CHINA -- Debbie Tracy never suspected her property on Pleasant View Ridge Road would be part of a more than billion dollar project.

But then Central Maine Power Co. doesn't install 345,000-volt transmission lines on a regular basis either.

The utility, though, plans to do just that within two years, embarking on an initiative that will upgrade a transmission system that has not been updated in nearly 40 years.

"It is certainly one of the largest projects Maine has seen in a very long time," John Carroll of CMP said.

Transmission lines, Carroll said, are what connect substations across the state, and thus serve as the backbone of the state's power grid.

Part of that backbone will cross land that currently serves as the lot for Debbie and Edward Tracy's home -- a mobile home the couple moved into two years ago.

"They needed some of our property to put in new (power) poles within the next two to 10 years," Debbie Tracy said. "So what I've got is enough land here that they are willing to move me."

Or, rather, CMP is willing to move the Tracys' home, as well as install a new septic system and drill a new well for the couple.

Debbie Tracy said a CMP worker sat down with them and worked out the agreement, which includes purchasing the piece of land they would vacate.

"It is an inconvenience," she said, "but I understand where they are coming from. They could do it by eminent domain as I understand it, but they are willing to work with us."

Carroll said CMP's preference always is to negotiate a deal that works for both parties.

"When we do need land," he said, "(negotiating with property owners) is always our first choice and actually we have been very successful for a long time in negotiating with landowners to sell."

Eminent domain, he said, tends to be an option of last resort and one that CMP can use only to a limited degree.

(Eminent domain is the right, usually given to government or quasi-government agencies, to acquire private land for a public benefit.)

Carroll said CMP has no eminent domain rights over property that is within 300 feet of an inhabited dwelling.

In this respect, he said, eminent domain probably would not have been an option in the Tracys' case.

Even if it had been an option, Carroll said the utility most likely would have found a different means to accomplish its objective.

In regard to transmission lines, this might involve redesigning the power line corridor or doubling circuits on existing lines so that more property is not needed, Carroll said.

Debbie Tracy is no expert on 345,000-volt transmission lines or the security importance of upgrading a power delivery system put in place in the late 1960s.

What she does know, and what she cares about, is that CMP has been friendly and fair about acquiring her property.

"I don't foresee any problems," she said, "as long as we get everything on paper."

Colin Hickey -- 861-9205

chickey@centralmaine.com