PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • August 10, 2021
A state judge has vacated a lease of public land to Central Maine Power parent company Avangrid for part of its planned 145-mile electric corridor through western Maine, likely putting the entire project in peril. Superior Court Justice Michaela Murphy said in her ruling Tuesday that state public land officials failed to make a required finding that the lease would result in no reduction or substantial alteration to the public lands being leased and, therefore, the agreement was not valid. The decision means corridor-builder New England Clean Energy Connect, or NECEC, will have to go back to the state to negotiate the lease of public land that will be used for part of the corridor, which would connect hydroelectric power generated in Quebec with the New England power grid in Lewiston. Most of the electricity being generated is intended for Massachusetts.