Just hours after the vote, the Maine referendum result is already before the courts. The American partner of Hydro-Quebec asked the Superior Court of Maine on Wednesday to invalidate the result of the citizens’ initiative, which it considers illegal and unconstitutional.
New England Clean Energy Connect and Avangrid, the parent company of Central Maine Power, are also seeking an injunction to allow construction on the transmission line to continue while the debate takes place in court.
SEE the wording of the injunction
On Tuesday, the citizens of Maine voted overwhelmingly to retroactively ban the interconnection project that will allow Hydro-Quebec’s energy to supply Massachusetts for 20 years, a contract worth 10 billion for the company of Quebec State.
Hydro-Québec and its American partner believe that they are on solid ground to win their case before the courts. The CEO of Hydro-Quebec, Sophie Brochu, believes that following up on the referendum result would be to change the rules of the game after the game.
“It’s like we want to change the score of a hockey game when the game is over, the world is out of the stadium and [qu’on décide de] add a period, ”she commented to Radio-Canada. She said the project will come to fruition.
The transmission line has been under construction for a year, after obtaining all the permits and authorizations required from the authorities of the State of Maine and the federal government, reiterated Lynn St-Laurent, spokesperson for the company. State.
A plan B?
From Glasgow, Scotland, where he is participating in COP26, Prime Minister François Legault hinted that Quebec had a plan B to materialize the contract for the export of electricity to Massachusetts.
There are different routes you can take to get to Massachusetts and different routes as well. We know that the American federal government supports the project, but unfortunately I cannot go further this morning.
Francois Legault
With another American partner, Hydro-Quebec wants to build the Champlain Hudson Power Express line to sell long-term electricity to New York City. Could this interconnection project, which has all the required permits, be modified so as to also allow service to Massachusetts, without going through Maine?
This is not being considered, according to Hydro-Quebec. For the moment, the legal challenge is the only possible avenue, the state-owned company said on Wednesday.
Construction work on the line, which will cost an estimated 1 billion, is continuing normally. Some 400 million US has already been spent by the promoter since the start of the work.
On Wednesday, opponents of the project, who won the referendum vote with 59% of the vote, demanded the end of the work, the suspension of the permits granted and the restoration of land already deforested. A recourse to the courts is envisaged.
In principle, the results of Tuesday’s referendum must be certified by the state and then have the force of law, which is expected to happen in early 2022.
This new detour through the courts will delay a project that is already behind schedule. Hydro-Quebec and its partner predicted that the transmission line would be in operation at the end of 2022 and that the first deliveries of the contract with Massachusetts would begin in early 2023.
With the collaboration of Hugo Pilon-Larose, Press, in Glasgow
Chronology
The authorization process for the interconnection project lasted 33 months. Here is the chronology of the permits obtained.
- May 2019: Maine Utilities Commission
- June 2019: Massachusetts Department of Public Services
- January 2020: Maine Land Use Planning Commission
- May 2020: Maine Regional Planning Department
- November 2020: Army Corps of Engineers
- January 2021: US Department of Energy (Presidential license)