SEC Extends Northern Pass Review Deadline

The N.H. Site Evaluation Committee (SEC) voted 7-0 at a meeting in Whitefield on May 19 to adopt a schedule for hearing the Northern Pass (NP) project application that extends the statutory schedule for review by nine months.  Under the new schedule, the SEC has targeted Sept. 30, 2017, for a final decision on the siting permit requested by NP.

After a vigorous debate, in which both the Forest Society and the Counsel for the Public argued to extend the December 2016 statutory deadline for a final SEC decision, the committee concluded that it simply does not have the appropriate time to fully review the extensive record in the case by this December.  The Forest Society applauds the decision, which was followed by a decision by NP to suggest that interveners be granted additional time to submit formal discovery questions. 

The SEC subcommittee of seven also acted yesterday at its day-long meeting on several requests from NP for waivers from SEC administrative rules.  The subcommittee voted against granting a rule waiver that would have allowed NP to avoid having an independent contractor prepare a decommissioning plan for the facility.  The applicant must now hire an independent contractor to prepare such a plan before the SEC adjudicatory hearings begin (likely in spring 2017).  Other waivers from rules governing how much information NP must gather and provide regarding the land impacts outside the actual rights-of way it proposes to use were granted (three fully and one partially).  

The SEC also held a hearing last evening in Whitefield, at which nearly 20 people spoke, all but one in opposition to the project.  For Forest Society comments, focused on property rights and the inappropriate use of the Forward NH Fund, go here.  Find the Union Leader story on yesterday’s SEC proceeding here. 

In another significant development, the NH Dept. of Environmental Services (DES) sent an update letter to the SEC regarding the NP wetlands application suggesting that NP should look at avoiding significant wetland impacts of the project on the new right of way proposed in northern Coos County.  The letter suggests that the NP wetlands application would be improved if NP considered burying the facility entirely in northern Coos County along a previously disturbed transportation corridor.  NH DES made similar comments to the US Department of Energy on April 4, 2016, in response to the US DOE Draft Environmental Impact Statement. If NP accepts the advice from NH DES, the substantial wetland impacts of the currently proposed right of way in Coos County would be avoided.