马萨诸塞州公用事业和能源官员已经确定了一个缅因州传输项目，以便从魁北克提供可再生能源，以防北方通行项目的首选北方通行项目不会克服新的汉普郡选址板的拒绝。
The backup plan announced on Feb. 16, designated New England Clean Energy Connect, a 145-mile power-line project that would be built by Central Maine Power Co.The Avingrid subsidiary proposed the $950 million project in a joint bid with Hydro-Québec to deliver renewable energy from Québec to the New England grid.
The state had preferred the $1.6 billion, 192-mile Northern Pass project, but that project was rejected by New Hampshire’s energy-infrastructure siting board on Feb. 1.
“Today’s decision by the Massachusetts DOER, its Independent Evaluator and the EDCs strikes a sensible balance, by allowing negotiations with Northern Pass to continue, while establishing a backup protocol that can be initiated if necessary,” a spokesman for Eversource, the Massachusetts utility behind the plan, said in a statement. The utility says it expects to file for reconsideration of the line with the New Hampshire board.
Massachusetts’ Global Warming Solutions Act, set a goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions between 10% and 25% below 1990 statewide levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050.
在2月16日声明中，Eversource的发言人表示，“我们感谢马萨诸塞州官员及其电力配送公司（EDC）的挑战，因为他们努力达到恰当地获得刚刚在内部获得新的清洁能源来源几年短。北方通行证的选择是部分地归属的是，因为我们可以在任何其他项目领先地位。“
与此同时，新罕布什尔州的商业和行业协会赞同北方通行项目，并敦促新汉普郡网站评估委员会重新考虑该项目。
吉姆罗氏,协会的主席说Feb. 20 news release that “New Hampshire’s electrical energy prices are consistently 50-60% higher than the national average. Approximately 30% of the region’s generation capacity has already retired or is at risk of retiring over the next few years.
“Those who claim New Hampshire can get by without Northern Pass are playing roulette with New Hampshire’s economy. Already, businesses from outside New Hampshire and others now here have reversed their plans to grow in the state due to the Site Evaluation Committee’s decision.
