Bill Quinlan, president of N.H. electric operations for Eversource Energy, predicted the Northern Pass transmission project in cooperation with HydroQuebec, would be in-service by 2018.
Quinlan painted a rosy picture of the project's prospects, suggesting federal approvals are at hand.
Jack Savage, vice president for communications at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, was at the event, and said afterward that Quinlan oversimplified the EIS process.
"It would appear that Mr. Quinlan misrepresented the significance of the draft Environmental Impact Statement when he said that it represented 'approval' of the Northern Pass project by the federal Department of Energy," Savage said. "He also failed to address the fact that the project would need a federal Special Use Permit to be sited on the White Mountain National Forest, as currently proposed in the company's preferred route."
"I would like to think that Mr. Quinlan simply misspoke, and was not dismissing the importance of the public input into the EIS draft, and the recent request by the state's Congressional delegation to extend the public comment period," Savage said.