CONCORD, N.H. – An assistant attorney general representing the public will conduct five workshops from Concord to Colebrook in the coming weeks on the impact the Northern Pass energy project could have on places of scenic beauty or that have cultural or historic significance.

The first of the workshops will be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Ashland Elementary School auditorium.

Senior Assistant Attorney General Peter Roth says the workshops will open with presentations by experts hired by the state to provide evidence of the potential impact of the 192-mile transmission line.

Community members will then break into smaller groups and identify places and resources within 10 miles of the proposed transmission line that are important to them and their communities.

Roth said the structured workshops are designed to have people work together rather than give testimony or make comments in a more formal setting.

The state’s Site Evaluation Committee must consider that input in weighing whether to approve the project. Regulators in May pushed back their deadline for making that decision from December 2016 to Sept. 30, 2017, citing public interest. The project’s developer – Hartford, Connecticut-based Eversource – called that decision “disappointing.”

Eversource wants to run the transmission line from Pittsburg to Deerfield, carrying 1,090 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. Backers say it will create jobs and lower costs in a region that pays the nation’s highest average cost for electricity. Opponents have argued it will hurt property values, tourism and the environment.

Other workshops are scheduled on Thursday at The Heights Community Center in Concord; Monday, Aug. 1, at the Littleton Opera House in Littleton; Tuesday, Aug. 2, in the Colebrook Elementary School cafeteria; and Wednesday, Aug. 3, in the Lancaster Auditorium. All workshops begin at 6 p.m.


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