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“New Hampshire is Not Your Extension Cord:” Understanding Opposition to Transmission Lines in Northern New England.

Document Type

Article

Abstract

New England represents a critical arena for imagining the multiple scales and geographies of energy transition. To the south, the densely-populated states of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island power the regional political economy and increasingly aspire to expand their reliance on low-carbon energy sources. To the north, Hydro-Quebec, Canada’s largest hydropower producer, stands poised to increase its hydroelectric production and electricity exports to the northeastern United States as it envisions its future as North America’s “leading provider of clean energy.” Citizens of northern New England, however, have argued that this vision for regional energy transition leaves them the role of “extension cord.” This paper analyzes grassroots opposition to the Northern Pass project, a proposed high-capacity transmission line that would have increased imports of Quebecois hydroelectricity to southern New England. Drawing on interviews and from discourse and material analysis, this paper argues that opposition to Northern Pass was motivated by complex notions of stewardship, solidarity, resistance, and contestation that, rather than simply standing in the way of energy development, work to imagine more just futures for this transnational energy system at multiple scales obscured by accusations of NIMBYism, or the Not-In-My-Backyard movement.

Publication Title

Northeastern Geographer

Publication Date

2021

Volume

12

First Page

71

Last Page

91

ISSN

1948-5417

Keywords

transmission infrastructure, power lines, rural energy transition, NIMBYism, discourse analysis

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