Last chance for Hydro-Québec in Maine

The citizens then responded yes nearly 60% to ban the construction on their territory of an imposing 1200 megawatt power line intended to supply Massachusetts with renewable energy.

The project promoters, the Central Maine Power (CMP) and Hydro-Quebec, will attempt to invalidate the result in Maine’s highest court on Tuesday afternoon.

This is an important step, immediately recognizes the spokesperson for the Quebec Crown corporation Lynn St-Laurent. They will first argue that the referendum was not constitutional since it annuls permits granted by executive powers, including a presidential permit.

At the time of the referendumalso points out Ms. St-Laurent, our partner had started the work and we believe that, because of these acquired rights, there is no reason to apply a law retroactively. Last year, US$450 million was spent in Maine to clear 86% of the corridor and erect 120 structures as pylons.

Energy companies, including Calpine, which generates electricity from natural gas in the region, are asking judges to uphold the validity of the referendum, arguing that CPMCentral Maine Power continued the work while being aware of the risks of dispute.

More than 1,000 pages of briefs have been filed in court by experts and various parties.

According to Professor Emeritus Orlando Delogu of the University of Maine School of Law, the referendum initiative violates the Constitution. From a purely legal point of view, its wording would amend the State Constitution for the examination of other similar projects, whereas this same Constitution cannot be modified by referendum.

This wording would also go too far giving the legislature the ability to reverse a project affecting public lands dating back to 2014. Not seven days, seven weeks or seven months, but seven yearshe exclaims.

The pleadings could represent the last chance stage for CMP and Hydro-Québec. The court is expected to announce its decision this summer.

Difficult social acceptability

Permits were appealedunderlines Tom Saviello, famous opponent of the project and former Republican senator from Maine. If you advance, you advance at your own risk.

He believes the contract is simply Wrong financially for his state, in addition to being damaging for the forests of the North, a precious place for the Mainais. Not to mention, according to him, the reputation of the Hydro-Québec partner, CPMCentral Maine Powera subsidiary of Avangrid, which belongs to the Spanish group Iberdrola.

” They partnered with the Central Maine Power, which has a horrible reputation in Maine. Horrible! »

Some US$258 million in economic benefits, such as the expansion of fiber optic networks and charging stations, are expected. A reduction in electricity rates and greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 700,000 cars is also expected for all of New England.

The state’s largest environmental lobby group, Natural Resources Council of Maine, has always said that he does not believe in the real environmental advantages of Hydro-Québec’s energy for the State. He never responded to our interview requests.

The new line would bring 9.45 terawatt hours of power per year to Massachusetts. In its Quebec portion, it must be erected over a distance of 102 kilometers, from Thetford Mines to the border, at a cost of $600 million. The deforestation work was already well underway when it was suspended in January.

In the United States, the project budgeted at over US$1 billion and known as New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) was discontinued after the referendum. Of the planned 233 kilometers to an interconnection at Lewiston, 85 kilometers are in a forested region where logging has taken place for generations. The rest of the construction consists of widening an already existing corridor by 23 metres.

The director of economic development for Lewiston, the main beneficiary of the $18 million in annual benefits expected from property taxation, is sorry that emotion prevailed over reason in this debate. There has been an extensive review processsays Lincoln Jeffers.

The more than six million dollars in new revenue for the Municipality would notably make it possible to make greater investments in education. The majority of Lewiston voters still rejected the project.

A second reason

In the middle of the high voltage line, in West Forks, a small portion of 1.5 kilometers could also jeopardize the entire energy corridor. It is on public land with a lease signed by CPMCentral Maine Power in 2014 is disputed.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will also consider this second case, according to which the lease was badly negotiated by a government agency, the Maine Bureau of Parks and Landsand would have required the approval of two-thirds of the legislative body because it substantially alters a public territory.

Although it gets less attention, this litigation alone could derail the project. Bypassing the lands would require obtaining new authorizations and, consequently, would generate delays and additional costs. the NECECNew England Clean Energy Connect must be in service no later than August 2024, according to the contract with Massachusetts.

According to Hydro-Québec, this recourse is a pure and simple way for adversaries to thwart its plans. All permits have been challenged by naysayers for the past three yearssays spokesperson Lynn St-Laurent.

” The strategy of opponents, either gas companies or groups financed by gas companies, has been to try to bog down the project in a tide of legal challenges. »

For example, on May 17 and 18, the Maine Board of Environmental Protection will hear in Farmington, a municipality near which the future power line would pass, calls from opponents to its approval given by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection in V2020.

Of the three causes, Lynn St-Laurent suggests that it will be above all difficult to go beyond the decision of the Supreme Court regarding the constitutionality of the referendum. It would be a severe setback for the Crown corporation. She had also had to write off her books 46 million dollars in 2019 after the abandonment of the Northern Pass in New Hampshire which had the same ambitions – the project did not pass among the population.

From the perspective of the fight against climate change, could Washington intervene in the event of an unfavorable decision by the Supreme Court of Maine? It is a political question, believes Professor Orlando Delogu. Does he have the power to do so? Yes. It is an international energy movement legally created in Canada.

National reach

Massachusetts’ intention to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions with Hydro-Québec’s energy thus takes an unexpected legal turn. It is the intention of the United States to act against global warming. Other imposing energy corridors, such as the planned 1,250 megawatt underground line between Quebec and New York, will be necessary.

The popular will of the Mainais thus finds itself at the center of a debate that goes beyond its borders – and the 72 million US dollars spent on advertising by the camp in favor of the NECEC will not have been enough to convince them. The opposing party is deemed to have disbursed nearly $28 million.

The hype will ultimately have further contributed to an overabundance of information, sometimes false. Today, you no longer know who to follow and who to believe, had simply summarized Gisèle Landry, exasperated, at the exit of a polling station in November. She was sure of one thing: cutting down trees wasn’t worth it after all the fuss.