The developer of a $1-billion US electric transmission line is suspending construction at the request of Maine’s governor after she certified election results Friday in which residents firmly opposed the Hydro-Québec project.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills had urged New England Clean Energy Connect Transmission LLC (NECEC) to stop construction on the 233-kilometre project until legal challenges are resolved.

Thorn Dickinson, president and CEO of NECEC, said work will be temporarily halted until a judge rules on a request for a preliminary injunction in its lawsuit contending the referendum was unconstitutional.

The project would cut a new path down through northern Maine and increase Hydro-Québec’s energy exports to the U.S. by roughly one-third by connecting to an existing line on its way to Massachusetts.

It is projected to generate $10 billion US for Hydro-Québec over 20 years.

“This was not an easy decision. Suspending construction will require the layoff of more than 400 Mainers just as the holiday season begins,” Dickinson said in a statement Friday evening.

Mills supports the project but said she also supports “the rule of law that governs our society and the will of the people that informs it.”

Funded by Massachusetts ratepayers, the project would supply up to 1,200 megawatts of Canadian hydropower to the New England power grid. That’s enough electricity for one million homes.

Critics said the project is damaging the woods and changing the character of a part of western Maine with little if any benefit for its residents.

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