Jury sides with CMP in fight over hydropower corridor

by BDN staff reports

A Cumberland County jury has reached a verdict in the court fight over the fate of Central Maine Power’s $1 billion hydropower corridor.

The jury ruled unanimously Thursday morning that the utility and its partners acted in good faith in constructing the corridor and didn’t expedite construction to thwart a 2021 referendum that saw Maine voters reject the project.

It was a swift conclusion to a major monthslong legal battle over the fate of the corridor. Closing arguments were heard Wednesday after jurors listened to more than a week of testimony from key players in the energy project. The trial began on April 10.

The central question before jurors was whether the companies behind the corridor, known as the New England Clean Energy Connect, expedited construction in advance of a November 2021 referendum that asked Maine voters whether to permit it? Or was it far enough along when construction was suspended after the referendum and did that give the project’s backers the “vested rights” to complete it?

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Bolton, who argued against the corridor’s backers in court, centered much of the case around an email, which was repeatedly highlighted during the proceedings. It was from Paul Franceschi, a vice president of Cianbro, which had contracts to build the power line, to his colleagues saying they needed to get poles installed by February 2021 to “help with any referendum issues.”

“Ladies and gentlemen, I would suggest to you if, this sentence is accurate, the second sentence of No. 4, if that’s accurate, that’s the whole case. That’s this entire case,” he said Wednesday during closing arguments. “Plaintiffs can’t meet their burden of proof if this email is correct.”

Jurors were not apparently convinced of the strength of that piece of evidence.

John Aromando, the attorney for plaintiffs backing the NECEC, argued that the project was based on a schedule created in 2018 to complete the project by December 2022, but all deadlines have been delayed by challenges, appeals or lawsuits.

“This is a case about finding whether Maine is a place where people can rely on the valid and final permit authorizing the project or not,” he said during opening statements last week.

Ultimately, the project’s backers argued they had satisfied the standard for “vested rights” and ought to be allowed to complete the corridor. Avangrid, CMP’s parent company, said the jury’s verdict affirms the prior rulings of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court that the project may lawfully proceed.

“Even after repeated delays and the costs caused the change in law, the NECEC project remains the best way to bring low-cost renewable energy to Maine and New England while removing millions of metric tons of carbon from our atmosphere each year,” Scott Mahoney, senior vice president at Avangrid, said.

The Natural Resources Council of Maine, a vocal opponent of the project and a party in the case, said it is “disappointed in today’s outcome and remains sharply focused on achieving a just and equitable clean energy future that works for all Mainers.” It did not comment on whether there would be an appeal of the verdict to Maine’s highest court.

Avangrid and CMP won the bid from Massachusetts in February 2018 for their $950 million joint project with Hydro-Quebec to bring 1,200 megawatts of transmission capacity through a 145-mile transmission line from the Canadian border to Lewiston. The NECEC is being run by NECEC Transmission, an Avangrid subsidiary. The project has obtained all major permits.

CMP and Avangrid have been engaged in more than five years of legal challenges and efforts to secure public and regulatory approvals. Avangrid and NECEC Transmission said in their lawsuit challenging the referendum’s validity that they had spent almost $450 million before the project was stopped, or more than 40 percent of its total estimated cost. They also said 122 miles, or 80 percent, of the right-of-way for the project had been cleared.

Please continue reading the full article at:

https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/04/20/business/cmp-corridor-tr...

************************************* 

Fair Use Notice: This website may reproduce or have links to copyrighted material the use of which has not been expressly authorized by the copyright owner. We make such material available, without profit, as part of our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, economic, scientific, and related issues. It is our understanding that this constitutes a "fair use" of any such copyrighted material as provided by law. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes that go beyond "fair use," you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.