Over 50 years, Eric and Rebecca Rolfson have created a rural oasis in this central Maine farming community. On 123 acres, they have hand-built a log cabin and renovated a 200- year-old family farmhouse. They have created a maple syrup business, cultivated hayfields that serve local dairy farmers and cut a community trail system through their woods. This is where they plan to grow old, on land where Eric Rolfson’s parents are buried. So they were shocked last July when they received a letter from LS Power, a New York City-based power and transmission system developer.
New York-based LS Power wants to build up to 160 miles of transmission line across northern and central Maine, but differences over terms of the service and power purchase agreement have emerged, as has some community opposition.
The COO of Hydro-Québec's American arm said it would be “a real stretch” to call its activities in Maine “foreign interference” and says they presented “facts and information.”