PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • January 26, 2022
Provincial utility Hydro-Quebec has stopped construction on the Canadian section of a transmission corridor that would hook up to the now-stalled $1 billion New England Clean Energy Connect project in Maine. Hydro-Quebec said it has finished 70 percent of the right-of-way clearing and access roads. On Jan. 19, it notified the Canada Energy Regulator, the federal agency that permits cross-border energy ventures, that construction was being suspended. “Hydro-Quebec hopes to be able to resume construction work on the interconnection line project for Appalaches-Maine and remains convinced of the value, merits and importance of the project,” the utility said in a letter. “We and our partner maintain that the referendum is unconstitutional and are committed to the legal challenge to the referendum initiative.”