Judge denies request to continue work on NECEC transmission corridor before trial in April 2023

10/21/22

Lawyers for the CMP-backed project to bring hydropower from Quebec through western Maine had asked a court to reconsider an injunction halting the work while the case progresses.

BY STAFF REPORT

A state judge on Friday denied a request that would have allowed construction to resume on the stalled Central Maine Power Co.-supported electricity transmission line through western Maine.

On Wednesday, a lawyer for the New England Clean Energy Connect project sought an injunction to block enforcement of the November 2021 voter referendum halting the work. “It reaches a tipping point” where the $1.4 billion project no longer makes economic sense, John Aromando told Business and Consumer Court Judge Michael A. Duddy.

But on Friday afternoon, Duddy turned down the request, writing in his three-page order: “Although Plaintiffs have warned about an approaching tipping point, after which completion of the Project will no longer be feasible, Plaintiffs have not argued the tipping point will occur while this case is being litigated in the trial court.

“This matter is currently on fast track for trial in April 2023 and prompt trial court decision thereafter. At that point Plaintiffs will either prevail, and be able to resume construction on the Project, or not.”

The Maine Supreme Judicial Court ruled in August that the voter initiative to ban construction of the power line is unconstitutional if NECEC, a subsidiary of CMP parent Avangrid, can convince the courts it has done enough work on the project to have earned “vested rights” in continuing. That will be debated in Duddy’s courtroom in April.

Please continue reading at:

https://www.pressherald.com/2022/10/21/request-to-continue-work-on-...

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Comment by Dan McKay on October 22, 2022 at 1:15pm

Does National Grid or Eversource have any interest left in this project? If not, CMP may be able to arrange a power purchase agreement with itself and resell the power to the ISO-NE wholesale market to pay for the transmission construction. 

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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