FYI: Northern Pass High Voltage Transmission Project

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No surpise that SPNHF has now filed in court to block:
http://nhpr.org/post/forest-society-sues-block-northern-pass

The Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, one of the state's oldest conservation groups, has asked the Coos County Superior Court to block the Northern Pass project, a power line which would connect New England to Canadian hydropower. The petition claims the Forest Society owns the land under Route 3 in Clarksville where the project plans to bury the proposed line.


In separate news, the governor has asked that the DOE public hearings be delayed (and maybe expanded due to driving distances involved for some).
http://www.unionleader.com/article/20151120/NEWS05/151129957
 
So Vermonster would you concur that SPNHF has shifted to killing the entire project versus mitigating its impact by full burial?. I am concerned that there could be some pretty substantial pushback from taxpayers on the lead environmental organizations when the taxpayers in the towns learn the potential lost tax revenues from the project not being built.

Of course this may also just be brinkmanship on SPNHFs part, bury it all or kill the project in its entirety. Unfortunately in order for brinkmanship to work, the party has to be willing to deal with the consequences and killing the project pulls a lot of long term revenue and short term construction jobs with it. Of course NP started the brinkmanship already by stating publically that any additional accommodations would kill the project.
 
A couple of new articles involving the NH PUC which is new "front" in the campaign to stop or bury the line.

A challenge to the right for PSNH to transfer right of way rights to NP

http://www.unionleader.com/Northern-Pass-project-faces-power-line-path-lease-questions

I am somewhat disappointed that the Sierra Club is the lead on this effort as they tend to be environmental "carpet baggers" only showing up when there is a high profile project with poor long term follow through

And the PUC commissioner recuses himself from NP activities

http://www.unionleader.com/article/20151130/NEWS05/151209978&source=RSS

Unfortunately I don't know if this is plus or minus. State political circles are quite small and generally state boards tend to be somewhat balanced. Losing a high profile member could shift the balance of the PUC one way or another and also impact the SEC.
 
I am somewhat disappointed that the Sierra Club is the lead on this effort as they tend to be environmental "carpet baggers" only showing up when there is a high profile project with poor long term follow through
The article says it's the state (NH) chapter, which is perhaps less carpetbaggy but no less concerning...these were the guys trying to turn the WMNF over to the Park Service, correct?
 
I wish I understood all of the motivations of the many players involved here. It's not just the "No Towers" crowd that is against this project.
At least one electric industry group have filed a formal letter with the SEC: http://www.rtoinsider.com/northern-pass-siting-19892/ and paid for a legal opinion from a rather prestigious law firm (Foley Hoag) that I am sure did not come cheaply. The opinion not only raises the concerns of site control (right of way), but also raises the issue of affiliate transaction protections for NH ratepayers. I assume this in part has to do with the lease described in the Sierra Club article. (I know little of the power transmission industry but had to laugh at the $11 million valuation figure considering what NP spent on land acquisition for the parts they did not have access to).

As someone with little knowledge of the power generation and transmission business it seems nearly impossible to figure out the economics. For example, both CLF and a recent Analysis Group report comissioned by the Massachusetts AG seem to call into question the "cheap" aspect of Canadian hydro.
http://www.clf.org/blog/clean-energ...rs-behind-governors-push-canadian-hydropower/
http://www.mass.gov/ago/doing-busin...ional-electric-reliability-options-study.html

It certainly seems that electricity costs/benefits are very minimal for NH since Canadian hydro can't compete in NH due to the RPS. Tax revenues, of course, are certainly of interest for those towns that would benefit.

Lastly, certainly no outsider has any idea of what HQ/NP can really afford in terms of construction costs and still be competitive with the other transmission lines currently being built from Canada to southern New England.
 
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I expect the legal "cash register" is running at hyper speed these days on both sides.

http://www.wmur.com/news/northern-pass-asks-court-to-throw-out-forest-society-land-lawsuit/36784936

Colebrook Chronicle (my go to source for what is really happening in the north country) has an article in this weeks edition that the three northernmost towns sent filings to the SEC opposed to the project unless its buried in its entirety. I guess the closed door meetings and veiled "bribes" just don't seem to be working like they used to on those most affected by the project (they seem to be working quite well on the Coos County Commissioners)

http://colebrookchronicle.weebly.com/
 
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A fairly well respected and influential North Country resident John Harrigan, the former publisher of the Coos County Democrat and long time Union Leader outdoors columnist has changed his stance. Previously he was opposed to Northern Pass in its entirety but he has now shifted to supporting the total burial option along existing roads.

