Two years ago, Republicans dominated New Hampshire’s elections at every level, winning races for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, taking complete control of New Hampshire’s Executive Council, and locking up strong majorities in the state legislature.  On Tuesday, the political pendulum swung back in a way that is likely to end some unfortunate politics that have dominated the last two years, and to advance needed efforts to protect the health of New Hampshire’s environment and communities.

Democrat Maggie Hassan won the race for governor; Democrats Anne McLane Kuster  and Carol Shea-Porter won seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, making New Hampshire the first state in the Union to have an all-female Congressional delegation; the Executive Council shifted to a 3-to-2 Democratic majority; and Democrats reclaimed a majority in New Hampshire’s 400-seat House of Representatives and nearly drew even in the Senate.  (To learn more about changes in the state legislature, click here and here.)

So, what do these changes mean for the environment and the issues CLF is tackling in New Hampshire?

Clean Energy & Climate Change: At the state level, the last two years have been marked by aggressive efforts in the legislature to end New Hampshire’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or “RGGI,” and to preclude New Hampshire from participating in region-wide efforts to adopt clean-fuel standards aimed at reducing global warming pollution.  Governor-elect Hassan has made no secret of her support for RGGI, and a more balanced legislature should put an end to the sort of extreme, anti-science/anti-climate-change ideology that distracted the legislature – particularly NH’s House – over the past two years.  At the federal level, where Representative Charlie Bass has acknowledged the need for action on climate change and has on many occasions cast votes in support of renewable energy and protecting air quality, Representatives-elect Kuster and Shea-Porter will be allies in the effort to address the threats of global warming and to build a clean energy economy. (Click here to read about the recent Bass – Kuster debate and the candidates’ discussion of climate change.)

Northern Pass: Senators Shaheen and Ayotte, and Representative Bass, have continued to be proponents of a fair permitting process in the controversial Northern Pass project. We’ll be working hard to engage Representatives-elect Kuster and Shea-Porter and Governor-elect Hassan to build an even stronger voice for a fair permitting process – one that protects New Hampshire’s environment and secures a clean energy future for the Granite State.

Great Bay: In the past two years, Representative Frank Guinta has worked to undermine efforts to solve water pollution problems in the Great Bay estuary, going so far as to introduce legislation aimed at preventing EPA from issuing new permits to reduce nitrogen discharges, and politicizing the issue of nitrogen pollution – and EPA needed action – in a Congressional “field hearing” in Exeter. Representative-elect Shea-Porter, who has met with Great Bay stakeholders in the past, will provide a needed respite from such political theater.

The Capitol Corridor Rail Project: This year, New Hampshire’s Executive Council voted 3-2 (with Councilors Ray Burton and Ray Wieczorak in the minority) against receiving federal funds to study the re-establishment of train service from Boston to Concord, via Nashua and Manchester. Fortunately, the opportunity to accept these needed federal funds has not yet disappeared. The election of Debora Pignatelli, Chris Pappas and Colin Van Ostern – each of whom has been highly critical of the Executive Council’s vote to reject these funds – signals a bright future for getting the Capitol Corridor rail project back on track.

Majora Carter Photo: James Burling Chase

We’re thrilled to be co-sponsoring Majora Carter’s public presentation “Home(town) Security” on Wednesday, May 9, at 7:00 p.m. in Concord, New Hampshire.  A pioneer of sustainability in the South Bronx, Majora has been a champion of identifying and implementing creative local solutions to make communities healthy, vibrant places for all people. Majora founded Sustainable South Bronx in 2001, introducing green solutions to build healthier, more sustainable communities with creative solutions like greenbelts, rooftop gardens and bike paths.  Her work earned her a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (“Genius Award”) in 2005. Since 2008, Majora’s consulting company has exported climate adaptation, urban micro-AgriBusiness and leadership development strategies for business, government, foundations, universities and economically under-performing communities.  Majora hosts the Peabody Award winning public-radio series “The Promised Land.”

Come learn about the inspiring story of Majora’s work as an “eco-entrepreneur,” using local solutions to create green, local jobs that make communities more resilient.  The event is free, but please register at www.nhplanners.org.

When: Wednesday, May 9, 2012, 7:00 p.m.

Where: Grappone Conference Center, 70 Constitution Ave, Concord, NH

Credit: Cynthia Irwin

Yesterday, the Environmental Protection Agency took an important step in putting New Hampshire’s Great Bay estuary on the path to recovery.  As a direct result of CLF’s advocacy, EPA issued a draft Clean Water Act discharge permit for the Exeter sewage treatment plant requiring — for the first time — nitrogen pollution limits.

Exeter’s facility — one of the largest sewage treatment plants in New Hampshire’s Seacoast — discharges directly into the Squamscott River, which flows downstream into Great Bay.  As EPA’s fact sheet for the draft permit explains, EPA began the re-permitting process for the Exeter plant in 2007.  Noting significant pollution problems in the Squamscott River and Great Bay, CLF objected to the 2007 draft permit for its failure to regulate nitrogen.  Based on those concerns, as well as further data showing the estuary’s decline – including the loss of essential seagrass habitat — EPA’s draft permit now proposes much-needed discharge limits to control nitrogen pollution from the Exeter sewage treatment plant.

