notary Public and 15 court reporter in and for the State of Maine, on 16 April 5, 2019, at the University of Maine at 17 Farmington Campus, 111 South Street, Farmington, 18 Maine, commencing at 9:00 a.m. 19 20 REPRESENTING DEP: 21 GERALD REID, COMMISSIONER, DEP 22 PEGGY BENSINGER, OFFICE OF THE MAINE ATTORNEY GENERAL 23 JAMES BEYER, REGIONAL LICENSING & COMPLIANCE MGR, DEP 24 MARK BERGERON, DIRECTOR, BUREAU OF LAND RESOURCES 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 2 1 PARTIES 2 Applicant: 3 Central Maine Power Company 4 Matthew D. Manahan, Esq. (Attorney for Applicant) Pierce Atwood 5 Merrill's Wharf 254 Commercial Street 6 Portland, ME 04101 Phone: (207) 791-1189 7 [email protected] 8 Lisa A. Gilbreath, Esq. (Attorney for Applicant) Pierce Atwood 9 Merrill's Wharf 254 Commercial Street 10 Portland, ME 04101 Phone: (207) 791-1189 11 [email protected] 12 Intervenors: 13 Group 1: 14 Friends of Boundary Mountains 15 Maine Wilderness Guides Old Canada Road 16 Designated Spokesperson: 17 Bob Haynes Old Canada Road Scenic Byway 18 27 Elm Street Skowhegan, ME 04976 19 Phone: (207) 399-6330 [email protected] 20 21 22 23 24 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 3 1 PARTIES 2 Intervenors (cont.): 3 Group 2: 4 West Forks Plantation 5 Town of Caratunk Kennebec River Anglers 6 Maine Guide Services Hawk's Nest Lodge 7 Mike Pilsbury 8 Designated Spokesperson: Elizabeth A. Boepple, Esq. 9 BCM Environmental & Land Law, PLLC 3 Maple Street 10 Concord, NH 03301-4202 Phone: (603) 225-2585 11 [email protected] 12 Group 3: 13 International Energy Consumer Group City of Lewiston 14 International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 104 15 Maine Chamber of Commerce Lewiston/Auburn Chamber of Commerce 16 Designated Spokesperson: 17 Anthony W. Buxton, Esq. Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios, LLP 18 45 Memorial Circle P.O. Box 1058 19 Augusta, ME 04332-1058 Phone: (207) 623-5300 20 [email protected] 21 R. Benjamin Borowski, Esq. Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios, LLP 22 One City Center P.O. Box 9546 23 Portland, ME 04112-9546 Phone: (207) 791-3000 24 [email protected] 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 4 1 PARTIES 2 Intervenors (cont.): 3 Group 4: 4 Natural Resources Council of Maine 5 Appalachian Mountain Club Trout Unlimited 6 Designated Spokesperson: 7 Sue Ely, Esq. Natural Resources Council of Maine 8 3 Wade Street Augusta, ME 04330 9 Phone: (207) 430-0175 [email protected] 10 Cathy Johnson, Esq. 11 Natural Resources Council of Maine 3 Wade Street 12 Augusta, ME 04330 Phone: (207) 430-0109 13 [email protected] 14 David Publicover Appalachian Mountain Club 15 P.O. Box 298 Gorham, NH 03581 16 Phone: (603) 466-8140 [email protected] 17 Jeffrey Reardon 18 Maine Council of Trout Unlimited 267 Scribner Hill Road 19 Manchester, ME 04351 Phone: (207) 615-9200 20 [email protected] 21 22 23 24 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 5 1 PARTIES 2 Intervenors (cont.): 3 Group 5: 4 Brookfield Energy 5 Wagner Forest 6 Designated Spokesperson: Jeffrey D. Talbert, Esq. 7 Preti, Flaherty, Beliveau & Pachios, LLP One City Center 8 P.O. Box 9546 Portland, ME 04112-9546 9 Phone: (207) 791-3000 [email protected] 10 Group 6: 11 The Nature Conservancy 12 Conservation Law Foundation 13 Designated Spokesperson: Rob Wood 14 The Nature Conservancy in Maine 14 Maine Street 15 Suite 401 Brunswick, ME 04011 16 Phone: (207) 729-5181 [email protected] 17 18 Group 7: 19 Western Mountains and Rivers 20 Designated Spokesperson: Benjamin J. Smith, Esq. 21 Soltan, Bass, Smith LLC 96 State Street, 2nd Floor 22 P.O. Box 188 Augusta, ME 04332-0188 23 Phone: (207) 621-6300 [email protected] 24 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 6 1 PARTIES 2 Intervenors (cont.): 3 Group 8: 4 NextEra 5 Designated Spokesperson: 6 Joanna B. Tourangeau, Esq. Drummond Woodsum 7 84 Marginal Way Suite 600 8 Portland, ME 04101-2480 Phone: (207) 253-0567 9 [email protected] 10 Emily T. Howe, Esq. Drummond Woodsum 11 84 Marginal Way Suite 600 12 Portland, ME 04101-2480 Phone: (207) 771-9246 13 [email protected] 14 Group 