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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 11 M AY 1 3 , 2 0 1 9 board of directors also declared a cash dividend of a penny per share, payable on May 28 to shareholders of record as of May 13. Colby College in Waterville announced it is launching the Schmaltz Family Effective Communication Initiative to give faculty and students a systematic curriculum designed to enhance verbal communications skills. The initiative was made possible through a commit- ment of $1.25 million from Richard Schmaltz, a trustee emeritus, and his wife, Joan Dignam Schmaltz, and their family. U.S. Cellular announced a $15,000 donation to Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Waterville to provide K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics educational opportuni- ties to youth. Riley's Re-Find Designs opened at 164 Water St. in Hallowell. Brooklin reaches deal to upgrade broadband Consolidated Communications Holdings Inc., a broadband and busi- ness communications provider in Portland, reached an agreement with the town of Brooklin to upgrade and expand the community's high-speed broadband infrastructure by add- ing fiber capacity, upgrading equip- ment and providing network back-up provisions. e two entities will share the cost of constructing the network, which is targeted to be completed by June 2020. U N I V E R S I T Y O F M A I N E , B E A R ' S D E N Orono, Maine B U I L D I N G O N OUR PROMISE. A modernized approach to an iconic campus meeting spot. While honoring the history of the University of Maine's Bear's Den, we renovated this iconic campus café into brighter, more functional space. W W W . S H E R I D A N C O R P . C O M CMP faces new hurdle on proposed $950M transmission line B y m a i n e b i z s t a f f C entral Maine Power's effort to build a $950 million, 145-mile transmission line through Maine hit a snag this month. The Environmental Protection Agency says Central Maine Power's permit application now being reviewed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for its controversial New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line project is incomplete and needs a "detailed analysis" of alternatives. The EPA letter comes at a critical time for CMP as it moves through the regulatory process, which includes getting permits from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection, the Maine Land Use Planning Commission, the Army Corps and others. It received a "certificate of public convenience and necessity" from the Maine Public Utilities Commission in April. In an April 25 letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Beth Alafat, acting chief of EPA's Wetlands Protection Unit, said CMP's incomplete application prevented the public from having a full understanding of the project during the Army Corps' public comment period. "One way to address the deficiency of important project information available during the comment period would be for the [Army Corps] to issue a revised public notice for the project," Alafat wrote. Other points made by Alafat addressed: "As proposed, the project would cause direct and second- ary impacts to many wetlands, streams and vernal pools … The transmission line would clear 1,800 acres of land and cross more than 200 rivers, streams and brooks, removing over 11 linear miles of riparian vegetation adjacent to these aquatic resources. The project would impact hundreds of acres of wetlands, including 242 vernal pools, mostly through secondary impacts." Alafat's conclusion: "Given the substantial aquatic impacts … it is especially important to conduct a complete alterna- tives analysis with the goal of avoiding and minimizing project impacts, fully considering alternative border crossing loca- tions, alternative transmission line routes and alternative to aerial installation. The analysis must consider alternatives and design measures to avoid, and where unavoidable, minimize impacts to aquatic resources." Alafat pointedly stated: "Alternatives to the proposed action that would cause less impact to the aquatic ecosys- tem have not been fully explored." She recommended that "specific routing alternatives be considered, including underground routing along existing local, state and/or federal roadway or railway corridors, or along other existing previously disturbed linear corridors, including logging roads, as well as underground routes along the proposed corridor on new alignment (with minimized vegetation clearing) between the Canadian border and the Forks, or other new alignment corridors." Alafat expressed the EPA's willingness to "continue to work" with the Army Corps and CMP during the Army Corps' review of the NECEC project, adding her sense that an "inter- agency meeting with the applicant in the near future would be helpful." The Natural Resources Council of Maine, a leading critic of the CMP proposal, applauded the EPA letter and its recom- mendation that the Army Corps "start its permitting process over" and "focus more attention" on the project's environ- mental impacts, the environmental organization stated in a news release. "EPA's letter confirms what we have been saying about the CMP transmission corridor for nearly two years," said Nick Bennett, NRCM's staff scientist. "The corridor would cause serious harm to Maine's clean water, fisheries and wildlife. CMP failed to look at less-damaging alternatives, such as burying the corridor along Route 201, and its proposed compensation for the corridor's environmental damage is woefully inadequate. This permitting process needs to be slowed down, and all alternative routes and environmental impacts need a thorough analysis." P O L I T I C S & C O. Alternatives to the proposed action that would cause less impact to the aquatic ecosystem have not been fully explored. — Beth Alafat EPA M I D C O A S T & D O W N E A S T

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