By William Opalka

A New Hampshire court has dismissed a complaint by a conservation organization seeking to block development of land alongside a state highway needed to bury a section of the Northern Pass transmission line.

The Coos County Superior Court said the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests cannot deny access to project developers in its attempt to halt the line, saying the decision ultimately rests with state transportation officials (15-CV-114). (See Northern Pass Facing Challenges over Siting.)

The organization owns a parcel of land along Route 3 in northern New Hampshire known as the Washburn Family Forest, and it granted easements to the state Department of Transportation in 1931 for road construction through the land.

The society argued that those easements did not include underground construction, but the court disagreed.

“The court finds that under the plain language of [state law], NPT’s proposed use is a proper use of the public highway easement … [and] the DOT has exclusive jurisdiction over whether to grant NPT a permit to install the proposed transmission line below the stretch of Route 3 at issue,” Judge Lawrence A. MacLeod Jr. wrote in the May 26 opinion.

The court also declined to consider the merits of the 192-mile line, which would transmit 1,090 MW of Canadian hydropower to the New England market. It said such questions were “speculative” until the DOT gave its approval.

“The DOT, not this court, must decide … whether a proposed project meets the ‘public good’ requirement of” state law, the court said.

The society said it was not surprised by the ruling.

“The decision effectively kicks the can down the road relative to the ultimate resolution of important property rights issues involving Northern Pass, the DOT and private landowners,” spokesman Jack Savage said in a statement. “We note that the state Constitution expressly prohibits the use of the state’s power of eminent domain for elective transmission projects and would have preferred not to wait for the DOT to potentially issue a license before resolving that constitutional conflict.”

Savage told RTO Insider on Wednesday an appeal to the New Hampshire Supreme Court is one option under consideration.

Project developer Eversource Energy lauded the ruling.

“We are pleased the court recognized long-standing New Hampshire law that allows for the use of public roadways for projects like Northern Pass,” Bill Quinlan, president of Eversource Operations in New Hampshire, said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing the permitting process and moving one step closer to delivering the clean energy and economic benefits to New Hampshire and the region.”

Developers Seek Shorter Schedule

On Tuesday, Northern Pass Transmission, an Eversource subsidiary, asked the state’s Site Evaluation Committee for a written decision on its application by June 30, 2017.

“The proposed schedule seeks to strike a balance between the statutory requirement to complete the evaluation within 12 months and the need for adequate time to evaluate a project the size and scope of Northern Pass,” NPT said in a statement.

The committee last month informally indicated it would need nine more months than the year required by state law for its study of the project route, which would push its decision back to about Sept. 30, 2017. In a motion filed Monday, NPT is asking for a ruling three months earlier. A formal ruling by the committee on its schedule is pending. (See Northern Pass Decision Delayed Nine Months.)