The "Risks" of PSNH Taking Private Land for ROW Acquisition and Expansion

 

On December 15, 2010, Northern Pass Transmission (NPT), PSNH's name for the HVDC line, submitted a transmission service agreement to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for approval. The document is 703 pages and includes a section titled "Prepared Direct Testimony and Exhibits of James A. Muntz,"  president of NPT (Exh. No. NPT-200, 38 pages). In his testimony, Muntz addresses PSNH's "risks," which affect costs and pricing, including the "risk" of taking privately-owned land by eminent domain for the transmission corridor. PSNH could take private land to expand an existing ROW or to create a new one:


In addition, the expansion of existing ROW, and the acquisition of

approximately 50 miles of new ROW may, as a last resort, trigger the need

to exercise the power of eminent domain in order to achieve that expansion

and acquisition. The need to exercise eminent domain authority, which

requires approval from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission, is

not something that is either lightly or easily pursued in any circumstance,
and may serve to trigger greater opposition to the project. (p. 27/310)

         

Additional delays in the already lengthy and complex process of

siting a line can result from public opposition where new ROW needs to be

acquired. If a negotiated settlement for property acquisition cannot be

reached, eminent domain proceedings may be necessary. In such

proceedings, NPT’s efforts to secure the ROW for the line may be

challenged, resulting in lengthy delays and increased costs. Successful

challenges can trigger an entirely new round of planning or, at least,

significant modifications to the line route. Should any modification to the

line route be made after permits are received, the project would have to re

open siting proceedings to resolve additional issues which will also result in

schedule delays. Public opposition can also lead to political or legislative

action such as protective designation of federal or state lands or rivers

resulting in regulatory barriers to proposed transmission corridors.

                                                                    (pp. 30-31/314-15)

  
Bury the Northern Pass is a group of concerned citizens in Grafton County; we work in solidarity with our neighbors to the north in Coos County. To join the email list, write to burynorthernpass@gmail.com

"Wrecking what little we have to benefit investors far below"

Excerpts from John Harrigan's "Woods, Water & Wildlife" column, Union Leader, Dec. 16, 2010, p. A11.



"I've been biding my time on this whole power line issue, figuring that I should just shut up and let other people have their say. And boy, have they. Never in my 63 years on the planet have I seen North Country friends and neighbors so indignant about an issue as the proposed gigantic power line to connect supposedly 'green' Quebec hydropower to the insatiable power-hungry masses to the south."

"How can such an abomination as this gigantic power line be actually considered?
Do the people who take such pleasure in carbon-trading and supposed 'sustainable' and 'green' anything, to reach their 25-percent whatever, not have a clue about the trade-off? . . . Do the 25-percent 'green' people have any clue about the price the Montagnais and the Naskapi and the Cree [Quebec First Nations tribes] paid for the supposedly 'green' power we're supposed to feel good about? . . . Who cares? Well, I've been there, and seen the price."

"We here in the North Country are at rope's end. . . .We have only the landscape left . . .until we can find a way of making things again. We look to leadership to do better things . . .than grin and pose about another shopping mall or snip a ribbon on a power line transit station in Franklin (are you reading this, Gov. John Lynch?)."

"This isn't a not-in-my-backyard issue. It is far beyond that. It's everyone's back yard, just as the gulf oil spill was and is everyone's back yard."

"What's this about? . . . In the end, it is about this spectacular region's beauty, heritage, and pride. How could anyone conceive of such an offense?"

The full column is in today's print issue of the Union Leader.

Bury the Northern Pass is a group of concerned citizens in Grafton County; we work in solidarity with our neighbors to the north in Coos County. To join our email list, write to BuryNorthernPass@gmail.com.

"No Positives--Unless You Live in Massachussetts": Press Coverage, 12/15/2010

Summaries of two front-page articles and an editorial, 12/15


"Northern Pass gets a grilling: need for project questioned. North country residents turn out for a meeting in Franconia." Lorna Colquhoun. Franconia. Front page, Union Leader, with a picture of speaker Alex Lee talking to the audience.

Summary: the question was not about the line's development, but whether it is needed at all. "Do we really need to bring this power into NH?" asked Alex Lee. "Hell, no," called out a man from the audience. "Quebec Hydro already has a line in Vermont and all that stuff about jobs is baloney," said John Harrigan of Colebrook, a longtime outdoor columnist for the New Hampshire Sunday News. He added that both power and money are going out of the region.


"Opposition builds against Northern Pass. Residents in Coos and Grafton Counties organize to stop powerline." Kayti Burt. North Country. Front page, Littleton Courier, with a picture of the powerline on the existing ROW on Kris Pastoriza's property.

Summary: "It's the people with less power being used by the people with more power," said Kris Pastoriza, who is involved with Bury the Northern Pass. "They have had two years to do their studies and hundreds of thousands of dollars. We had it all sprung on us." South of the Notch, Darlene King, who keeps in contact with Bury the Northern Pass, cites the negative impact on tourism and property values. Realtor Peter Powell of Lancaster says that some realtors have already had trouble showing properties that fall along the proposed route. David Van Houten of CCBA takes no stand but notes that nurturing a local biomass industry is made much more difficult by the possibility of Northern Pass. Valerie Herres notes that "a lot of smaller projects have pulled back." If the alternate routes were an attempt to pit towns against one another, it isn't working. Residents in Coos and Grafton county communities are coming together to work against the Northern Pass project.

Editorial: "Bury the Northern Pass."  Littleton Courier.

Summary: "It is hard to find a local person in favor [of the Northern Pass] and it is easy to see why. What benefit is there to the North Country? . . . . So far there are only negatives associated with this project and no positives put forward--unless you live in Massachussetts. We are still waiting for reasons for the North Country to support this--any reasons."

Bury the Northern Pass is a group of concerned citizens in Grafton County. We work in solidarity with our neighbors to the north in Coos County.

To join our email list, write to BuryNorthernPass@gmail.com