August 9, 2013

Forest Society Tells Northern Pass "Hey, We Own That"

As reported in the Union Leader here, the Forest Society maintains that its Washburn Family Forest in Clarksville, NH, includes land not only on both sides of Route 3, but also underneath the road and half of the Connecticut River. Northern Pass's latest route proposes to bury transmission line underneath the river as well as the road in order to facilitate use of property they own abutting the Forest Society land.

"We own the dirt," said Jack Savage, vp of communications for the Forest Society. "In this specific case, the State of NH Dept of Transportation does not hold fee ownership of the underlying land. In order for Northern Pass to make use of our land, they would need to use some form of eminent domain or have our permission."

Chris Jensen of NHPR reports on the issue here.