Tag Archives: Hydro-Quebec

Apr 26 2015
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Protecting our Environment, Public Health

Updates from Bury Northern Pass

Sign from angry New Hampshire resident during an anti-Northern Pass action.

We will post the newsletter that Bury Northern Pass releases, as soon as we can every time we receive it.  While we do not  support the idea of burying the lines for Northern Pass; we’d prefer that southern New England states produce their own power as they need it, see our analysis of Northern Pass. That being said, the Bury Northern Pass group does very important and thorough work in watching the players in this continuing issue and informing the public.  We thank them for their hard work and encourage everyone to stay on top of this real threat to the New Hampshire way of life.

Here is the newest issue from April 26:

The Most Important NH Conservation Campaign Since the Creation of the WMNF
and Saving Franconia Notch a Century Ago
Leave Your Legacy to NH – A Landscape Unscarred by 2300 Steel Towers Up to 155′ Tall from Pittsburg to Deerfield
Please Donate Now to the Forest Society’s “Trees Not Towers” Legal Defense Fund to Bury the Northern Pass

Coming up this week

Tuesday, April 28: 4:15 PM: City of Concord Northern Pass subcommittee meeting – “public to be heard.”

Thursday, April 30: Senate floor vote on HB 192 (utility property tax) scheduled. (*Double check floor date before traveling to attend*)
HB 192 would prevent utilities from using a single cut-rate valuation method (depreciation) to abate their property taxes. This is relevant to how much property tax Northern Pass, if built, would actually pay.

Audio of March 24th testimony by bill sponsors, attorney for NHEC, NH Municipal Assoc., etc: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/senateaudio/committees/2015/wm/HB0192_03242015.asx

News report by Robert Blechl, for the Caledonian Record, 4/25: New Hampshire Utility Bills Head Toward Votes

April 29-May 4: Ever$ource Q1 investor call (estimated date)

May 6-7. Open House/SEC Info meetings in Londonderry and Hudson for MVRP (above ground line in NH, buried in MA).

Link to the PR tell-all Northern Pass doesn’t want you to read: “Case Study: Northern Pass”

This past week’s news in review

Seacoast residents revolt against E$ plan for above-ground lines, E$ downgraded by financial giant UBS, NP lashes out at opposition, and more.

1. In downgrade of E$ stock, UBS cites Northern Pass delay.

2. Newington and Durham revolt against E$’s plans for an overhead “Seacoast Pass” (aka Seacoast Reliability Project).  Newington’s lawyer says town won’t support project unless it’s buried.

More from Seacoast Online and Union Leader

Durham Residents Voice Concerns Over Eversource Project
Newington Residents Air Concerns Over 13 Mile Transmission Line
Durham Objects to Power Towers

3. Coos County biz group opens Northern Pass jobs funding program
More from NHPR: Northern Pass Funds Available for Coos Businesses

4. Forest Society Blasts Foundation National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for Northern Pass Partnership, report by Robert Blechl

5. Goliath not a happy camper this week: Northern Pass lashes out at opposition in PR offensive. In the wake of the revelation about the PR agency, Saint Consulting Group, lampooned as “fooling the politicians since 1983,”  and its claimed ties to Northern Pass and of the UBS stock downgrade, the project went on a PR rampage this week to change the channel.

Project flacks who usually stay in the shadows surfaced on Twitter – e.g., Scott Tranchemontagne (Montagne Communications), Erik W. Taylor (Elevare Communications), Scott Spradling, Rich Killion — and, phrased in euphemisms of “concern” and “disappointment,” project spox Murray and Collins attacked the Conservation Media Group’s Concord video, The Power of Place and whatever else they could think of to target.

Anti-Northern Pass Video Targets Concord, Concord Monitor
Northern Pass Opposition Video Lacks Credibility, Fosters.com
Tiny Section of Proposed Route Sparking Latest Verbal Sparring About Northern Pass, Union Leader
Northern Pass Cries”Foul” Over Opponent’s New Video, NHPR

6. New England Governors’s private tete-a-tete on energy, infrastructure.  [Mass. Gov.] Baker not bullish on Northern Pass, NH not bullish on sharing bill for southern New England energy wants.

Governors Renew Commitment to Reg’l Energy Solution, Nashoba Publishing

7. Buried Champlain Hudson line receives final, ACOE permit, moves on to funding negotiations with Hydro Quebec

Hudson-Champlain Powerline Gets Ok to Build, Poughkeepsie Journal
Quebec Energy Minister says “we are negotiating [with ChHud] at this current moment” , E&ETV

8. Hydro Quebec Phase 2 line goes on unexplained spring vacation, raises prices in New England. How’s this for a secure, reliable source of energy? It’s not even winter.

Boston Power Rises 4th Day This Week as Demand Tops Forecasts

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Dec 13 2012
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NH Politics, Protecting our Environment, Public Health

Clueless Chambers of Commerce in Nashua and Manchester Don’t Support Their Communities or People

powerlines in hondurass reported below by a writer to of a letter to the editor, the Chambers of Commerce of the two largest cities in New Hampshire have come out in support of Northern Pass.  Even though its commonly known that not one town or city in New Hampshire will benefit from the raping of the White Mountains, clueless lackeys to the power companies vote their own interests above those of the community.

Manchester and Nashua CofC endorsements: Wave as the power goes by your cities
December 5, 2012
Nashua Telegraph
Chambers criticized over Northern Pass
 Letter to the Editor
Two southern New Hampshire chambers of commerce have endorsed the proposed Northern Pass project, disregarding the protests of their fellow residents to the north, where the project would be most visible and have enormous environmental and economic consequences.
The Manchester and Nashua chambers have endorsed Northern Pass because they are enthusiastic about lower electricity rates for businesses, and green and renewable electricity. They, unfortunately, listened to Public Service of New Hampshire’s marketing claims, which are pure fantasy.
Any cost benefit from Northern Pass only would go to ratepayers outside New Hampshire that get their power from the regional electric markets. In New Hampshire, PSNH customers would see little benefit because their energy rates are tied to propping up PSNH’s inefficient coal- and oil-fired power plants.
Is Northern Pass green, renewable energy? Northern Pass electricity would be provided primarily from industrial hydro-electricity in northern Quebec. No environmental agency inside or outside of New Hampshire endorses large hydro as green or renewable.
The purported 1,200 jobs PSNH promised? That claim was debunked in a report by the New England Power Generators Association.
So why have these two chambers been so willing to throw the residents and businesses of the North Country under the bus by endorsing a project that disproportionately would harm the north so that those in the southern tier would reap these bogus benefits?
Could it have anything to do with how many PSNH top executives sit on their boards?
Julie Moran

 

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