June 02, 2009

Bangor Hydro Electric Company Presents Check To Bangor Land Trust

Bangor, ME--Protecting the region's natural resources is the common goal of Bangor Hydro Electric Company and Bangor Land Trust. Bangor Land Trust owns nearly 300 acres of land adjacent to a 1.5 mile Bangor Hydro power line near the Penjajawoc Marsh, making the two groups natural partners.

Today, Bangor Hydro presented Bangor Land Trust with a $5,000 check as part of the company's commitment to protecting wildlife.

"Before we begin building power lines, we meet with state agencies, conservation groups, and recreation groups to identify special resources and sensitive areas," said Gerry Chasse, Bangor Hydro's Vice President of Transmission and Distribution Operations. "It's important to us that we establish a route with the support of landowners, the conservation community, and towns."

"Bangor Land Trust is very appreciative of Bangor Hydro's generous support," said Lucy Quimby, President of Bangor Land Trust. "As a land trust in an urban area we wrestle daily with the challenge of how to preserve ecological value in the face of other human needs. Our joint stewardship of this power line is an example of just that."

Bangor Land Trust recognizes the need for electricity and, therefore, power lines and Bangor Hydro recognizes the desire for people to appreciate the wildlife-watching and recreational opportunities near power lines.

"We locate our poles carefully to minimize environmental impacts and span sensitive resources," said Chasse. "Aesthetics are also given a great deal of consideration."

"This particular power line is actually valued as habitat by two birds whose numbers are declining in the Northeast  the American Woodcock and the American Kestrel," said Quimby. "It takes a business with vision to see the importance of partnering with a land trust on environmental stewardship and we feel very lucky that Bangor Hydro has that vision."

Bangor Hydro-Electric Company (BHE) is an electric utility wholly-owned by Emera Inc. BHE serves a population of 192,000 in an area encompassing 5,275 square miles in eastern and east coastal Maine. BHE is a member of the New England Power Pool and is interconnected with other New England utilities to the south and with the New Brunswick Power Corp. to the north. Visit us at www.bhe.com.

Emera Inc. (EMA-TSX) is an energy and services company with $4.7 billion in assets. Electricity is Emera's core business. The company has two wholly-owned regulated electric utility subsidiaries, Nova Scotia Power Inc. and Bangor Hydro-Electric Company, which together serve 600,000 customers. Emera also owns 19% of St. Lucia Electricity Services Limited, which serves more than 50,000 customers on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia and 25% of Grand Bahama Power Company which serves 19,000 customers on the Caribbean island of Grand Bahama. In addition to its electric utility investments, Emera has a joint venture interest in Bear Swamp, a 600 megawatt pumped storage hydro-electric facility in northern Massachusetts; a 12.9% interest in the Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline; a 7.4% interest in Open Hydro and Emera Energy Services which manages energy assets on behalf of third parties. Visit Emera on the web at www.emera.com.