American Notes MAINE

With all eyes on 1988, many voters have shrugged off next week's local contests. Not so in Maine, where a hotly contested proposal to bar the creation of nuclear waste within the state will be decided next Tuesday. If approved, the measure would lead to the shutdown of Maine Yankee, a 15-year- old nuclear power plant.

Although Down East voters defeated two earlier proposals to close the plant, the antinuke campaign received a boost last year, when the U.S. Department of Energy identified Maine as a possible site of a radioactive waste dump. Now many residents fear that the only way to block the dump is to shut Maine Yankee, which stores its waste on site while sending half of its electricity out of state. Utility companies have shelled out $3 million for ads to save the facility, while antiplant forces have spent $500,000, making it the most expensive political campaign in Maine history.