LOCATION/TYPE

NEWS HOME

[ exact phrase in "" • results by date ]

[ Google-powered • results by relevance ]


Archive
RSS

Add NWW headlines to your site (click here)

Get weekly updates

WHAT TO DO
when your community is targeted

RSS

RSS feeds and more

Keep Wind Watch online and independent!

Donate via Paypal

Donate via Stripe

Selected Documents

All Documents

Research Links

Alerts

Press Releases

FAQs

Campaign Material

Photos & Graphics

Videos

Allied Groups

Wind Watch is a registered educational charity, founded in 2005.

News Watch Home

Lawmakers back bill on renewable energy 

The New Hampshire House yesterday easily passed a requirement that New Hampshire power companies use more renewable resources in their electric generating plants.

By a 253-37 vote, it adopted House Bill 873. The bill requires the state to get nearly 25 percent of its energy by the year 2025 from renewables, like wind, solar, hydropower, geothermal and wood-fired sources.

Rep. James Garrity, R-Atkinson, said the bill is important to the state economy and to energy independence, even if it comes at a small cost.

“If this sticks a stick in the eye of the sheiks or crazy men in South America holding us hostage for oil, it’s worth it to me,” he said.

Garrity said the net effect on rates is expected to be between 33 cents and $1.24 per month for the average customer by 2025.

In a worst case, the added cost would range from 61 cent to $5.73 a month, he said.

Gov. John Lynch applauded the vote. He has made passage of the 25/25 standard a priority for his administration.

“Reaching that goal will give our state more energy choices, bolster our economy and make our air and water cleaner. It will help create jobs right here in New Hampshire by expanding uses for our wood products, in building clean power plants, and in research and development.” Bill sponsors told the House that a University of New Hampshire study predicts that the emphasis on renewable sources will create 1,100 jobs and have a $1 million impact on annual state revenue.

Prime sponsor Rep. Suzanne Harvey, D-Nashua, said the bill would create “a hedge against volatile energy costs and a reduction of greenhouse gases in our state.” New Hampshire is the only state in New England without a renewable energy policy, she said.

The bill requires all power companies to have Regional Energy Credits. They can either earn them by building their own renewable capacity or buy them from companies with renewable power plants, Harvey said.

Garrity said the bill has been in process for a year. Discussions leading to its passage encouraged two projects expected to deliver an economic boost to the North Country, he said. The Groveton Renewable Energy Park, including an ethanol production plant, and the Laidlaw Energy announcement of a wood-fired generator at the former paper mill site in Berlin can be traced to the state’s move toward renewable energy, Garrity said.

Rep. Gene Anderson, D-Lebanon, argued that the bill is a mistake that will feed the state’s appetite for energy.

“We don’t need renewable energy, we need a real effective conservation program, and I think then we’ll stop wasting,” he said.

Using compact fluorescent light bulbs would cut consumption by 10 percent, unplugging electronic devices could cut another 5 percent, he said.

By Tom Fahey
State House Bureau Chief

unionleader.com

6 April 2007

This article is the work of the source indicated. Any opinions expressed in it are not necessarily those of National Wind Watch.

The copyright of this article resides with the author or publisher indicated. As part of its noncommercial educational effort to present the environmental, social, scientific, and economic issues of large-scale wind power development to a global audience seeking such information, National Wind Watch endeavors to observe “fair use” as provided for in section 107 of U.S. Copyright Law and similar “fair dealing” provisions of the copyright laws of other nations. Send requests to excerpt, general inquiries, and comments via e-mail.

Wind Watch relies entirely
on User Funding
   Donate via Paypal
(via Paypal)
Donate via Stripe
(via Stripe)

Share:

e-mail X FB LI TG TG Share


News Watch Home

Get the Facts
CONTACT DONATE PRIVACY ABOUT SEARCH
© National Wind Watch, Inc.
Use of copyrighted material adheres to Fair Use.
"Wind Watch" is a registered trademark.

 Follow:

Wind Watch on X Wind Watch on Facebook

Wind Watch on Linked In Wind Watch on Mastodon