LAWSUIT QUESTIONS CONSTITUTIONALITY OF MAINE REFERENDUM ON THE NEW ENGLAND CLEAN ENERGY CONNECT

Avangrid Networks supported by IEGC and Maine Chamber of Commerce in lawsuit asking courts to block referendum from November ballot

PORTLAND, ME – May 13, 2020 – Questioning the constitutionality of the referendum proposed by opponents of the New England Clean Energy Connect, AVANGRID Networks filed a lawsuit yesterday supported by the Maine State Chamber of Commerce and the Industrial Energy Consumer’s Group (IECG).

“If this referendum is put on the ballot, any decision by a court or agency could be arbitrarily overturned after the fact,” said Thorn Dickinson, CEO and President of the NECEC Transmission, LLC. “It will create a dangerous precedent that allows special interests to manipulate voters in overturning decisions made by local and state regulators and Maine courts. This creates uncertainty and threatens individual rights of fairness under the law.”

Dana Connors, President of the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, explained “Regulatory consistency is the hallmark for economic development and investment in our state, or any state. When the referendum process is used to overturn a permitting decision and moves the goal posts at the end of that process, we risk critical investments in Maine. This is not only an improper use of the referendum process, it is one that we cannot sit on the sidelines and let stand.”

Counsel for IECG, Tony Buxton, said he believed the Consumers Group would join in the lawsuit because this use of a referendum makes no sense. “Why don’t we change the sign in Kittery from ‘Welcome Home’ to ‘Maine: Where permits mean nothing and referenda are every Tuesday.’ You can’t run a society by referendum.”

The lawsuit, which was filed in Cumberland County against the Secretary of State as the official responsible for preparing the November general election ballot, argues that the proposed referendum suffers from two fatal constitutional flaws:

First, this referendum exceeds the legislative power provided to the people under the Constitution. Maine’s highest court, the Law Court, has consistently recognized that referendum power is limited to legislative acts, which are by nature “general and prospective” and “a rule for all, and binding on all.” This initiative against the NECEC does not meet these simple and straightforward criteria. Rather, the Initiative is directly targeted at reversing one particular Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity granted to a specific single entity after months of hearings and public testimony.
Second, this referendum violates the separation of powers provision of the Maine Constitution. The Constitution mandates that power granted to one branch of government cannot be usurped by any other branch. Here, the referendum doubly offends: it usurps executive power by seeking to reverse a lengthy Maine Public Utilities Commission (MPUC) process and resulting certificate, and it usurps the judicial power by seeking to reverse the Law Court’s final judgment affirming the MPUC’s order. By infringing on both executive and judicial power, the Initiative violates separation of powers doctrine and is constitutionally indefensible.

“This referendum sets a precedent for which any Maine business, properly established and operated could be shut down not based on facts or due process, but by a never-ending appeal-by-referendum concocted by special interests,” continued Dickinson. “Imagine if a referendum singled out an individual lobsterman’s right to fish and revoked only his permit, leaving the rest of the industry alone?”

The NECEC project continues to successfully navigate an extremely rigorous, non-political, multi-year public approval process and has received permits from all relevant agencies to date. Earlier this week, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (MDEP) granted its approval of the project, confirming that the NECEC has met or exceeded all environmental standards established by MDEP and that no other alternative routes would be an improvement on the current project design.

Opponents of the NECEC include citizen groups that are under investigation for ethics violations and fossil fuel generators like Florida-based NextEra and Texas-based Calpine who testified against the project at the MPUC and also challenged the MPUC’s decision that the project was in the public interest of Maine before Maine’s Law Court.

“These out-of-state fossil fuel companies stand to make millions every day they delay this project,” said Dickinson. “Now these same out of state fossil fuel generators are the financial backers of a referendum that flies in the face of Maine’s constitution and represents a dangerous precedent that puts at risk the fundamental right for individuals to be treated fairly before the law.”

ABOUT THE NECEC PROJECT

The New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) is a $950 million investment that will deliver 1,200 megawatts of renewable hydropower to the New England energy grid in Lewiston, Maine. All the costs will be paid for by Massachusetts electric customers. Once built, the NECEC will be New England’s largest source of renewable energy, representing a fundamental shift away from fossil fuels while simultaneously lowering energy costs in Maine and New England.

The 145-mile transmission line will be built on land owned or controlled by Central Maine Power. The 53 miles of new corridor on working forest land will use a new clearing technique of tapered vegetation; the remaining two-thirds of the project follows existing power lines created for the state’s hydroelectric industry almost a century ago. Construction will begin as soon as final environmental permits are received, expected in the second quarter of 2020, with the construction completed and the line in service by December 2022.

The project will create more than 1,600 good-paying jobs during the two-and-a-half-year construction period, provide $200 million in upgrades to Maine’s energy grid, making Maine’s electricity service more reliable. The NECEC will allow more producers of renewable energy here in Maine to get their energy on the grid, and because the corridor project will use clean hydropower, it will reduce the use of fossil fuels, cutting more than three million metric tons of dirty emissions each year.

The NECEC will also deliver significant economic benefits to Maine and the region, including lower electricity prices, increased local real estate taxes and reduced energy costs, expanded fiber optic cable for broadband service in Somerset and Franklin counties and funding of economic development for Western Maine.

For more information about the New England Clean Energy Connect, please visit our website at https://www.necleanenergyconnect.org/.

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