In a Final Order issued on Monday, the Maine DEP conditionally approved CMP's application for state land-use permits for the NECEC transmission line project to run 145 miles from the Quebec border at Beattie Township to Lewiston, then on south into the New England grid.

Part of the NECEC line will run through CMP's existing corridor, the rest through commercial forest land in Somerset and Franklin Counties.

NECEC also involves improvements to CMP's transmission infrastructure in Androscoggin, Kennebec, Cumberland and Lincoln Counties.

Now the NECEC project lacks only the approval of the Army Corps of Engineers, and a permit from the Trump Administration for the QC-US border crossing.

However: NECEC opponents have submitted a sufficient number of signatures to send the project to a referendum vote in November, unless supporters are able to get the Maine Supreme Court to intervene on appeal.

Stay tuned.