As a Maine taxpayer and nearby resident, I am pleased to hear the city of Lewiston has received its first tax payment tied to the New England Clean Energy Connect project.

Maine needs investments that spur growth and job creation. The NECEC corridor is one such investment that will create up to 3,500 good-paying jobs and keep workers here in Maine.

The law that would go into effect if Question 1 passes extends beyond high-energy electric transmission line projects. It also applies to poles, landing strips, pipelines, and railroad tracks.

As a young person, I think it’s important to be forward-facing. My generation is the one entering the workforce, college and the military, and, as of now, is going to bear witness to the longest-lasting impact in Maine, the United States and the world.

During the past summer, the winds stopped blowing in Europe’s North Sea, where extensive wind power farms help to power the grid in Britain, Germany and other large EU economies.

Why should we care, you say?

Because it forced grid regulators to obtain massive amounts of natural gas, coal and other fossil fuels to power their countries — nonrenewable fuels that bureaucrats have sought to eradicate from the energy mix.

Maine’s energy costs are some of the highest in the country. So why are some people trying to stop projects that would help lower energy bills for consumers in every corner of the state?

Maine’s economy is still being roiled by the COVID-19 pandemic. Over a year and a half in, and we still face economic uncertainty and job loss. Mainers need policies that will jumpstart our economy and give families job security. That is why I am calling on my fellow residents to reject Question 1 this November.

We could all use some extra pocket change. The NECEC Corridor could save Maine ratepayers over $100 per month on their energy bills thanks to the clean electricity it provides. After all the financial ups and downs that many have experienced over the past year and a half, these savings could prove to be crucial for many families.

As a former Environmental Protection Agency administrator, I thought I was familiar with all the twists and turns of the environmental review process.

I was wrong.

In Maine, a dispute over an electrical transmission line is raising the prospect of rewriting the government rules that allowed the project to go ahead — after those rules were fairly and legally applied.

The landscape and TV are littered with propaganda opposing the hydroelectric corridor from Canada, whose Hydro-Quebec Company is promising 1,200 megawatts of clean, renewable power that can even reduce our carbon footprint.

LEWISTON — The city has received its first tax payment tied to the New England Clean Energy Connect project, the result of new valuation that allowed Lewiston to lower its property tax rate this year.

The $1.55 million in property taxes paid by NECEC, the Central Maine Power project, represents roughly half of the full year’s payment, and comes as a November referendum seeks to halt the controversial transmission line that’s already under construction.

Question 1, if approved on Nov. 2, would essentially invalidate the regulatory approvals obtained by Central Maine Power from the Maine Land Use Planning Commission and the Maine DEP in 2020 for its proposed powerline corridor to bring renewable, hydroelectric power to Massachusetts as part of that state’s efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change. Instead, this referendum would substitute a political decision by the Legislature.

Opponents of the NECEC have consistently portrayed the project as a threat to Maine’s environment. That message is hard for me to believe.

As a former executive assistant to both Democratic and Republican mayors, the issue around Hydro Quebec is not partisan for me. Rather it is about the environment. How can we seriously consider killing the corridor?

Bill Nemitz was quite clever in attempting to pooh-pooh people’s concerns about Question 1 by focusing on the word “retroactive” in the wording of this proposal and calling it a boogeyman.

Nemitz is correct in that the retroactive nature of this law should not instill that much fear. What we need to fear is the rest of the language in that ill-conceived proposal. If this law passes, you will need a two-thirds approval by the legislature for any type of infrastructure projects that need some public land.

As someone who has worked, hunted and snowmobiled in the Central Maine Power corridor area, I write in response to Ashley Tempesta (“Letter to the editor: CMP corridor forces industrialization of Enchanted Forest,” Sept. 22), who believes the corridor will destroy an “enchanted” forest.

The New England Clean Energy Corridor (NECEC) is employing more than 1,000 Maine workers in well-paying jobs and generating millions of dollars for local vendors.

Municipalities that host portions of the project are receiving millions in new tax dollars beginning this year, based on NECEC’s estimate that one-third of the endeavor’s value is in place. This annual flow of tax revenue will grow over the next few years as the transmission line and converter station are completed.