Judge denies CMP's bid to block law banning corridor - Spectrum News
A judge has denied Central Maine Power’s request for a preliminary injunction against a new law, set to take effect Sunday, that casts doubt on the utility’s western Maine transmission line.
The ruling from District Court Judge Michael Duddy came a day after a hearing on the issue as part of CMP owner Avangrid’s larger constitutional challenge to the law. Approved by voter referendum in November, the law seeks to ban transmission lines like CMP’s from part of Maine.
CMP had stopped construction on the controversial corridor while it waited for Thursday’s ruling. Now, it appears this pause in the project will have to continue as the referendum law takes effect and the rest of Avangrid’s lawsuit against it proceeds.
Judge Duddy’s order says CMP has not attained “vested rights” to move forward with the corridor, nor are its constitutional rights being violated by the referendum.
“While the economic harm to Plaintiffs brought about by delaying construction of the corridor during the litigation will be substantial,” Duddy wrote, “that harm does not outweigh the harm to voter confidence and participatory democracy that would result from preventing the Initiative from becoming law while this legal challenge is pending.”
CMP says further delay will cost tens of millions of dollars and could cause the project to fail, since it’s due to come online in 2025 under the terms of a funding deal with Massachusetts. But Duddy found this economic argument was too speculative to tip the scales.
“Plaintiffs do not adequately explain why they cannot amend the current agreement or negotiate a new contractual deadline for Project completion,” Duddy wrote in Thursday’s order. “(The developer) itself has noted that such delays in transmission line projects are ‘common, if not inevitable.’ The land beneath the proposed corridor is not going anyplace.”
Duddy said there are more questions of law to be answered in the next phase of the case, where CMP is poised to argue the referendum should be permanently overturned.
He wrote that the utility could also appeal the injunction decision to the state Supreme Court, where a finding of a constitutional violation would “change the balance of harms in favor of Plaintiffs” and mean that “staying the Initiative would be appropriate.”
Corridor opponents and backers of the Question One referendum applauded the ruling, while a spokesman for the corridor said it was disappointing but “we remain confident that the full legal process will ultimately conclude that question one is unconstitutional.”
Hydro-Quebec spokeswoman Lynn St-Laurent said in a statement that officials respect the ruling but would press on with the constitutional challenge to the referendum ban. The Canadian company would supply power to the New England grid using the transmission line.
St-Laurent also said Massachusetts remains supportive of the project and Hydro-Quebec "is not looking for alternative paths to the Maine route."
She said the corridor "had duly obtained all authorizations for its construction and our rights as investors have been infringed by an unconstitutional initiative, financed by fossil fuel producers."
Massachusetts energy officials did not respond to a request for comment on the implications of Thursday's ruling.
source: https://spectrumlocalnews.com/me/maine/news/2021/12/16/judge-denies-cmp-s-bid-to-block-law-banning-corridor
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