As Pen Bay Pilot readers will know, Nordic Aquafarms, a Norwegian company, wants to build a vast $500 million land-based industrial fish farm in Belfast.

But Central Maine Power's Midcoast Section 80 power grid can't handle Nordic's huge power needs, so CMP is asking the Maine Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to approve an expansion of Section 80's capacity.

And CMP wants to stick all ratepayers - not just Nordic Aquafarms - with the $63 million bill.

And it gets worse.

Not only would ratepayers get soaked for this, but even with a Section 80 expansion, Nordic would still devour most or all of Section 80's excess capacity, thus barring other businesses of any size from starting up or expanding in the midcoast.

But we can stop this CMP scam. The PUC is taking public comment on the CMP request — and comments can be posted by going to harriethartley.org and then to "Click here to make a comment." The PUC has already begun deliberations on the CMP request, so comments should be posted as soon as possible.

It's flat out wrong for CMP ratepayers to have to subsidize a private corporation from 3,000 miles away, and I invite all Pen Bay Pilot readers to join the more than 250 Mainers who have already taken a stand against this unjust CMP shakedown.

Lawrence Reichard lives in Belfast