PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 27, 2022
A judge has tentatively scheduled an April trial in a lawsuit over the stalled New England power corridor that would bring hydroelectricity from Quebec through Maine to Massachusetts consumers. The Maine Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that a referendum to block the transmission line would be unconstitutional if the work NECEC has already done on the project was enough to give the contractor “vested rights” in it before the voters approved a referendum last fall that blocks further work on the transmission line. The Court has not yet ruled on a second legal challenge, alleging that NECEC does not have a valid lease for a section of the transmission line across public lands.