Canadian hydropower for New England? Awash in promises, as promise dries up.

• Position: CLEAN ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE

With several proposals on the table to boost imports of large-scale Canadian hydropower to New England, CLF has been pushing for increased scrutiny of the environmental and economic risks of this supposedly clean power. CLF's early analyses have upset conventional thinking about "big hydro," and show why new imports only make sense if they wilt help power--and not derail--New England's transition to a clean energy future.

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Advocates of large-scale hydropower often say or assume that it is emissions free. So deeply ingrained is the perception that hydropower is "green" that Massachusetts, in its Clean Energy and Climate Plan for 2020, stakes more than a fifth of its ambitious goal to reduce carbon emissions on reductions promised by the developer of Northern Pass--a proposed 180-mile line through New Hampshire to deliver into New England 1,200 megawatts of electricity generated by Hydro-Quebec at massive hydropower facilities. Massachusetts's plan relies on a 2010 study commissioned by Northern Pass's developer which simply assumes--without citation or support--that Hydro-Quebec power is "zero-carbon."

CLF put the hype to the test, with the help of Synapse Energy Economics. Synapse's analysis of the most recent science shows that large hydropower is not "zero-carbon." In fact, all large hydropower facilities emit greenhouse gases, and new reservoirs have emissions on par with modern natural gas-fired power plants. This means that if hydro imports made possible by new hydropower projects in Canada end up displacing power from natural gas plants--as the Northern Pass project is proposing--imports would do little to reduce carbon emissions, especially in the short-term.

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Synapse also pointed out another risk--if Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) programs in states across New England allowed Canadian hydropower to qualify as renewable energy, imports from Northern Pass and other projects of its size would swamp the market, taking up 45% of the region's mandate for renewable power and thereby undermining the viability of new renewable development in New England.

Together with Synapse, CLF is proving that imports of large-scale Canadian hydropower are not a short-term panacea to our climate problems and should not be allowed to drown out local renewable projects. But increasing imports isn't an inherently bad idea--under the right conditions. New hydropower imports could be part of the region's climate...