PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • November 29, 2023
In 2018-19, NextEra tried to stop the New England Clean Energy Connect corridor because it was at risk of losing tens of millions of dollars a year if a competing source of lower-cost Canadian hydropower came into New England. NextEra was the primary donor to the Stop the Corridor campaign, pitching in $20 million. Stop the Corridor agreed to a $50,000 fine. Alpine Initiatives, a front, agreed to a $160,000 fine for failing to register as a political action committee and not filing a campaign finance report. Alpine funneled $150,000 from NextEra to the Democratic Party just before the 2018 election. NextEra consultants and the Bernstein Shur law firm, which worked for NextEra to stop the corridor, hoped Democratic officials would oppose the NECEC. However, Gov. Janet Mills, the Democratic candidate for governor, never dropped her public support for the corridor project.