On July 27, the CEO of Avangrid told financial analysts that his company was preparing to resume work on the Massachusetts-financed transmission line carrying hydroelectricity from Quebec into New England.

From his remarks, it was clear that Pedro Azagra green-lighted construction because of the willingness of House and Senate lawmakers in Massachusetts to support efforts to tweak the company’s contract with the state’s three utilities. Both branches had included provisions in spending bills that would allow state regulators to adjust the contract terms to offset rising costs caused by legal and regulatory delays associated with the project in Maine.

Azagra said the cost of the project had increased to $1.5 billion, up from earlier estimates of $1 billion. So, theoretically, the provision being considered in the Legislature could have been worth as much as $500 million to Avangrid.

But four days later the House and Senate passed a pared-down spending bill that left out the provision Avangrid had been counting on. It left the energy company in the awkward position of resuming construction on the project with no guarantees it would recover the money it was spending.

Several state lawmakers said they believe the provision will eventually be approved, but they were unable to say when. They also had no good explanation for why it failed to pass on July 31.

Avangrid declined comment.

The snafu is another example of how a Legislature dominated by Democrats often makes decisions that make little sense to outsiders.

New England Clean Energy Connect is a joint venture of Hydro-Quebec and Avangrid, with Hydro-Quebec supplying the hydroelectricity and Avangrid building the transmission line carrying the power from the Canadian border to Lewiston, Maine, where it would feed into the regional power grid.

The project is a key part of a bid by Massachusetts to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels and meet carbon emission goals. Construction of the transmission line halted in 2021, when voters in Maine passed a law retroactively shutting down the project.

Avangrid went to court to challenge the legality of the referendum and scored a series of legal victories, including a Supreme Judicial Court ruling in August 2022 declaring the voter-approved law unconstitutional. After other issues were resolved, the Maine Department of Environmental Protection said in May that Avangrid could resume construction, but by then the company had a contract for a $1 billion project that had ballooned in cost during the delay to $1.5 billion.

The Healey administration urged lawmakers to pass a law allowing Avangrid to recover from utility ratepayers the extra costs associated with the delays caused by the referendum and the legal challenges, and both the House and Senate included similar but not identical one-paragraph provisions to accomplish that in so-called supplemental spending bills. The total cost of the House bill was $693 million; the Senate bill came in at $513 million.

Instead of finding common ground – which has been difficult this year on  Beacon Hill – the House and Senate on July 31 adopted a new, pared-down supplemental spending bill that included $180 million for hospitals, $20 million for Massachusetts farmers, and a measure allowing horse racing simulcasts to continue.

No action was taken on the Avangrid measure as the Legislature recessed for August.

Lawmakers in both branches say they believe the Avangrid measure will eventually be approved, but the lack of action before the August recess reportedly left higher-ups at Avangrid puzzled and fuming.

Rep. Jeffrey Roy of Franklin, the House chair of the Legislature’s Telecommunications, Utilities, and Energy Committee, said the issue is going to be addressed. “The supp is still in the works,” he said. “I know that it’s still alive.”

BRUCE MOHL

FROM COMMONWEALTH

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Existential challenges: Paul A. Hattis of the Lown Institute says Tufts Medicine is facing existential challenges, some of its own making. Read more.

 

FROM AROUND THE WEB                        

 

BEACON HILL

The battle over ride-share drivers’ work status is back in full force, with dual pushes to unionize drivers and enshrine them as independent contractors. (Worcester Telegram)

MUNICIPAL MATTERS

Methuen Mayor Neil Perry says the city is prepared to appeal a decision that would reinstate fired police captain Gregory Gallant for crafting a contract to inflate the salaries of superior offices to as much as $440,000 a year. (Eagle-Tribune)

The Quality Inn & Suites in Worcester was purchased for $10.8 million, set to become 90 units of affordable housing for homeless people. (Worcester Telegram)

WASHINGTON/NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL

President Biden is preparing to declare close to a million acres near the Grand Canyon a national monument to prevent uranium mining there. (New York Times)

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

Worcester’s regional airport has rebounded to pre-Covid levels, after the region’s second largest airport was shuttered for 10 months during the pandemic. (MassLive)

Donors pour in to help with Maschusetts flood recovery in agricultural areas. (Worcester Telegram)

The Boston Globe’s Sean Murphy reports on a North Reading man who bought a $75,000 truck whose check engine light came on and neither his dealer nor the manufacturer know how to get it turned off. Because the check engine light is on, his vehicle failed to pass state inspection and may soon have to sit idle in his driveway.

ARTS/CULTURE

After the pandemic closed the Iron Horse Music Hall, the Calvin Theatre and Pearl Street Nightclub, their owner has less than two months to reopen the venues before he loses liquor licenses for the businesses. (MassLive)

TRANSPORTATION

The Boston Globe editorial page, citing a CommonWealth story, demands more information on how the Healey administration has reset expectations on production of new Red and Orange line cars at a Springfield plant owned by a Chinese company.

ENERGY/ENVIRONMENT

Eversource withdraws from the American Gas Association to focus more on decarbonization efforts. (WBUR)

Like many communities across the state, the town of Windsor has been waiting a long time –  since March 2022 – for the state Department of Public Utilities to approve a municipal electricity aggregation plan. The DPU says its working on the backlog. (Berkshire Eagle)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE/COURTS

A Black musician sues the Patriot Front in connection with what he alleges was an attack on him. He says his lawsuit is designed to bankrupt the White supremacist organization. (Boston Globe)

A man accused of killing three people in Newton – a couple celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary and the woman’s 97-year-old mother –is declared mentally incompetent to stand trial. (WBUR)

MEDIA

Northeastern journalism professor Dan Kennedy makes clear where he stands. (Media Nation)