Maine voters reject plan to complete transmission line, Avangrid subsidiaries file suit
Maine voters approved a ballot initiative Tuesday to prohibit the construction of a high voltage electric transmission line that would transmit around 1,200 megawatts of clean hydroelectric power from Quebec to utilities in Massachusetts and Maine.
The vote was 59 percent in favor to 41 percent against the prohibition. It marks a major setback for Central Maine Power and its parent company, Avangrid, which was looking to complete the 145-mile-long project, called New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC), with Hydro-Quebec.
The $1 billion project would provide enough electricity to power 1.2 million homes in New England and reduce carbon emissions by an estimated 3.1 million metric tons. It had the support of Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and was endorsed by the stateʻs major newspapers.
Avangrid issued a statement, calling the loss a major setback for the advancement of clean energy in the state, region, and nation.
“The irony should not be lost that as global leaders are gathered in Glasgow to address climate change, selfish fossil fuel interests remain focused on their own profits and are willing to spend millions to block badly needed clean energy projects like the NECEC,” company officials said in a statement.
But Avangrid officials vowed to keep fighting. On Wednesday, Avangrid Networks Inc. and NECEC Transmission LLC, subsidiaries of Avangrid, filed a lawsuit in Maine Superior Court challenging the referendum. Avangrid and NECEC Transmission called the initiative unconstitutional and said it violates both state and federal law.
“We have followed the rules every step of the way in a transparent and public process and have received every regulatory approval required for this project to proceed, however, fossil fuel companies have done everything they can, including misleading Mainers, to try and block this clean energy project,” Thom Dickinson, president and CEO of NECEC Transmission, said. “This referendum was an act of bad faith by self-interested proponents and was targeted at stopping a single project.”
Specifically, the lawsuit claims Question 1 violates several legal principles including vested property rights, separation of powers, and the contracts clauses of the Maine and U.S. Constitutions.
“Question 1 violates fundamental legal principles, but you don’t have to be a lawyer to see that it’s also fundamentally unfair,” Dickinson said. “This referendum effectively tears up valid contracts, ignores the judicial and executive branches and goes back in time to retroactively change the rules to stop a project just because it threatens the financial interests of fossil fuel generators.”
NECEC is seeking a declaratory judgment from the Superior Court that the initiative is unlawful and cannot be enforced and an immediate injunction preventing retroactive enforcement of the initiative against the project, so that construction is not disrupted while this lawsuit proceeds.
Construction had been well underway on the project, beginning in January of this year. Avangrid has already spent about $350 million as approximately 124 miles of the transmission corridor have been cleared and over 120 structures have been installed.
But the process has been filled with fits and starts as an injunction was filed in January to prevent construction of a 53-mile stretch of the line in northern Maine. The federal courts lifted the injunction in May and construction continued. But in August, the Kennebec County Superior Court ruled that the state Bureau of Parks and Lands did not conduct a proper assessment on one mile of public lands through West Forks Plantation in Johnson Mountain Township. As a result, no construction could occur on that piece of land. To overturn this decision and let construction continue, a two-thirds vote by the state legislature would be required.
In the meantime, a question had been put on the ballot and it would override the need for a two-thirds vote in the legislature if the majority of citizens voted “no” on the question – and yes to the project. Ultimately 59 percent of citizens voted yes to “prohibit the construction of electric transmission lines defined as high-impact in the Upper Kennebec Region, including the NECEC, and require a two-thirds vote of each state legislative chamber to approve high-impact electric transmission line projects.”
According to NECEC Transmission and Avangrid Networks, the project has been reviewed by state and federal regulators and permitting agencies and has received every regulatory approval required at the state and federal levels, including from the Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC), the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP), the Maine Land Use Planning Commission (LUPC), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the U.S. Department of Energy. In addition, the project has already received municipal approvals from 20 out of the 24 Maine municipalities that require permits for the project, the companies said.
“We thank our supporters and the 160,000 Mainers who voted in support of the NECEC project,” Dickinson said. “And to those who voted yes on Question 1, we will work to earn your support and demonstrate the tremendous benefits this project will bring to the state and the region.”
