A Company Backed by This Mega Oligarch Helped Kill Clean Power in Maine
Natural gas giant Calpine, linked to post-Soviet billionaire Len Blavatnik, spearheaded efforts to stop a hydropower corridor from Canada to New England.
William Bredderman
Researcher
Published Mar. 09, 2022 4:53AM ET
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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s savage assault on Ukraine has shocked the world, galvanized global democracies, and sent fuel prices surging.
But months before Kremlin troops poured into the country, a company tied to one of the regime’s erstwhile elite allies fought and won a major battle in the Maine woods. And the outcome of that saga will have its own ramifications for the future of the world and its energy supply.
A mere 412,086 residents of the Pine Tree State—less than 38 percent of the eligible electorate—voted in the November referendum that decided the fate of the New England Clean Energy Connect (NECEC) project. The scheme would have linked the Maine and Massachusetts electrical grids with 1200 megawatts of renewable hydroelectricity from Quebec. The 243,943 people who voted against construction of the 145-mile transmission line did so against the wishes not only of Gov. Janet Mills, but of Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, who tweeted just days before the plebiscite about the benefits the already-underway venture would deliver to the environment and the economy.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/len-blavatnik-and-his-access-industries-are-shareholders-of-calpine-which-helped-kill-clean-energy-in-maine
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