Forest Society Comment on Northern Pass Application to the SEC

On Monday, Oct. 19, Eversource submitted an application to the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee for its proposed 192-mile Northern Pass transmission line. That proposal does not differ substantially from what was presented in August of this year. Of the 192 miles, 132 miles would be overhead. The project would require 32 miles of new Right of Way (ROW), and would include only 60 miles of burial.

The Forest Society became engaged in the Northern Pass issue first of all because we have a legal and ethical obligation to protect conserved lands from commercial development like what's being proposed. What Eversource has put forward blatantly and knowingly disregards our property rights and the conservation easements we hold in northern New Hampshire, where they do not have an existing ROW. It is unclear to us how they hope to acquire a contiguous route without having access to eminent domain. Without a route, the project as proposed would seem doomed to fail. We don't intend to allow them to dig in our dirt, and we think the defense of property rights is in the interest of every New Hampshire landowner.

Equally important are the landscapes in all the communities that are being asked to host overhead sections of Northern Pass. They deserve the same consideration as the White Mountains region. 

More generally, it is disappointing that Northern Pass failed to listen to the the public at last month's SEC input sessions, where 80 percent of the comments were in opposition to Northern Pass as proposed. It is a missed opportunity on their part. If Northern Pass officials were truly listening to New Hampshire landowners and communities as they claim, this proposal would have been for an entirely buried line. Instead they continue to listen more closely to their partner Hydro-Quebec and potential customers in southern New England who stand to gain the most should a line ever be built.

In the coming weeks we will be looking more closely at the SEC application. We are fully prepared to intervene, and we anticipate an open, thoughtful and deliberate process.