Agreed, but will you agree most of the difference in cost between similar geography are the burdens put in place by the people?
Oh, absolutely. The New England market is economically viable, but for the regulation and environmental litigation.
Correct, it is the people and government that create the problems of installing new infrastructure. Pipelines can be buried. Granite can be blasted through. However, what is hard to overcome is NIMBY(Not In My Back Yard).
There is still a sign on the road out to Plum Island, Mass. that says “NO EVACUATION”. It was put up in the 1980’s when the Seabrook, NH nuclear power plant was being proposed. Seabrook is about 10 miles away up the Atlantic coast into NH.
Today, the folks in Coos County NH up on the NH/Quebec border do not want the Northern Pass transmission line to “ruin their view”. They might end up burying part of the transmission line to get it passed.
Meanwhile, out in western Mass. we have idiots that do not want a natural gas pipeline BURRIED on their property, even though the gas company pays you to traverse it.
These are always the first idiots to complain when their power goes out in the next ice storm.