Northern Pass Draft Environmental Impact Statement Released to Public

NP Preferred Route Most Damaging to Environment

Jack Savage | July 21, 2015

The long-awaited Northern Pass Environmental Impact Statement was released July 21. Those interested in reading it can find it online here: http://www.northernpasseis.us/library/draft-eis

The Forest Society issued the following initial statement about the Draft EIS:

“The release of the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the controversial Northern Pass transmission line proposal is the beginning of a long permitting process. The draft EIS will be used in part to help New Hampshire decide what New Hampshire wants when it comes to large-scale transmission proposals. We look forward to being engaged in that process.

"It comes as no surprise to us that Northern Pass’s proposal, a largely overhead line, was determined to be the most environmentally damaging of the 11 alternatives that the EIS studied.

"It’s also no surprise to us that in our view the EIS makes compelling arguments for burying the line along existing roads. This includes a fully buried route that would have the conversion station built in Deerfield instead of Franklin.

"We are still reading and digesting the details of this comprehensive document. We will likely have more comments about those details.”

Media coverage includes:

From Robert Blechl at the Caledonian Record: https://www.forestsociety.org/news-article/doe-draft-eis-conclusions-ba…

From the Union Leader: DOE review cites environmental benefits of burying Northern Pass line - See more at: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150721/NEWS05/150729777#sthash.XQ8…

From Dave Solomon at the Union Leader: Both sides find something to cheer about in Northern Pass report - See more at: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150721/NEWS05/150729702/1028/NEWS0…

Northern Pass’s own comments can be read here:

http://blog.northernpass.us/2015/07/21/northern-pass-statement-on-the-i…