Maine environmental board delays final decision on NECEC conservation plan

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • September 17, 2026

The Maine Board of Environmental Protection delayed final consideration Thursday of the validity of the conservation area associated with the controversial New England Clean Energy Connect transmission line. The board met for five hours in the Augusta Armory to consider an appeal from environmental groups, which argued the project’s conservation plan did not meet standards for habitat connectivity and mature forest conservation. The board had ordered the conservation plan in 2022 to mitigate habitat disruption caused by the NECEC transmission line, which cut a 150-foot-wide swath through 53 miles of rural, forested landscape. Members of the board said Thursday that they need more information from the Department of Environmental Protection staff to determine if the area does, in fact, mitigate the disruption of habitat.