Overturning statewide vote, Maine court energizes Hydro-Québec’s bid to export power

Maine’s highest courtroom on Tuesday breathed new life right into a $1-billion US transmission line that goals to function conduit for Canadian hydropower, ruling {that a} statewide vote rebuking the mission was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Judicial Court docket dominated that the retroactive nature of the referendum final 12 months violated the mission developer’s constitutional rights, sending it again to a decrease courtroom for additional proceedings.

The courtroom didn’t rule in a separate case that focuses on a lease for a 1.6-kilometre portion of the proposed energy line that crosses state land.

Central Maine Energy’s father or mother firm and Hydro-Québec teamed up on the mission that may provide as much as 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower. That is sufficient electrical energy for one million properties.

Many of the proposed 233-kilometre energy transmission line can be constructed alongside current corridors, however a brand new 85-kilometre part was wanted to succeed in the Canadian border.

Work suspended since November

Employees had been already clearing timber and setting poles when the governor requested for work to be suspended after the referendum in November 2021. The Maine Division of Environmental Safety later suspended its allow, however that could possibly be reversed relying on the result of authorized proceedings.

The excessive courtroom was requested to weigh in on two separate lawsuits. Builders sought to declare the referendum unconstitutional whereas one other lawsuit targeted on a lease permitting transmission traces to cross a brief section of state-owned land.

Supporters say daring initiatives reminiscent of this one, funded by ratepayers in Massachusetts, are essential to battle local weather change and introduce further electrical energy right into a area that is closely reliant on pure gasoline, which may trigger spikes in power prices.

Critics say the mission’s environmental advantages are overstated — and that it might hurt the woodlands in western Maine.

It was the second time the Supreme Judicial Court docket was requested to weigh in on a referendum aimed toward killing the mission. The primary referendum proposal by no means made it onto the poll after the courtroom raised constitutional considerations.

Though the mission is funded by Massachusetts ratepayers, the introduction of a lot electrical energy to the grid would serve to stabilize or scale back electrical energy charges for all customers, proponents contend.

The referendum on the mission was the most expensive in Maine historical past, topping $90 million US and underscoring deep divisions.

The high-stakes marketing campaign put environmental and conservation teams at odds, and pitted utilities backing the mission in opposition to operators of fossil fuel-powered vegetation that stand to lose cash.