Maine jury rules $1 billion clean energy transmission line from Canada to New England can proceed
A Maine jury ruled Thursday that construction can proceed on a transmission line that will carry clean, hydropower from Quebec to Massachusetts through the region’s power grid — bolstering efforts to shift the state’s electricity consumption away from carbon-emitting fossil fuels.
The decision in favor of Avangrid, the Connecticut company building the transmission line, overturns the result of a 2021 ballot initiative in Maine, which sought to terminate the $1 billion project and passed with the support of nearly 60 percent of voters.
The ballot initiative’s backers included environmental groups that argued the project would damage the forests of Western Maine and energy companies with substantial natural gas interests that will face increased competition if the transmission line is completed.
Amy Boyd, a vice president at Acadia Center, a Maine clean energy advocacy nonprofit, described that amount of power as “freakin’ huge” for a single project. It could account for between 2 percent and 10 percent of New England’s energy consumption at any given moment, she said.
You can read the full article in the Boston Globe here.
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