9: 15 Office of the Public Advocate 16 Designated Spokesperson: Barry J. Hobbins, Esq. 17 Maine Office of the Public Advocate 112 State House Station 18 Augusta, ME 04333-0112 Phone: (207) 624-3687 19 [email protected] 20 21 22 23 24 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 7 1 PARTIES 2 Intervenors (cont.): 3 Group 10: 4 Edwin Buzzell 5 LUPC Residents and Recreational Users Carrie Carpenter, Eric Sherman, Kathy Barkley, 6 Kim Lyman, Mandy Farrar, Matt Wagner, Noah Hale, Taylor Walker and Tony DiBlasi 7 Designated Spokesperson: 8 Elizabeth A. Boepple, Esq. BCM Environmental & Land Law, PLLC 9 3 Maple Street Concord, NH 03301-4202 10 Phone: (603) 225-2585 [email protected] 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 8 1 INDEX PAGE 2 PAGE 3 Group 1 4 Summary of Direct Testimony 5 Janet McMahon 10 6 Robert Haynes 24 7 Examination By: 8 Mr. Manahan 28 9 10 Group 6 11 Summary of Direct Testimony 12 Rob Wood 50 13 Malcom Hunter 60 14 Examination By: 15 Ms. Gilbreath 65 16 Mr. Publicover 77 17 Ms. Boepple 91 18 Mr. Smith 94 19 Mr. Turner 117 20 21 Voicemail Message Left for Mr. Beyer 135 22 23 24 25 Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 9 1 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS 2 MS. MILLER: Good morning, everybody. I now 3 call to order this fifth daytime portion of the 4 public hearing of the Maine Department of 5 Environmental Protection and the Land Use Planning 6 Commission on the New England Clean Energy Connect 7 project. 8 I just want to mention we have extra copies 9 of today's agenda on the back table. Just to remind 10 everybody to silence and turn off your cell phones so 11 that there are no interruptions. And also just a 12 reminder again, turn the mics on, make sure you speak 13 into the mics when you're speaking, turn them off 14 when you're done. 15 Today, we're going to have group witnesses 16 from Group 1 and Group 6. And so at this time, I'd 17 like to swear in the witnesses who are here. If I 18 have to do it again later this morning, that's fine, 19 but we'll start with all of the witnesses that are 20 here that plan to speak today. If you'd stand and 21 raise your right hand. Do you swear or affirm that 22 the testimony you are about to give is the whole 23 truth and nothing but the truth? 24 (Witnesses affirm.) 25 MS. MILLER: Thank you. All right. So Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 10 1 we'll get started with the Group 1 witnesses. We've 2 got Mr. Haynes and Ms. McMahon and if you would step 3 up to the witness table that would be great. Thank 4 you. 5 ROBERT HAYNES: Thank you for having us here 6 today. I believe we have 10 minutes to make to make 7 our presentation and Ms. McMahon will be leading that 8 off for Group 1. 9 MS. MILLER: Can you speak into the 10 microphone, please? 11 ROB HAYNES: Good morning. Thank you for 12 having us here. Group 1, I believe, has 10 minutes 13 and if we had a signal at 7 minutes or so that would 14 be wonderful. Ms. McMahon will lead off the 15 testimony. 16 MS. MILLER: Thank you. 17 JANET MCMAHON: Good morning. My name is 18 Janet McMahon. I'm an ecologist who has worked for 19 40 years doing landscape scale conservation planning 20 for public and private landowners in all corners of 21 the state. My testimony focuses on the adverse 22 impacts of habitat fragmentation that would be caused 23 by 53.5 mile long Segment 1. It is not possible to 24 build a new energy infrastructure project of this 25 size without unreasonable adverse impacts on Dostie Reporting 7 Morrissette Lane Augusta, ME 04330 (207) 621-2857 11 1 wildlife, the project is simply too big. The 2 Applicant does not acknowledge that there are 3 critical regional ecological values that will be 4 impacted by this project. The Applicant does not 5 demonstrate an understanding of basic conservation 6 biology principals such as how permanently dividing 7 large forest blocks into smaller ones or changing 8 their shape can negatively impact forest wildlife 9 species because of edge effects. 10 The proposed transmission corridor would 11 pass through the heart of western Maine mountains.