THE BAKER ADMINISTRATION had to know it was courting controversy by picking Eversource’s Northern Pass project as the winner of a lucrative state bid on Thursday. The 192-mile line through New Hampshire has a long line of critics: Environmentalists worry about its impact on the White Mountains, trade groups don’t like the $1.6 billion cost, and competitors worry that the company had an unfair advantage because of the privileged role the Legislature gave Eversource and the state’s other electric utilities in the project selection.

To answer those critics, and bolster confidence in its choice, the administration should release all the analysis that went into picking the project, including the specific scores it gave to individual bids. If Northern Pass represented the best option for ratepayers, the administration should be able to demonstrate that.

Click below to read the full editorial in the Boston Globe.