Advocate opposes lease of CMP land

AUGUSTA – The state’s public advocate wants the Public Utilities Commission to declare invalid the lease agreement between Central Maine Power Co. and a foundation that plans to build lodges and trails around Flagstaff Lake.

The utility acquired the land in the 1940s “under the threat of eminent domain” in order to build a hydroelectric power station, according to the office of Public Advocate Stephen Ward, and should therefore not be allowed to profit from its development.

A formal eminent-domain action was never initiated in court, but the threat was known to landowners, said Eric Bryant, a lawyer in Ward’s office.

“CMP had legislative authority to take land for a special project. I think that now they are planning to profit from the development of that land. That’s wrong,” he said.

In 1927, the Legislature authorized the flooding of the land now under the lake and the acquisition of the necessary property. The area included three villages.

Flagstaff Lake was created in 1950 when Long Falls Dam was built across the Dead River.

The lake, on the north side of the Bigelow Mountain range, acts as a reservoir for the hydroelectric power station in Moscow that CMP sold to Florida Power & Light Co. in 1999.

PUC spokesman Phil Lindle said the complaint filed by Ward was being reviewed.

CMP will be asked to provide more information on the matter, and the PUC will decide whether a formal investigation is warranted, Lindle said.

Sara Burns, president of the Augusta-based utility, declined to comment, saying the company needed more time to review the complaint.