Work on Maine hydropower transmission line can restart, state says

LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — The construction of a 145-mile transmission line in Maine will be able to resume now that the state has removed a suspension order on the project.

The New England Clean Energy Connect project is no longer suspended, as it had been since fall 2021, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection said Tuesday. The department's ruling came less than a month after a jury said that developers had a constitutional right to proceed with the $1 billion transmission project.

The project is designed to supply up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. That is enough electricity for about a million homes.

However, state voters opposed the project in an election, and work stopped. Opponents of the project have cited environmental concerns and said the potential benefits of the transmission line were overstated.

The parent company of Central Maine Power, the state's largest utility, and Hydro Quebec have collaborated on the project. It was unclear exactly when the work would resume. The Maine Department of Environmental Protection said it needs notification of a date at least five days before the operations restart.