NECEC statement on CMP corridor court victory in Maine

A Maine jury has ruled that the Central Maine Power acted in good faith while working on the 145-mile corridor that would  bring 1.2 GW of hydropower from Québec to New England.  It is a crucial victory for the project. This is the official statement from NECEC Joe Curtatone about the decision:

What the jury in Maine ruled today is that CMP followed the rules in good faith. The positive impact cannot be understated. This is clean power that can remove 3 to 3.6 million metric tons of CO2 per year from our atmosphere and it will save ratepayers throughout New England tens of millions of dollars per year. If we're fighting tooth-and-nail over removing 3 million tons of CO2 with lower-cost energy, we're never going to reach Net Zero.

The project also provides $200 million in desperately needed upgrades to our electric grid. This is essential work in our effort to electrify everything in order to avoid the worst effects of climate change. Without grid upgrades we can't deliver power to heat pumps and electric vehicles. These are the kinds of big leaps we need to take after decades of minimal progress on climate action.

Finally, it is our hope that this decision marks an end to the self-interested, corporate-funded attempts to sabotage this project. Established power market competitors whose underhanded dealings have plagued the CMP power corridor project, have lost again in the courtroom.

This saga has reached the point where reasonable people should be able to agree the battle should end. There has to be a recognition that this is a critical piece of our regional response to an existential threat, and there are multiple lessons to be learned for all parties involved. We should be working together to address community and environmental impact concerns rather than have it end up in a courtroom. This sort of infighting benefits no one.