The builders of a $1 billion hydropower hall operating from the Canadian border by means of western Maine will be capable to preserve entry to a key allow in the event that they prevail in two court docket challenges.
The allow over public lands was first granted by the Maine Division of Environmental Safety to the New England Clear Power Join venture however suspended by that group final November. However the Board of Environmental Safety, tasked with implementing legal guidelines, on Thursday denied appeals to the allow after two days of testimony.
A decide final 12 months dominated the state had no authority to grant leases on public land in rural Somerset County. The realm in query covers rather less than one mile of the proposed 145-mile hall, which is being led by Central Maine Energy Co. and Hydro-Quebec.
Immediately’s ruling carried two caveats. One is that the quantity of conservation land to be dedicated for the venture wanted to be elevated from 42,000 acres to 50,000 acres. The second entails an ongoing court docket case difficult a referendum that stopped development of the hall.
If Maine’s excessive court docket in the end guidelines the referendum unconstitutional, then development must resume inside two years for the allow to stay legitimate.
The board’s choice does nothing to right away revive the venture, which has been paused since final November after the state suspended the positioning allow on the coronary heart of this week’s long-delayed listening to on an enchantment courting again to 2020. The destiny of the venture nonetheless rests on the excessive court docket’s choices on circumstances across the constitutionality of the vote and public land leases.
The board additionally mentioned there was no want for a public listening to on the allow. Opponents to the hall responded rapidly, saying they had been dissatisfied in that call.
Former state Sen. Tom Saviello, a pacesetter of the anti-corridor marketing campaign, mentioned the board “didn’t have a look at what has really occurred” within the two years after the allow was issued and “ignored the brand new legal guidelines.”
NECEC Transmission LLC, which is constructing the hall, issued a press release saying it’s happy that the choice stands and can evaluation proposed circumstances.
