🔒Energy firm seeks emergency court order to halt CT’s out-of-state biomass ban ahead of April 8 deadline

Hartree Partners Limited Partnership has asked a Hartford Superior Court judge to immediately halt enforcement of a state law that would strip its biomass plants of their renewable energy credentials. The move escalates a legal fight over a provision of Connecticut’s 2025 energy affordability act, which blocks 24 out-of-state biomass facilities — including Hartree’s four plants in Massachusetts and New Hampshire — from selling renewable energy credits in the state. The New York company filed an emergency request Thursday to pause the order, less than a week before the facilities are set to lose their Class I renewable energy certifications from the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority on April 8. The motion came just days after Hartree separately asked the court to reconsider its March 13 ruling, in which Hartford Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Stewart denied both sides’ motions for summary judgment. Hartree argues that a provision of Public Act 25-173, signed by Gov. Ned Lamont last July, unlawfully voids the company’s existing contracts to deliver roughly 595,000 renewable energy credits through 2027. Without a pause, the company said it would have to either default on its contracts or buy replacement credits on the open market at higher prices. The company has argued the law violates two provisions of the U.S. Constitution — the contracts clause, which bars states from impairing existing agreements, and the dormant commerce clause, which limits states from favoring in-state businesses over out-of-state competitors. Under the new law, nearly all biomass facilities are excluded from Connecticut’s renewable energy market except Plainfield Renewable Energy, a wood-fired plant that sells power to an Eversource subsidiary. PURA has argued Hartree should have anticipated the policy change and that the state has authority to reshape its clean energy program.