Jefferson County Commission Chair Betsy Barfield was sharper in her opposition to the project.

“This is not an ask. This is ‘we’re tired of messing with you and this is what you need to do,’” she said in an interview. “The utilities, they really are the big gorilla and they’re the ones that think they can run roughshod over everybody. NextEra has not been a good community partner at all.”

Jefferson Commissioner Walker was there but said by that time the company was already far along in developing its plan without input from local officials. He’s driven his proposed route with NextEra's Bryant.

“I showed him the exact route but getting information from them is hard to do. I think they want to take the path of least resistance,” Walker said. “They should have communicated with every county along the way and got our input on it.”

Property taxes associated with it could top $17 million in both counties over 30 years, with as much as $960,000 accrued in the first year. During the line's construction, 200 local jobs will be created and business to hotels, restaurants and stores could see an uptick.

NextEra has said the Highway 27 route was not viable because it would require co-locating with Duke Energy, a major utility competitor, and working within Florida Department of Transportation easement restrictions. A path completely down I-10 wasn’t workable because of existing development on private property near Tallahassee.
Barfield said after being told by Tim Bryant, NextEra’s senior manager of external affairs and new development, FDOT had denied their request to use Highway 27, she spoke with agency officials.
“They never told NextEra no, that they couldn’t do that,” she said. “Frankly, I don’t like people lying to us. To straight up lie? That’s just unprofessional and unethical." 

FDOT spokesman Ian Satter confirmed NextEra has not approached the agency with plans to consider Highway 27.
“Gulf Power has contacted our department to make us aware they will submit permits to cross state roads,” Satter said.

Eversource, in a statement, said it was “deeply disappointed” with the decision.
“We will closely review the Supreme Court’s decision and evaluate all potential options for moving forward. It’s clear that the need for new energy sources in New England is greater than ever, and we remain focused on innovative solutions that will lower costs for our customers, improve reliability and advance clean energy.”

Eversource spent $249 million on Northern Pass through September 2017, including engineering, property purchases, attorney fees and application fees. Eversource was funding the construction through borrowing and stockholder equity.

May 30 - Today at an energy conference in New York, Thorn Dickinson from CMP/Avangrid gave a presentation where he complained that corridor opponents are like the Russians trying to influence elections. https://www.spglobal.com/…/…/northeast-power-and-gas-markets
He complained of artificial intelligence used to spread fake news like the Russians.

The difference between these two numbers is easily understood by anyone familiar with this project and Maine's approval process. One refers to the average number of jobs supported each year over the six years of development, and the higher number is the expectation during the peak year of construction. Both mailers are accurate. These numbers have been consistent since the onset of the project and were confirmed by two, independent economic analyses using standard modeling techniques. -Thorn Dickinson, Vice President of Business Development, Avangrid

How about something like this...in you own, natural voice, and therefore maybe a little less contrived...

The recommendation by the reviewing State Agencies to deny a transmission project is a
rarity and is not made lightly, or without significant analysis and consideration. Yet, this project contradicts Maryland’s well-established statutory planning and preservation priorities. While, the work of PJM is vital to assure the reliability of the electricity grid that serves Maryland, what is most beneficial for the applicant, or PJM and its stakeholders, is not always what is in the public interest of the State and its residents. This discretionary PJM-driven market efficiency project, and the process used to approve it, demonstrates this divergence. As described by the Direct Testimony of the Secretary of Agriculture, Joseph Bartenfelder, and the Executive Director of MALPF, Michelle Cable, Maryland’s agriculture industry is vital to Maryland as its single largest industry after the federal government, which is why Maryland has prioritized preserving farmland and ensuring the integrity of MALPF easements. Projects that diminish the State’s efforts and devalue its investments to preserve this finite resource should not be approved when existing infrastructure is available. PJM and transmission developers should reasonably be expected to incorporate Maryland’s stated policies and statutes into their project development and approval processes.

The MMU recommends the creation of a mechanism to permit a direct comparison, or competition, between transmission and generation alternatives, including which alternative is less costly and who bears the risks associated with each alternative.

So how can PJM propose a project that doesn’t really save any money, hurts Pennsylvania ratepayers so badly, and costs nearly $500 million to build? 
 
The answer can be found at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”), the entity charged with regulating PJM.  FERC allowed PJM to implement a tiered system, with one set of rules for smaller projects, and one for larger projects.  Delineated by voltage, the lower tier rules allow PJM to completely ignore all zones that see increases, while the higher tier rules consider the net change to system production cost.  Transource realized that this created a loophole.  They designed the IEC to run at the highest voltage possible in the lower tier, but carry an astonishing 24 conductors.  Though run at only 230kv, the IEC has so many conductors it would have more power capacity than most 500kv lines that form the backbone of the grid.  One expert witness said it carried more power than any 230kV line he had ever seen.  Testimony showed that if the line were evaluated as a higher tier project, it probably would never have been proposed.

And if that isn’t gaming the system, then consider this: when PJM asked FERC to make the changes in the assumptions for future planned generation – the changes that affected the benefits last week – they didn’t provide much analysis.  In fact, they only gave FERC one table of examples.  Those examples showed what would happen to eight small projects with and without the proposed changes.  In all eight examples, the new rules reduced and usually eliminated the need for those projects by showing the projects no benefit.  PJM clearly was trying to tell FERC that they had historically been over-estimating the benefits of projects, and that the proposed rules would more accurately reflect lower benefits and result in fewer unnecessary projects.  But just days after the rules were changed, the IEC showed a $250M swing the other direction.  Bait and switch anyone?  You can almost hear the laughter in the PJM hallways.

PJM is a cabal of utilities interested in one objective: making money.  They have manipulated the rules to allow the proposal of a project that will lose hundreds of millions of dollars, destroy preserved farmland, and raise rates for Pennsylvania residents, all while ignoring existing alternatives.  If nothing else, this process has convinced any objective onlooker that PJM needs tighter regulation.  FERC has been too trusting, and the effects are clear.

CMP has drawn attention to the ad this week, calling it part of a well-funded, dark-money campaign against the project.

The new figures raise the projected electrical rate increase in Pennsylvania rates from $350M to over $500M (NPV over 15 years).

The new simulation projects $982M in electrical cost reductions for the DC market, but $969M in increases elsewhere, including over $514M in electric rate cost increases in Pennsylvania alone.

If all benefits and costs were to be included, the total benefit of the project would be negative $439M NPV over the next 15 years. 

Citizens to Stop Transource VP Barron Shaw stated: “Transource doubled-down on their bet that Pennsylvania would approve a project that effectively drains low-priced electricity from Pennsylvania in order to subsidize the wealthiest counties in the nation.  This project was bad before, and it is even worse now.  The PUC would be nuts to approve this project.”