But the total burial option hasn't been officially proposed -- NP still is only willing to bury a fraction of it (1/3?) And since the burial-on-roads options doesn't benefit PSNH/Eversource through R-O-W rentals, don't expect any traction on it....
 
My feeling is that the various entities opposing the project have pretty well drawn the line, bury it aqlong existing roads or they will oppose it and litigate it to the end, versus they will line right up when the golden shovels are handed out if its gets buried. Both the SEC and the Federal Environmental permitting process are set up where either one could deem the partial overhead route unacceptable impact to the state and then NP has a choice, give up, appeal the decisions and deal with endless litigation or redo the financials and bury it. Eversource NH has currently drawn the line and said that they will make no new concessions, but they have drawn these lines in the sand previously only to make concessions so the veracity of the current line is called into question. Until the CEO of Eversource decides that its not worth it any thing said by his minions are just negotiating ploys. Given the grid issues in southern NE even if they walk away now and the VT project gets built there is still a growing shortage of power in southern new England that could drive the project to return with a burial alignment. Of course as I stated in an earlier post, brinkmanship only works if there either side is willing to walk away and I am concerned that if the project is canceled outright the organizations opposing it will have a backlash due the loss of potential tax revenues to the towns along the way.
 
In the end ratepayers are the ones who'll pay for the project and I think that is a price we need to pay if we want sufficient energy and if we want renewable, namely the hydropower coming down from Quebec. Among renewables, such hydropower is a relatively constant and reliable source. The thing that bothers me is 1) pricing the end product uneconomically hurts consumers as well as energy intensive employment opportunities, and 2) Eversource wins in either case, they still get to deliver, and sometimes supply, the energy though not likely in the quantity that could make for a healthier economy. Their incentive to save on the capital investment is irrelevant up to the point that the grid cannot provide adequate power, adequate renewables to meet carbon reduction targets, or energy priced to sustain a healthy economy.

Another less quantifiable benefit of underground is the less liklihood of downtown due to storm or sabotage losses. I personally would like to see it all underground or under water but the reality is that a compromise under certain circumstances/locations would be reasonable. We will not be feasibly able to replicate this resource locally without going nuclear.
 
I admit I'm not intimate with high finance. Could you please explain to me how an entity paying rentals to itself is a benefit? Would be interested to learn how that works.

In a thousand words or less, Eversource is mix of regulated divisions and non regulated divisions and they are all owned by one corporation. The regulated utility side divisions are monopolies and are typically only allowed a certain low profit margin by the state regulators. The ratepayers to the utility also pay for the investments in infrastructure to supply power as part of their rate. Therefore they are part "owners" of the assets including electrical right of ways. Some but not all of the right of ways were bought under eminent domain under public benefit rules which means owners were forced into selling them. Many were not eminent domain but the owners didn't have a lot of choice but to sign over rights or the owner didn't get power run to the area. Inherent in these voluntary and forced purchases were that they ultimately for the public benefit of the region. There are other divisions of Eversource that are not regulated they are typical business ventures where they take a risk and get a much higher return that goes to the stockholders. They can finance the risk with the predictable cash flow from the regulated side of the business, so they can be their own bank or get access to low cost capital. Nothing wrong with that, although Enron started out that way. The tricky part is how the two parts of the corporation deal with each other. NP is set up as a non regulated part of Eversource with close ties to the regulated side of Eversource NH (the old PSNH). Profits from NP go directly to the Eversource corporation bottom line and bypass the Eversource NH ratepayers. NP is going to rent a space on the right of ways owned by Eversource NH at a very low rate, that some entities argue are well below market value. They then will be able to charge Hydro Quebec a much higher rate for the rental of the right of ways as part of their higher profit on NP. As they are deregulated they have the right to make much higher profit. This sets up a situation that potential profits on assets owned by ratepayers are being handed across corporate boundaries to a different division rather than being handed back to the ratepayers. I am not sure what entity has been making the substantial overpayments on properties in northern NH but I wouldn't be surprised if Eversource NH wrote the checks thus the ratepayers may already be subsidizing the effort. Given the successful maneuvering by SPNHF they own a lot of very overpriced land in the north country which is blocked by SPNHF purchases.

Eversource could have set the project up under the regulated side of the company but that would put it under regulatory scrutiny and would reduce the potential profit as its profits would go in the pool and it would benefit the ratepayers. The regional grid operator has deemed the project non essential so it would be hard to justify it to the ratepayers. The other issue is that in order to get HQ to make a commitment Eversource needed to make an offer on the cost to move power and most expect that HQ is not offering to pay the extra capital cost to bury the line, so Eversource ends up eating a large overrun diluting their profits. HQ is willing to wait while various projects compete for the lowest cost and the date that they are ready to carry power and it sure looks like the VT project is winning as they made an early decision to not go cheap by going underwater and underground. They already have their federal permit in hand and didn't benefit from getting subsidized right of ways from a corporate cousin. Eversource rolled the dice and to date it looks like they are trying to continue playing with a bad hand in hopes that their long term largesse to state and local politicians will be remembered.
 
