NORTHERN PASS, the New Hampshire transmission line selected by Massachusetts as the winner of a clean energy procurement, is running out of time to win a key permit.
The New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee, which voted at the start of February to deny a permit vital to the project, voted 5-0 on Monday not to take up Northern Pass’s appeal until after the panel’s written decision is issued, probably later this month. Once the decision is issued, it could take weeks, if not months, for the committee to fully respond, which may be too late for Northern Pass, a project developed by Eversource Energy.
Massachusetts wants to sign a multi-billion-dollar contract for a huge amount of clean energy by March 27. The state selected Northern Pass as the winner of the procurement on January 25, but after the rejection by the Site Evaluation Committee on February 1 Massachusetts officials gave the project until March 27 to show progress in moving the project forward. Without a breakthrough, state officials indicated, they would drop Northern Pass and go with the clean energy procurement’s runner-up, Central Maine Power. Both Northern Pass and Central Maine Power would import hydro-electricity from Quebec.
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About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
About Bruce Mohl
Bruce Mohl is the editor of CommonWealth magazine. Bruce came to CommonWealth from the Boston Globe, where he spent nearly 30 years in a wide variety of positions covering business and politics. He covered the Massachusetts State House and served as the Globe’s State House bureau chief in the late 1980s. He also reported for the Globe’s Spotlight Team, winning a Loeb award in 1992 for coverage of conflicts of interest in the state’s pension system. He served as the Globe’s political editor in 1994 and went on to cover consumer issues for the newspaper. At CommonWealth, Bruce helped launch the magazine’s website and has written about a wide range of issues with a special focus on politics, tax policy, energy, and gambling. Bruce is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He lives in Dorchester.
Northern Pass on Monday issued a statement saying it understood the Site Evaluation Committee’s decision. Martin Murray, a spokesman for Eversource, said Northern Pass has all of its other permits and, with the Site Evaluation Committee’s approval, could deliver power two years ahead of any other project.
Murray also noted that state officials in Massachusetts didn’t definitively say how they would make a decision about the contract on March 27. He noted state officials, in announcing that they might go with backup Central Maine Power, said they would have the “option” of terminating the conditional selection of Northern Pass as the winner of the procurement.
Massachusetts officials declined comment on Monday.
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