Maine citizens delivered a historic upset to invasive merchant transmission line New England Clean Energy Connect at the polls yesterday.
NECEC, a merchant spin off from Central Maine Power, is under contract to deliver 1200MW of "clean" hydropower from Quebec to Massachusetts. The project would be paid for by Massachusetts electric consumers, if they can ever get it built, including the nearly $100M spent on political nonsense that tried in vain to stop the referendum.
This hard won grassroots victory has been in the works for several years. The first project Massachusetts contracted with to buy hydro from Quebec was routed through New Hampshire, however that state defeated it through the regulatory process and the courts. Next, Massachusetts stupidly set its sights on a different overhead transmission project through the pristine woods of Maine. After all, what does Massachusetts care about the environment of any other state but its own? It also had no money on the table. The merchant transmission utilities were falling all over themselves to build the project because it could be wildly profitable, all paid for by Massachusetts consumers. But only if it actually delivered power. Power cannot be delivered from a line that is never built. Has Massachusetts finally learned its lesson? No other state wants to sacrifice its environment so that Massachusetts can virtue signal about "clean energy."
The NECEC project was widely opposed by the citizens of Maine who would have to live with it. The citizens opposed the project through the regulatory process, however Maine's governor inked a deal with CMP to distribute a few trinkets to the citizens in exchange for their sacrifice and put her thumb on the scale for regulatory approval. But the citizens persisted. They successfully passed legislation to stop the project, but their governor vetoed it. But the citizens persisted. They gathered enough signatures for a referendum to stop the project in 2020. However, CMP battled it in court and the referendum was dubbed unconstitutional before it could even be voted upon. But the citizens persisted. The citizens gathered enough signatures for a second referendum with different, constitutional wording and CMP was unsuccessful in stopping it from going to a vote. CMP and its foreign-based parent company, along with Hydro Quebec, poured nearly $100M into a political campaign to defeat the referendum. But the citizens persisted.
Yesterday, the referendum passed with a resounding 59% of the vote. The citizens persisted and were victorious!
In the wake of their spanking from the voters, CMP once again claimed the referendum was unconstitutional. But I gotta ask... if CMP was so certain the referendum was unconstitutional and would be set aside by a court, why did they spend nearly $100M to attempt to defeat it? If they were so certain, they should have saved their millions for the court battle. CMP's money is not where its mouth is today. In fact, CMP wagered against itself with a hugely expensive campaign to defeat something they now claim is unconstitutional. So, the battle will continue in the courts. And the citizens will persist. At what point will this project become too expensive for CMP? When will they wake up and quit throwing good money after bad? Because NECEC is a merchant transmission project, CMP will never recover the money it has spent on this project. And it's a bundle.
CMP began construction of its project earlier this year, even when the referendum campaign was in process. That was pretty stupid. But the trees will eventually grow back, because the citizens persisted.
What does this mean for the transmission opposition world? We have a new tool in our toolbox! Appeals and legislation are no longer the end of the road for transmission opponents. A referendum is now a possibility. Of course, the referendum was also hugely expensive to the citizens of Maine. However, they had a little help from some generation owners in the region who ran their own separate campaign to pass the referendum. And we all know that in the transmission opposition world the enemy of our enemy is our friend. This begs the question of whether other generation owners will step into other transmission battles to pull off a similar victory? The rest of this story has yet to be written.
Meanwhile... CONGRATULATIONS to the citizens of Maine on this historic victory! Their persistence and hard work to preserve their environment is nothing less than heroic.
And let's end with another foundational maxim of transmission opposition...
NECEC, a merchant spin off from Central Maine Power, is under contract to deliver 1200MW of "clean" hydropower from Quebec to Massachusetts. The project would be paid for by Massachusetts electric consumers, if they can ever get it built, including the nearly $100M spent on political nonsense that tried in vain to stop the referendum.
This hard won grassroots victory has been in the works for several years. The first project Massachusetts contracted with to buy hydro from Quebec was routed through New Hampshire, however that state defeated it through the regulatory process and the courts. Next, Massachusetts stupidly set its sights on a different overhead transmission project through the pristine woods of Maine. After all, what does Massachusetts care about the environment of any other state but its own? It also had no money on the table. The merchant transmission utilities were falling all over themselves to build the project because it could be wildly profitable, all paid for by Massachusetts consumers. But only if it actually delivered power. Power cannot be delivered from a line that is never built. Has Massachusetts finally learned its lesson? No other state wants to sacrifice its environment so that Massachusetts can virtue signal about "clean energy."
The NECEC project was widely opposed by the citizens of Maine who would have to live with it. The citizens opposed the project through the regulatory process, however Maine's governor inked a deal with CMP to distribute a few trinkets to the citizens in exchange for their sacrifice and put her thumb on the scale for regulatory approval. But the citizens persisted. They successfully passed legislation to stop the project, but their governor vetoed it. But the citizens persisted. They gathered enough signatures for a referendum to stop the project in 2020. However, CMP battled it in court and the referendum was dubbed unconstitutional before it could even be voted upon. But the citizens persisted. The citizens gathered enough signatures for a second referendum with different, constitutional wording and CMP was unsuccessful in stopping it from going to a vote. CMP and its foreign-based parent company, along with Hydro Quebec, poured nearly $100M into a political campaign to defeat the referendum. But the citizens persisted.
Yesterday, the referendum passed with a resounding 59% of the vote. The citizens persisted and were victorious!
In the wake of their spanking from the voters, CMP once again claimed the referendum was unconstitutional. But I gotta ask... if CMP was so certain the referendum was unconstitutional and would be set aside by a court, why did they spend nearly $100M to attempt to defeat it? If they were so certain, they should have saved their millions for the court battle. CMP's money is not where its mouth is today. In fact, CMP wagered against itself with a hugely expensive campaign to defeat something they now claim is unconstitutional. So, the battle will continue in the courts. And the citizens will persist. At what point will this project become too expensive for CMP? When will they wake up and quit throwing good money after bad? Because NECEC is a merchant transmission project, CMP will never recover the money it has spent on this project. And it's a bundle.
CMP began construction of its project earlier this year, even when the referendum campaign was in process. That was pretty stupid. But the trees will eventually grow back, because the citizens persisted.
What does this mean for the transmission opposition world? We have a new tool in our toolbox! Appeals and legislation are no longer the end of the road for transmission opponents. A referendum is now a possibility. Of course, the referendum was also hugely expensive to the citizens of Maine. However, they had a little help from some generation owners in the region who ran their own separate campaign to pass the referendum. And we all know that in the transmission opposition world the enemy of our enemy is our friend. This begs the question of whether other generation owners will step into other transmission battles to pull off a similar victory? The rest of this story has yet to be written.
Meanwhile... CONGRATULATIONS to the citizens of Maine on this historic victory! Their persistence and hard work to preserve their environment is nothing less than heroic.
And let's end with another foundational maxim of transmission opposition...
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