New England electricity suppliers defending profit produced through the use of fossil fuels played a larger part in preventing hydroelectricity generated in Quebec from entering our grid than you likely know. Without their efforts it’s unlikely the ballot initiative that brought construction of the powerline that was to transmit it to a halt would even have materialized, let alone passed.
According to an article published by Bloomberg Green May 27, 2021, New England energy suppliers worried the influx of cheap hydroelectricity would force them to shut down the fossil fuels generators they continue to operate. This concern was voiced by Dan Dolan, president of the New England Power Generators Association (NEPGA), who said that addition would “suppress prices for the rest of the market”. When asked to speak to this concern a utilities expert consulted by Bloomberg Green responded by saying “There’s no merchant in New England that wants to see low-cost Canadian hydro show up on their doorstep.” That’s why NextEra Energy Inc. and NEPGA allies Calpine Corp. and Vistra Corp. spent millions building opposition to the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC).
Further investigation reveals that the ballot initiative proposed to make that happen was most likely NextEra‘s idea. As evidence Bloomberg Green points to a $20 million effort NextEra and other utility companies made to curb rooftop solar in Florida through ballot initiative in 2016. Again their concern was competition, this time with locals who drove electric prices down by installing rooftop solar thus forcing Florida electricity suppliers profiting from fossil fuels generation to downsize those operations.
Here in New England, NextEra alone would spend approximately $20 million in support of the ballot initiative designed to block the NECEC, according to an article published by Bangor Daily News November, 7 2021. More revealing is the way in which they, Calpine, and Vistra went about building support for the ballot initiative offered here. According to another article published by Bangor Daily News October 5, 2021, the three would use it to create Mainers for Local Power, which would in turn finance No CMP Corridor, which would in turn fund Say No to NECEC. By doing so their efforts were hidden behind local faces.
That little waterfall of wealth created quite the impression. To be honest I’m still surprised it led so many to vote against the project knowing it would force NextEra, Calpine, and Vistra to shut down many of their fossil fuels generators. The calculation was simple, add hydroelectricity generated in Quebec to the existing renewable electricity we have and emissions would come down. Knowing that would appeal to Mainers NextEra, Calpine, and Vistra would have to make it appear that the solution was worse than the problem, or at least that locals believed as much. That’s why they created Mainers for Local Power and funded No CMP Corridor, and Say No to NECEC. To trigger then amplify the voices of those spoke out against it.
Yes, Mainers voiced support for the ballot initiative these corporate entities promoted, but would they have in such numbers had they known all this? I personally doubt it. After all, the initiative was passed by voters who argued their motivation was the protection of habitats threatened by the continued operation of those power plants NextEra, Calpine, and Vistra sought to protect by funding it. They alone hid their contributions in this way. The result, we pay more for electricity so they can continue to profit from the fossil fuels generators they won’t have to shut down now that Hydro-Quebec won’t be supplying hydroelectricity to New England any time soon.
Jamie Beaulieu
Farmington, Maine
