Northern Pass rejection tobe appealed
Hydro-Québec partner ‘to consider all legal options’
The New England power company that has partnered with Hydro-Québec on a 20-year multi-billiondollar deal to supply electricity to Massachusetts said it plans to appeal the decision by a New Hampshire state committee to block construction of a transmission line through that state.
“We intend to consider all legal options that we have to advance this clean energy project,” said Martin Murray, a spokesperson for Eversource.
Eversource’s first step will be to seek a rehearing from the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee (SEC), Murray said.
On Thursday, that committee voted unanimously against approving the Northern Pass, a 309-kilometre transmission line that would run from the Quebec border to southern New Hampshire.
Murray described the decision as “hasty,” coming only a few days into 12 scheduled days of deliberation, at the end of a 27-month review process.
“After fewer than three days, they denied our application without even considering two of the four crucial tests that the project must meet to move forward,” Murray said.
While it passed one of the four tests, Murray said the committee did not consider imposing conditions that would have enabled the project to go forward.
If Eversource is unsuccessful at the SEC rehearing, it can appeal the final decision to the New Hampshire Supreme Court.
The Northern Pass would be used to transmit 9.45 terawatt hours a year of electricity generated by Hydro- Québec to Massachusetts. Hydro- Québec has said that deal could be worth up to $10 billon over 20 years.
“It’s too early to speculate on any repercussions this may have,” said Lynn St-Laurent, a spokesperson for the provincially owned utility. “Hydro- Québec remains committed to the Northern Pass project.”
“With any large infrastructure project, there is a risk component, but I think people need to consider what’s at stake as well. There is an energy transition occurring everywhere in the world,” she said.
As it seeks electricity from Hydro-Québec, Massachusetts plans to retire natural gas plants as well as an aging nuclear plant.
There may be other options for Hydro- Québec to transmit electricity to Massachusetts.
When Massachusetts first sought bids for its clean energy plan, Hydro-Québec submitted six proposals, with three different transmission lines that would be built in conjunction with different U.S. partners. Those included a line through Maine and one through Vermont, that would run along the bed of Lake Champlain.
However, those proposals come with higher costs, said Jean-Thomas Bernard, a visiting professor of economics at the University of Ottawa who studies energy policy and economics.
He said the New Hampshire decision was understandable.
“There was not much benefit for New Hampshire. This was to serve Massachusetts,” he said. “There would be some construction jobs, but right now unemployment is very low, so there’s not much pressure for that.”
Whatever proposal was chosen by Massachusetts would have faced local opposition, said François Bouffard, an electrical engineering professor at McGill University who studies power-system economics.
He said the opposition comes down to a conflict between local environmental issues and global issues of climate change and how those issues are prioritized.