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Mark Guzzi is a vegetable grower at Peacemeal Farm in Dixmont. Jesse Haskell is a dairy farmer in Palermo.
About a month ago we, along with hundreds of other Mainers, received a letter informing us that our land would be impacted by a proposed transmission line project. The Aroostook Renewable Gateway project being developed by LS Power Grid Maine will deliver electricity from a new wind farm in Aroostook County to the New England power grid. The Northern Maine Renewable Energy Development Program, which created this project, calls for proposals that favor the use of existing right of ways and transmission corridors.
There are two alternative routes being proposed. Some sections follow existing corridors or may be appropriate for development, but we believe other sections will negatively impact the natural and working landscape of central Maine, especially where they cut through small farms and agricultural lands that form the backbone of central Maine’s local organic vegetable and dairy farming economy.
As farmers, we understand the importance of stable weather patterns and know the risk posed to agriculture as these patterns are being disrupted by climate change. To the extent this project will produce renewable energy, reduce CO2 emissions and benefit the citizens of Maine, we support it. But we do not support creating a new transmission corridor through beautiful and productive farmland that is a valuable community resource in many different ways.
This land produces vegetables for our local community and grass for dairy cows, beef and other livestock. It is also a workplace for the farmers and longtime local farmhands who have devoted their lives to farming the land. Young adults work here to learn about the business of farming, and teenagers get their first jobs while developing a work ethic and learning about agriculture. These fields also serve as wildlife habitats, open spaces where people connect with nature and enjoy the beautiful scenic vistas overlooking lakes, rivers, forests and mountains. All of this could be negatively affected by the construction of a new transmission corridor.
LS Power considered a number of factors that led them to select their proposed routes. However, there are other routes they could use that follow existing right of ways and transmission line corridors that will have a less negative impact on working farms and the agricultural landscape of Central Maine.
We ask for your support in our call to LS power and the state of Maine to return to the drawing board and create a plan that will reduce the impact of this project on farmland that we and our community hold so dearly and that provides you and your loved ones with wholesome, nutritious food.