Finally controlling nitrogen pollution from this significant discharge will be essential to protecting the health of the Squamscott River, which has experienced excessive levels of chlorophyll-a, depressed levels of oxygen, and the loss of important eelgrass habitat.   It also will help tackle nitrogen pollution problems in Great Bay.  But as EPA and the Department of Environmental Services know, reducing pollution from stormwater and other sewage treatment plants will be critical for the health of the Great Bay estuary.  Of the 18 sewage treatment plants discharging into the estuary, not one has a nitrogen pollution limit.  Exeter’s will be the first, and it’s an important step in the right direction.

EPA’s draft permit will be finalized after a public comment period which expires July 22.  A public hearing on the draft permit is scheduled for June 9 (6:30 p.m. at Exeter Town Hall).  You can help secure needed protections for the Squamscott River and Great Bay by weighing in!

Among the many questions CLF is asking about Northern Pass — the 180-mile transmission line proposed to transport 1,200 megawatts of hydro-generated power from HydroQuebec into New England — is what the project would mean for the development of local renewable energy in New Hampshire and New England.  With the recent introduction of HB 302 in the New Hampshire legislature — to be heard by the House Science, Technology & Energy Committee on February 8 — we soon may learn at least part of the answer to that question.

In 2007, New Hampshire passed its Renewable Portfolio Standards statute, or “RPS” — an important law to encourage the development of low-emission renewable energy sources in New Hampshire and New England.  The law requires that by 2025  nearly 25 percent of the electricity to be provided in New Hampshire must be generated by qualifying low-emission renewable sources — sources such as wind and small-scale hydro.

HB 302 seeks to change this important law by allowing large-scale hydropower — including large-scale hydropower from outside the region – to qualify as renewable.  Clearly intended to tilt the playing field in favor of the Northern Pass, HB 302 will greatly undermine one of the core purposes of New Hampshire’s RPS law: the stimulation of investment in renewable energy technologies in New England and, in particular, in New Hampshire.

The Northern Pass project developers have repeatedly claimed that they do not need and will not seek to change New Hampshire’s RPS law to benefit their project.  We intend to hold them to those claims.  The development of local renewable energy in New England is essential to building a clean energy economy for the region.  Join us in supporting a clean energy future for New Hampshire and New England by contacting members of the House Science, Technology & Environment Committee and voicing your opposition to HB 302.

Credit: BMRR

It’s unfortunate that days after the State of the Union Address, in which President Obama emphasized the value of building a high speed rail network for the nation, New Hampshire’s legislature will be considering a bill that could send the Granite State off the rails.  On Tuesday, February 1, the NH House of Representatives’ Transportation Committee will hold a hearing on H.B. 218, which proposes to eliminate the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority — the body responsible for advancing the state’s much-needed passenger rail efforts.

The legislation, if enacted, couldn’t send a worse message.  At a time when the federal government is working to reverse decades of neglect for the nation’s rail system, and when other New England states are actively planning and investing in rail expansions and upgrades, New Hampshire stands to miss out on the many benefits of rail — jobs, sustainable economic development, cleaner air, less traffic congestion, and more affordable transportation options.

The New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority is making important progress on the NH Capitol Corridor rail project — a new rail service that would connect Concord, Manchester, Nashua and Boston with one another, and with the Manchester-Boston Regional Airport.  New Hampshire should be supporting the work of the Rail Transit Authority, not seeking its elimination.

Help send a message to the New Hampshire legislature that NH citizens, and New Englanders who visit New Hampshire, want rail as part of a clean and balanced transportation system.  Call your New Hampshire representative, or members of the Transportation Committee, and urge them to support rail, and the NH Rail Transit Authority, by voting against HB 218.  Let’s keep New Hampshire on track!

In his op-ed published yesterday in the Keene Sentinel, Bob King of Keene (and of CLF’s New Hampshire State Board) reminds readers of comments by British Petroleum’s CEO describing the Deepwater Horizon’s blow-out preventer as having been engineered to be “fail-safe.”  

With the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history continuing to unravel before our eyes, it’s more clear than ever that blithe acceptance of ”fail-safe” engineering promises is not an option.

It’s not an option in offshore drilling operations, and it’s not an option in the regulation and operation of nuclear power plants like Vermont Yankee. 

The Keene Sentinel got it right in its June 2 editorial: when it comes to the aging Vermont Yankee nuclear plant, we should all be concerned with the sort of regulatory coziness exposed not only by the Gulf Oil crisis, but also by the April coal mining accident in West Virginia. 

It’s time to move away from the false promise of “fail-safe” engineering and to recognize the human and environmental risks associated with aging nuclear plants like Vermont Yankee. It’s time to move toward a new, clean-energy economy, and it’s time for New England to lead.

Want to talk about Vermont Yankee?

Join me and other CLF staff at the River Garden in Brattleboro, VT on Thursday, June 10 from 6-8 PM for a community gathering and Q&A on Vermont Yankee.   See event details.