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.
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https://www.bangordailynews.com/2023/04/20/business/cmp-corridor-tr...
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Comment
Wow. Thanks for posting this!
What is better for Maine ratepayers? A billion dollar plus project bringing 1200 megawatts of 24/7 electricity into Maine and beyond for zero cost to Maine ratepayers or a billion dollar plus project sputtering far less than the 1000-megawatt nameplate rating paid by Maine ratepayers at 60% of the costs?
U.S. Sen Angus King
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 - 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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