A proposed hydroelectric transmission line called the Northern Pass Transmission project endangers New England ecosystems and threatens to destroy natural resources the Pessamit Innu First Nation depends on. The Northern Pass Transmission line would transmit energy along a 192-mile-long route from hydroelectric power plants owned by Hydro-Quebec, a Canadian government-run energy company, to Deerfield, New Hampshire, where the line would connect to the New England grid.
Yale University has the fiscal power and the moral obligation to halt the project. The proposed line runs through a sector of land in eastern Coos County, New Hampshire, leased by a company called Bayroot LLC. Interestingly, Yale holds 98.8 percent of the investment shares in Bayroot. And the 24-mile stretch of land owned by Bayroot (read: Yale) is necessary for the construction of the transmission line. If Yale hopes to represent ethical environmental and social justice practices, it must take a stand against this project and instruct Bayroot not to allow the lease for the Northern Pass to be renewed.
Click below to read the full text of the op-ed by Sophie Freeman in the Yale Daily News. Sophie Freeman is a junior in Ezra Stiles College. She is the president of the Yale Student Environmental Coalition.