Energy project developers see relief on the wayApr 19 - McClatchy-Tribune Content Agency, LLC - Dave Solomon The New Hampshire Union Leader, Manchester
Optimism was in the air as the developers of major energy projects predicted that relief is on the way from what they all agreed is an energy crisis facing New Hampshire and its neighboring New England states, where electricity prices are now the highest in the nation. Among the most optimistic was Bill Quinlan, president of N.H. electric operations for Eversource Energy, who predicted the Northern Pass transmission project in cooperation with HydroQuebec, would be in-service by 2018. Quinlan painted a rosy picture of the project's prospects, suggesting federal approvals are at hand. "The next key step in the project is an action by the Department of Energy later this spring or early this summer, when they release the draft environmental impact statement (EIS), the last federal approval required for this project," he told the members of the Business and Industry Association gathered for an energy summit. "The other federal approvals are in place," he said. The project rules The operator of the New England grid, ISO-NE, has ruled that the 1,200-megawatt transmission line works from an engineering perspective; and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved the agreement between Eversource and HydroQuebec. "The EIS is the last federal approval needed," he said. "After that, the entire project shifts to the New Hampshire siting process, in mid-2015." Quinlan said the company is ready to make its case to the state's Site Evaluation Committee. "I'm personally optimistic that we are going to be able to tell a compelling story about why this project is good for New Hampshire on a number of important grounds, and work our way through the siting process here in the state," he said. Oversimplified process Jack Savage, vice president for communications at the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, was at the event, and said afterward that Quinlan oversimplified the EIS process. "It would appear that Mr. Quinlan misrepresented the significance of the draft Environmental Impact Statement when he said that it represented 'approval' of the Northern Pass project by the federal Department of Energy," Savage said. "He also failed to address the fact that the project would need a federal Special Use Permit to be sited on the White Mountain National Forest, as currently proposed in the company's preferred route." The project will also need a Presidential Permit, based largely on the EIS, because it involves transporting energy across international borders. "I would like to think that Mr. Quinlan simply misspoke, and was not dismissing the importance of the public input into the EIS draft, and the recent request by the state's Congressional delegation to extend the public comment period," Savage said. http://www.energycentral.com/functional/news/news_detail.cfm?did=35879828 |