February 16, 2018 (BOSTON, MA) – Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) released the following statement today in response to the Massachusetts selection committee’s choice to open the state’s clean energy bid contract process to Central Maine Power’s New England Clean Energy Connect proposal (NECEC). Recently, the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee unanimously denied Northern Pass, the original winner of the bid, the permits it needs to build in the Granite State. Northern Pass now has until March 27, 2018 to obtain its permits.
“Moving forward with New England Clean Energy Connect is good news for both Massachusetts and New Hampshire,” said CLF president Bradley Campbell. “The steps laid out by the Department of Energy Resources will establish on the record that the destructive, unpopular, and excessively expensive Northern Pass project is not feasible – and the concurrent negotiation with Avangrid will keep the process moving toward a better option.”
CLF is already working on the NECEC applications pending before the Maine Public Utilities Commission and Maine Department of Environmental Protection to ensure that the project is properly sited and minimizes impacts on our communities and environment. CLF will also be participating in the contract review process at the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities.
CLF experts are available for further comment.
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