In a fast-moving series of recent events surrounding the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) transmission line, the project’s developer halted line construction and Maine regulators suspended its environmental permit.
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection issued a suspension order on Nov. 23 for the permit it granted last year authorizing construction of the line.
In the order, the DEP said that “all construction must stop.” NECEC Transmission, however, had announced on Nov. 19 that it is discontinuing construction while it challenges the legal authority of a referendum on transmission development passed by voters earlier in the month.
Gov. Janet Mills certified the referendum vote in a Nov. 19 proclamation and immediately sent a letter to NECEC Transmission CEO Thorn Dickenson asking that the company stop construction.
NECEC’s decision to continue work on the line without further legal clarity, she said, “is disrespectful to Maine people.”
The referendum authorizes a statutory change requiring legislators to approve high-voltage transmission lines greater than 50 miles that are not necessary for reliability purposes.
Suspension
While the DEP’s May 2020 permit allowed NECEC to start building the line, a Maine court in August reversed a Bureau of Parks and Lands decision to lease a 1-mile corridor to the company for the project.
The court’s ruling prompted DEP Commissioner Melanie Loyzim to launch a permit suspension proceeding, saying the ruling represented a “change in circumstance.”
In early November, the facts before the DEP for the suspension proceeding changed after voters approved the transmission-related referendum. The DEP then proceeded to seek additional input from parties to the proceeding regarding the referendum and scheduled a hearing for Nov. 22.
The referendum, NECEC argued during the hearing, does not represent a change in circumstance requiring permit suspension because there will be no environmental impact while work is stopped on the line.
Loyzim, however, determined that because of the statutory changes approved in the referendum, NECEC will not be able to construct the line as permitted, and it will need to find a new project route.
“The law would ban construction of any transmission line defined as a ‘high-impact transmission line’ in the Upper Kennebec Region,” where NECEC is sited now, the order said.
The DEP’s suspension order will remain in effect unless the court grants NECEC’s request to continue construction while it challenges both the referendum and the BPL corridor decision.
Despite DEP’s suspension order, Iberdrola remains committed to developing the line, Dickenson said in a Nov. 23 statement.
Mills reinforced her ongoing support for the project in her Nov. 19 letter to NECEC, saying the line “will usher in substantial environmental and economic benefits for Maine.”
“But more than any single policy or project, I support the rule of law that governs our society and the will of the people that informs it,” she said.
Legislators’ Plea
Members of the Maine State Senate and House of Representatives urged Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker in a Nov. 23 letter to terminate the NECEC project.
NECEC would supply hydropower from Hydro-Québec to the New England grid through a 20-year supply agreement with Massachusetts utilities.
“As a bipartisan group of lawmakers representing regions throughout Maine, we discourage Massachusetts from proceeding with this project after the people of Maine delivered a stunning rebuke of the NECEC,” the letter said.
The state’s utilities, the group said, received other bids as part of its clean energy generation request for proposals, and they should “move on” from NECEC.