PORTLAND PRESS HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD ENDORSES NO VOTE ON QUESTION 3

The Portland Press Herald today called on Mainers to vote no on Question 3, the Pine Tree Power proposal to takeover CMP and Versant Power and create a state run utility.

The editorial describes the numerous ways in which the Pine Tree Power campaign has failed to make the case that seizing the utilities and taking on billions of dollars in debt would benefit Mainers. The editorial board cited the unknown total cost of a takeover, saying “we can’t know what Pine Tree Power will cost our state without voting for it.”

The board also question the politicization of the grid by creating an elected board to run the utility. “Adding a political layer to the undertaking…risks further complexity,” the editorial board said. “There’s not enough evidence that Pine Tree Power would be an improvement on what we have now. For that reason, we endorse a ‘no’ on Question 3,” they concluded.

The endorsement of a no vote on Question 3 adds to the growing voices opposing Pine Tree Power. The Maine Affordable Energy Coalition has over 12,000 individual Mainers who have signed a pledge to oppose the referendum, while organizations from the Maine Hospital Association and the Maine Chamber of Commerce to the AFL-CIO and the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine have all joined in opposing Question 3.