SEC Member: Northern Pass Could Cost Taxpayers More For Public Construction Projects

By GARRY RAYNO
InDepthNH.org

CONCORD — If the proposed Northern Pass Transmission project is built, it could mean state and local taxpayers might pay more for public construction projects along the 192-mile route.

A Site Evaluation Committee member raised the possibility in questioning former state SEC chair Robert Varney, currently President of Normandeau Associates of Bedford, a company hired by project developer Eversource to assess the line’s effect on the orderly development in communities along the route.

At Tuesday’s SEC’s adjudicative hearing on the $1.6 billion project to bring Hydro-Quebec electricity to New England, Department of Transportation representative William Oldenberg presented a list of state bridges along the project’s route and noted a number are at least 70 years old and will need to be replaced.

The proposed transmission lines would go directly over the I-393 bridge over Portsmouth Street in Concord and noted the top two criteria for bridge design are safety and cost effectiveness.

The most cost-effective approach to replace, rehabilitate or widen the bridges would be to use cranes, Oldenberg said. “If you don’t, that will cost the state more money to replace the bridge,” he said, noting that is taxpayers’ money.

“The sheer size of the line,” he said, means “additional costs are going to be borne by others, passed on to citizens and not spent somewhere else in the state.”

Oldenberg said a school in Franconia is next to the buried section of the line, and if the school district wants to expand the school, that could increase the costs.

Varney said there is an ongoing dialogue between Eversource and the state Department of Transportation, and the applicant will work with local property owners and communities, but he noted the applicant has a right to use the state right-of-way and stay within existing corridors.

“The best we can do is to make sure there is an ongoing dialogue to foresee any future issues,” Varney said, “and factor that information into the final design and the decisions the DOT is making on the project.”

Oldenberg asked Varney if the applicant would agree to allow the DOT to assess future costs for construction projects affected by the transmission lines.

Varney said if there are additional costs in the right-of-way for the DOT, the applicant would be responsible for paying the costs.

SEC legal counsel Michael Iacopino asked if that was a reasonable condition to place on the project, and Varney said it is if it is consistent with law.

Local officials’ input

SEC vice chair Kathryn Bailey said the committee is required to consider the concerns of regional planning commissions and local boards in making its decision on the project.

“There is so much opposition from so many of these towns,” she said. “You should have tried to do more to minimize impacts.”

But Varney said the SEC has jurisdiction for the “regional project”’ not local boards with differing regulations from town to town.

She said the chair of the New Hampton Planning Board testified that the town’s site plan review regulations envision burying all transmission lines.

Varney said the committee is required to consider communities’ master plans and zoning ordinances not site plan review or other local regulations.

“The SEC clearly has jurisdiction over this project,” he said. “It’s up to you to make the decision while considering their views.”

But the SEC is standing in for towns and “if there is a specific reference to a project like this, why shouldn’t we consider it,” Bailey asked.

Varney said he did consider the comment in developing his report. “They know they do not have any jurisdiction over any regional transmission project,” Varney said about local boards.

Jobs lost and gained

Committee member Christopher Way said project supporters downplay the possibility of lost jobs and business closings due to construction of the project, calling it speculative. He maintained the projection of jobs created by the project is just as speculative.

“If a theater owner in Plymouth and a landscaper in Franconia, who know their businesses, and add it all up and see a problem,” Way said, “I would take that to the bank.”

Varney said it is difficult to assess impacts on local businesses due to a number of factors that contribute to the operation and profitability of any business.

He alluded to a business guarantee program to offset business losses and said a company has been hired to reach out to businesses along the route.

He said the impact from construction will be temporary and many things could be done to minimize that impact, he said.

But Way warned if Eversource does not find a way to communicate with business owners particularly along the buried section of the line between Bethlehem and Bridgewater, the impact on those businesses will go beyond temporary.

The 1,090 megawatt project was first proposed seven years ago. The SEC recently delayed making its final decision for five month pushing its deadline until the end of February, 2018.

The committee also added 31 more adjudicative hearings to be held at 49 Donovan St., in Concord from October through the end of the year.

Eversource had hoped to have all federal and state permits by the end of the year with construction to begin next year and the transmission line finished by the end of 2020.

Hearings continue Thursday with heritage and archeological experts testifying.

Garry Rayno can be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com

As a public service, InDepthNH.org publishes the websites for Northern Pass and its opponents at the end of every story along with information about how the adjudicative process works to site new transmission projects and our previous hearing coverage. Sign up for our free Friday newsletter for Northern Pass and other news that matters in NH.

NORTHERN PASS WEBSITE

SITE EVALUATION COMMITTEE WEBSITE

GRANITE STATE POWER LINK

SAY NO TO NORTHERN PASS

PROTECT THE GRANITE STATE

How The Process Works Before The Site Evaluation Committee

Northern Pass’ website explains the hearings process as follows:

The SEC holds adjudicative hearings to consider and weigh evidence. The applicant has the burden of proving by a preponderance of the evidence that a Certificate should be issued. Expert witnesses submit testimony under oath and are subject to cross-examination.

Persons seeking to intervene must file a petition which demonstrates that the “petitioner’s rights, duties, privileges, immunities or other substantial interest might be affected by the proceeding.”

According to Northern Pass’ website: After an extensive adjudicative proceeding, the SEC will issue a Certificate of Site and Facility “if it finds that an applicant has adequate financial, technical, and managerial capability, that a project will not interfere with the orderly development of the region, that the project will not have an unreasonable adverse effect on aesthetics, historic sites, air and water quality, the natural environment, and public health and safety, and that the project will serve the public interest.”

Eversource had hoped to have all federal and state permits by the end of the year with construction to begin next year and the transmission line finished by the end of 2020.

Members of the subcommittee that will decide Northern Pass by a majority vote are Chairman Martin Honigberg, PUC, presiding officer; Commissioner Kathryn Bailey, PUC; Dir. Craig Wright, Department of Environmental Services; Christopher Way, Department of Business and Economic Affairs; William Oldenburg, Department of Transportation; Patricia Weathersby, public member; and Rachel Dandeneau, alternate public member.

InDepthNH.org’s comprehensive coverage of the SEC hearings on Northern Pass.