North American Megadam Resistance Alliance and our international network urges Mainers to vote YES on Referendum Question 1 on November 2 to reject the New England Clean Energy Connect hydropower transmission corridor.
To generate electricity for NECEC, Hydro-Quebec will use 61 dams and 28 reservoirs that have flooded and destroyed tens of thousands of square miles of boreal forests, wetlands, and taiga.
Hydropower destroys rivers and forests, violates Indigenous rights, and harms the climate.
Most of the dams are built on the ancestral lands of Indigenous Peoples in Canada without their consent and without compensation. The Innu, Atikamekw, and Anishinabek First Nations in Quebec oppose NECEC and are suing Hydro-Quebec for violations of their constitutional rights.
For over 100 years, Canada's hydropower monopolies have forced people from their lands, resulting in cultural genocide, food insecurity, and impoverishment.
Canadian hydropower can be as dirty as fossil fuels. "The best available science indicates that Quebec hydropower emits as much climate pollution as natural gas power plants," said Gary Wockner of Save the World's Rivers.
In Maine, NECEC's 53 miles of new transmission lines will fragment the largest contiguous temperate forest in North America, and perhaps the world. The line would permanently damage 263 wetlands while crossing 200 rivers and streams, including vital habitat for brook trout.
Vote YES on Maine Referendum Question 1 on November 2nd!
The Maine PUC's conclusion that NECEC would prevent the release of 3 million metric tons of GHG emissions per year ignores peer-reviewed science from independent and Hydro-Québec scientists that proves all of HQ's reservoirs emit CO2 and methane.
Ignoring peer-reviewed science is dangerous and will only drive the world deeper into the climate crisis.
"Yet a paper published this year, co-authored by a Hydro Québec scientist, estimates that their methane emissions have a climate impact that is significantly greater than their already substantial CO2 emissions."
Importing Canadian hydropower via New England Clean Energy Connect = supporting environmental racism and destruction. This energy source is a climate injustice on every level.
"It is essential to highlight that we are not advocating for a different corridor pathway, as we believe hydropower does not have a place in the future of clean energy transition."
"Beyond the physical corridor, one of the most glaring environmental injustices of this project is the irreparable harm that Hydro-Quebec’s megadams are causing to Indigenous communities,"
Voting YES on Maine's Question 1 on November 2nd means standing with Indigenous communities in Canada that have been exploited and abused for hydropower generation.
A coalition of five hydro-impacted Indigenous communities where the power for New England Clean Energy Connect (CMP Corridor) would be sourced from vehemently oppose this project.
According to the coalition, "36% of the total hydroelectric power installed by Hydro-Quebec has been stolen from us since it is produced in our respective ancestral territories from reservoirs, dams, power plants and various other installations, without prior consultation,"