BOSTON -- Massachusetts utilities and regulators issued their final rejection of a high-voltage transmission line that would bisect New Hampshire, and will now negotiate with developers of a competing power line through Western Maine to procure electricity from Hydro-Quebec.
The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources said today the state's electric distribution companies "have terminated the conditional selection of the Northern Pass Hydro project" and are now concluding contract negotiations with New England Clean Energy Connect for its 100-percent hydro project.
Northern Pass, first proposed in 2010, is a partnership between Eversource Energy and Hydro-Quebec. The New England Clean Energy Connect is a project of Central Maine Power and its corporate parent Avangrid. Each would carry Canadian hydro to help Massachusetts utilities meet their clean energy requirements.
The news comes after a tumultuous period in the Massachusetts Clean Energy RFP. In late January, the Baker administration selected Northern Pass as its preferred transmission option for clean energy, and said contract negotiations would begin. Days later, the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee blocked the project, throwing the entire matter into disarray.
The Massachusetts selection committee, including representatives from the utilities and MassDOER, then gave Northern Pass until March 27 to make headway in New Hampshire. Those hopes were dimmed when the New Hampshire committee said it would not rush its consideration of an appeal for rehearing.
The Maine project was named the runner-up of 46 proposals in the Massachusetts clean energy procurement, launched in response to Gov. Charlie Baker's 2016 energy diversity bill.
Eversource said in a statement that the Northern Pass is not dead.
"We understand today's decision by the Electric Distribution Companies (EDCs) to terminate the conditional selection of the Northern Pass Transmission hydro proposal, given the status of the New Hampshire permitting process. Despite recent delays, we continue to believe that Northern Pass is the best project for the region and New Hampshire, and we intend to pursue all options for making it a reality," the corporation said.
Eversource and Hydro-Quebec "remain committed to the success of the project," Eversource said, adding that "no other project has obtained the necessary approvals from federal permitting authorities in the U.S. and Canada" and secured agreements with major contractors and union workers.
The $1.6 billion Northern Pass was bitterly opposed by environmentalists and many New Hampshire residents, and Eversource eventually agreed to bury 60 miles of the line through the White Mountain National Forest.
Attention now turns to the $950 million, 145-mile line from the Canadian border through an existing utility corridor to a substation in Lewiston, Maine.
On Wednesday, the Natural Resources Council of Maine came out against the line, according to the Portland Press Herald.
"Just like Northern Pass, CMP's proposed New England Clean Energy Connect power line across Maine would significantly harm Maine communities and the environment. And, just like the Northern Pass proposal, there is absolutely no evidence that the Maine power line would reduce climate-changing emissions at all," the environmental group said.
Sierra Club chapters in Massachusetts and New Hampshire celebrated the hit to Northern Pass but panned the retention of any "100 percent Canadian hydro" partnership.
"The Northern Pass project would have increased electricity costs in the state, destroyed pristine wilderness in New Hampshire and continued the destruction of traditional hunting and fishing grounds of First Nations in Quebec, all while failing to reduce climate pollution in the region," said chapter directors Emily Norton and Catherine Corkery.
The two said Baker should choose "the thousands of megawatts of new wind and solar projects in New England that offered competitive bids" instead of putting all eggs in the Hydro-Quebec basket.
The Conservation Law Foundation, which fought Northern Pass for eight years, said Eversource should "pull its plug once and for all" on the project.
The Massachusetts Petroleum Council congratulated Central Maine Power and Avangrid. Spokesman Steve Dodge said the council supports an energy "combo plate" for the state including renewables, hydropower and natural gas.
The Massachusetts RFP had called for 1,200 megawatts of new imported renewables -- such as wind, solar, hydro, or storage -- to reduce the state's carbon footprint from the power sector.
The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, which previously pledged to examine the state's closed-door clean power procurement process, said Wednesday it awaits new filings with the Department of Public Utilities.
"Regardless of which company is ultimately awarded the contract, the role of the Attorney General's Office remains the same - to ensure an open, fair and transparent bidding process that results in a good deal for customers," said Healey spokeswoman Chloe Gotsis.
Mary Serreze can be reached at [email protected].