Opposition to Northern Pass Stronger than Ever

The Forest Society's recent appeal to New Hampshire landowners for help in fighting the proposed overhead Northern Pass transmission line has generated a strong response. More than 800 individual donations have come in in the last few weeks.

"It’s time for us to bury the proposed overhead Northern Pass transmission line once and for all," wrote President/Forester Jane Difley wrote.

"The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests has defended forests and communities from Northern Pass for nearly six years. Standing side-by-side with the many of you who have spoken forcefully at hearing after public hearing, we’ve kept Northern Pass at bay. The strength of the opposition is unprecedented. It’s now time to bury Northern Pass for good.

"It’s clear to us that many of the adverse impacts of Northern Pass can be avoided by burying the entire line along appropriate roads. Northern Pass has acknowledged that burial is technically feasible. The U. S. Department of Energy’s draft Environmental Impact Statement even identifies an option for doing exactly that.

"Hydro-Quebec and Eversource have simply refused to consider full burial alternatives. It’s time for that to change. We believe, along with thousands of New Hampshire citizens, that Northern Pass must be buried in full or never built. New England has other energy options."

You can read the full letter here.

Biggest Campaign in Forest Society History

The latest appeal has generated more than 800 donations within a just a few weeks. Over the last several years, more than 5,250 donors have contributed to the Forest Society's defense of New Hampshire's landscapes against Northern Pass.

Thanks to the generosity of those donors, the Forest Society has intervened in the SEC process and hired a legal team and multiple experts to provide testimony on the adverse impacts of the project as proposed. We believe that Northern Pass will need to revisit their largely overhead proposal and come back with an underground alternative acceptable to communities along the route. 

The Forest Society has also taken the fight against Northern Pass over private property rights to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. We believe that a private, elective project like Northern Pass would exceed the scope of the public highway easement and effectively amount to a taking of private property rights, which cannot be done without landowners’ consent or the payment of damages in an eminent domain proceeding brought by the State. We think the state constitution is on our side.

To find out more about the fight against the Northern Pass project, please visit our website.