Northern Pass: NH Delegation Calls for Release of Alternative Routes

New Hampshire's congressional delegation demands the timely release of alternative routes for the Northern Pass power project.

In a joint letter to the U.S. Department of Energy, the delegation urged the release of an addendum to the scoping report on Northern Pass, ahead of the DOE Draft Environmental Impact Statement. The documents will list preliminary identified alternative routes for the project.

The letter by U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and U.S. Reps. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH) and Annie Kuster (D-NH) is below:

"We write regarding the status of Northern Pass Transmission, LLC’s amended application with the Department of Energy (DOE) for a Presidential permit to construct and maintain an electric transmission line across the U.S.-Canada border into northern New Hampshire. Specifically, we request the DOE’s timely issuance of the Addendum to the agency’s Scoping Report for the proposed project that was released on March 12, 2014, which will describe the preliminarily identified alternatives.

As you know, it is imperative that New Hampshire citizens be provided with a meaningful opportunity to participate in the review of the proposed project through an effective, transparent and thorough National Environmental Policy Act process. New Hampshire stakeholders have a clear interest in commenting on the Northern Pass application, especially within the context of the alternatives to be studied by DOE. According to the Scoping Report, New Hampshire residents submitted the vast majority of the 7,560 comments received during the scoping period. Of these, the most common subject matter addressed dealt with alternative ways to construct the proposed transmission line, including burial.

We were pleased that DOE agreed to our previous request that the agency release an Addendum to the Scoping Report in advance of a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). This is an important step in the review process that will apprise interested parties of the preliminarily identified alternatives to the project as proposed, and prepare stakeholders for the Draft EIS that your agency anticipates to release in late 2014.

However, in order to maximize the benefit of the Addendum, it is essential that it be released sufficiently in advance of the Draft EIS in order to allow New Hampshire citizens the opportunity to thoroughly review the preliminarily identified alternatives. Therefore, we respectfully request that DOE issue the Addendum to the public as soon as possible and provide us with the date that it will be released.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.  We look forward to your timely response."

Here is a link to the Northern Pass project website.