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Its similar to when i worked at IP. The box plants made boxes with paper purchased from the paper mills. Box plants always run at a loss, just so the paper mills could run at a profit. There was huge tax implications from doing so.
 
In the end ratepayers are the ones who'll pay for the project and I think that is a price we need to pay if we want sufficient energy and if we want renewable.

My impression is that "ratepayers" here and "we" are different. It sounds like the project is structured so NH ratepayers are underwriting the risk to deliver power to MA and CT customers with profit to Eversource corporate.
 
My impression is that "ratepayers" here and "we" are different. It sounds like the project is structured so NH ratepayers are underwriting the risk to deliver power to MA and CT customers with profit to Eversource corporate.
I don't know myself but, if so, thanks. Just know that as for me, I try to make up for it at the NHSLS!

On a hiking note, anyone redlining utility easments besides, perhaps, ATVs and snow machines? Ever since some years ago we followed the international boundary in pursuit of the NE 100, I've had a thing for swaths. Down here in the flatlands it is a route for moose and black bear which occasionally show up on Cape Cod or at rock concerts. There may be something to say for utility easements after all.
 
Unfortunately there are misconceptions on what an easement is versus the utility owning a piece of land. An easement is generally a very specific right to do something on another persons property. This may or may not be recorded in a deed but in vast majority of cases this is recorded document that eventually gets incorporated in later deeds. Where the misconception is with an easement is that the utility doesn't own and control the land they only have the agreed upon right, therefore a utility easement frequently is not open to the general public unless the landowner allows it to be. I have a major pipeline easement on my deed and the pipeline is allowed to maintain the right of way to access the pipelines and has the right to install more pipelines. There is a snowmachine route on the maintained section of the right of way. In order for the trail to be open to the public the clubs are legally required to obtain owner permission as the pipeline does not have that right. If NP decided that they want to use the pipeline right of way to build NP they will have to negotiate with me to buy that right as they are not allowed to use eminent domain to take it and the original pipeline easement holder can not offer to rent their easement as they only have the right for underground pipelines. Its up to me if I want to sell and if so how much I want to get paid.

The issue with the Eversource NH easements that the Sierra club is proposing to litigate is that the easement language apparently varies and in general were understood to be for the public benefit of providing and extending power to customers. The current WMNF power line crossing was also a quite limited special use permit specific to the public benefit of the localities surrounding the WMNF and is most likely one of the reasons why NP decided to bury the line elsewhere. Eversource is assuming that they have the legal right to substantially expand the use of the existing right of way to an outside entity for commercial purposes under the original easement language. A very rough parallel is someone allows a hiking trail to go through their property by easement. (There are some sections of the AT that work under this arrangement) then the owner of the easement decides that they are going to rent that easement for a private road to a major new landfill located behind the property owners property boundary. I expect most folks would agree that the original intent of an easement for hikers did not include a paved road with trucks full of ripe trash driving on it. At a minimum the landowner would have a very good case in court but unless there is third party that has deeper pockets than the property owner, the property owner may not have the resources to fight it.

ISO New England the regional grid operator has the right to, with proper justification deem a project necessary on a regional basis to maintain the reliability of the electrical power grid. In that case they can and do force all of the ratepayers in New England to pay for part or some of these projects. I believe that in that case the FERC a federal agency in charge of the power grid, can trump state and local laws and force landowners by eminent domain to allow the powerline to be built. NP is not interested in this route as if this approach is used it becomes a regulated project with its associated low profit potential. ISO New England to date has not deemed NP as a critical infrastructure project as they are well aware that multiple alternatives exist.
 
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I don't know myself but, if so, thanks. Just know that as for me, I try to make up for it at the NHSLS!
Why, that's very generous of you. I'm maybe half a mile from the nearest and am partial to mead (Moonlight Meadery is from NH, and not beer, therefore carried) and a good dry gin (Bombay Sapphire preferred.) ;)

More seriously, as peakbagger describes, the financial arrangements are clearly a complicated dance and who's left with the bag vs. the benefits is not necessarily preplanned. I suspect if the grid undergoes the major transformation necessary for a less carbon-intensive economy, costs and rewards will move around rapidly and in ways we haven't come to accept as status quo, even if disconnect is not new. e.g. I confess to drinking Quabbin water when I lived in Mass.
 
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