Yesterday, a Maine Trial Court Judge denied New England Clean Energy Connect permission to complete its project to transmit Canadian hydropower to the United States saying that NECEC hadn't demonstrated that it would suffer "irreparable injury" if its $450 million investment continues to languish until the Judge makes a determination requested by the State's Highest Court some time next year.
Last summer, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court held that one's "vested rights are violated when they undertake substantial good faith expenditures on activity [in this case the construction of a transmission line through the State of Maine] within the scope of the affected permit [in this case a certificate of public need and necessity from the Maine Pubic Utilities Commission] prior to the enactment of the retroactive legislation [in this case a 2021 referendum], meaning the expenditure was made (1) in reliance on the affected permit or grant of authority, (2) before the law changed, and (3) according to a schedule that was not created or expedited for the purpose of generating a vested rights claim."
Next April the Judge will preside over a trial on the question of whether the approximately $450 million spent on the project before the referendum, including to clear 124 miles of right of way, erect transmission structures, and prepare a converter station site, constitutes such a "good faith" expenditure.
As I wrote last summer, the answer to that question has to be "yes" but apparently the Judge needs to hear more.
Hopefully NECEC is using this tragic down time to get the other permits the project still needs.
In the meantime,we should all be continuing to think hard about what we need to do to streamline our transition to renewable energy, including by addressing seemingly endless litigation over necessary permits when they finally are in hand.
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