We have a right to protect our New Hampshire landscape
March 27, 2013 | www.seacoastonline.com
Are New Hampshire’s mountaintops being targeted by Massachusetts politicians? Are Massachusetts politicians trying to outsource their renewable tax credits through New Hampshire land? This raises a good question: Are these industrial wind plants around Newfound Lake nothing more than outsourced renewable tax credits for Massachusetts? Is Massachusetts renting New Hampshire mountaintops as a way to achieve their renewable energy quota set forth by the federal government? And, if true, New Hampshire will need to double its efforts in building even more industrial wind plants – because it too has a federal quota to achieve. Newfound Lake alone has one active industrial wind plant in Groton and three more applications for industrial wind power plants around the lake. Residents for and against these industrial wind power plants are now shaking their heads in disbelief and have mailed thousands of “enraged letters” to their elected officials. I don’t want to be thought of as an automatic naysayer, but where they infringe on our properties and views, we all have an obligation to be concerned. Are these projects intruding on our property rights due to the impact on property value and the fact that they remove happiness from our property?
When people hear about the Bill of Rights in New Hampshire, the first thing people think of is the U.S. Constitution. But did you know there’s another Bill of Rights contained in the N.H. Constitution? It governs life within our state. The second article of the New Hampshire Constitution reads: “All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights – among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state on account of race, creed, color, sex or national origin.”
I think the New Hampshire landscape needs protecting now more than ever! And I believe New Hampshire officials ought to try and be cognizant of their duty to protect landscape and property under threat.
Ray Cunningham
Bridgewater
URL to article: https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2013/03/27/we-have-a-right-to-protect-our-new-hampshire-landscape/