NECEC Transmission LLC v. Bureau of Parks & Lands

–

The Maine Business and Consumer Court denied a motion for preliminary injunction barring the ballot initiative that banned completion and operation of the New England Clean Energy Connection transmission line corridor from taking effect. The court found that allowing the initiative to take effect would not violate the developers’ constitutional rights or constitutional principles, and that they had not demonstrated a substantial possibility of success on the merits of their challenge. Although the court acknowledged that the applicable law was uncertain, the court found that other factors would nonetheless be determinative, including because the developers would not suffer irreparable injury if the initiative took effect during the litigation and because the “paramount” public interest in participatory democracy would be adversely affected by an injunction. The court found that the economic harm to the developers, while “substantial,” would not outweigh this harm. Regarding arguments that failure to grant an injunction would have a negative climate impact, the court stated: “The question now is not whether climate change or direct construction poses a greater environmental threat; nor is the question what impact the Initiative will have on future economic investment in Maine. The question is whether, during the likely short lived litigation period, the harm from entering or refusing to enter a preliminary injunction will be worse.” The court concluded the balance of harm favored the defendants. The case is <a href="https://www.mainepublic.org/business-and-economy/2022-01-04/battle-over-cmp-transmission-corridor-goes-to-maine-supreme-court">now before</a> the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, in which it decides appeals on questions of law that arise in cases in the lower courts. Initial briefs from the initiative’s opponents are due February 28, 2022.