Eversource Energy, the Fortune 500 company behind the Northern Pass project, has launched a new marketing blitz to support its new proposal. The project has been mired in controversy since its inception in 2010. The proposal to build a 187-mile long series of aboveground transmission towers and lines through some of New Hampshire’s most pristine mountains and forests and picturesque North Country communities was exceedingly unpopular with the affected residents of the areas, environmentalists and respected organizations like the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests.
Despite the opposition, the company, then known as Northeast Utilities, refused to consider burying any of the lines. Its recalcitrance was perplexing. The Champlain Hudson Power Express, a proposal to bring hydro power from Canada to New York City, had announced it would bury 300-plus miles of lines, causing skepticism among opponents of Northern Pass as to NU’s claim that it could not afford to bury the lines. Moreover, the New York proposal promised an $117 million trust fund to fund environmental projects over 35 years. There was no similar pledge from Northern Pass.
Click below to read full op-ed as published in the Union Leader.