Environment

Maine Town Wants EPA To Stop Border-Crossing Pollution

Sam Evans-Brown — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 21:39:44 +0000

Residents in the border town of Elliot, Maine have voted to ask the EPA to test air quality downwind of a Portsmouth power plant. Eliot is just across the river from Schiller Station, a three-boiler plant run by Public Service of New Hampshire. Two of its boilers burn mostly coal, and a third burns primarily wood chips.

Gulf Of Maine At High Risk From Ocean Acidification

Sam Evans-Brown — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 09:30:00 +0000

Saturday was World Ocean Day. Coastal and Marine scientists used the occasion to highlight their growing concern over Ocean Acidification, and it’s impacts on New Hampshire.

With Lower Caps Announced, RGGI Carbon Prices Climb

Sam Evans-Brown — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 20:57:12 +0000

The price of carbon under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative or RGGI is on the rise. For some time the cost that a New England Power plant has paid for the right to emit a ton of carbon dioxide was bumping along near the floor price of $1.98.

Senate Sends Lower RGGI Cap To Governor

Sam Evans-Brown — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:36:48 +0000

New Hampshire’s Senate has joined the House of Representatives and voted to ratchet down the cap on carbon dioxide restrictions under the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI. Because of the historic rise of cleaner burning natural gas, it’s been easy for carbon dioxide RGGI’s existing caps. So earlier this year, the RGGI board asked the member states to lower those caps by 45 percent.

Lead Fishing Tackle Ban Charges Through N.H. House

Sam Evans-Brown — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:24:30 +0000

The New Hampshire House of Representatives has voted to ban lead fishing jigs or sinkers that weigh less than an ounce.

New Study: Lawn Fertilizer, Septic Tanks Big Contributors To Great Bay Pollution

Sam Evans-Brown — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:00:46 +0000

The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services has released a draft of a major study trying to pin down the sources of nitrogen pollution in the Great Bay Estuary. The results offer some insight, but few easy solutions.

Fiddleheads: Tasty Forest Secrets

Sam Evans-Brown — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:49:24 +0000

Fiddleheads are the whimsical, tightly coiled spiral of fern sprouts that push their way up from under the layers of winter debris on the forest floor. They are also a regional and seasonal delicacy, and their season is incredibly short. In some Southern parts of the state, it may already be over. For any given fiddlehead patch, it can last as little as a week and a half.

That means for those who harvest the sprouts, fiddlehead patches are closely guarded secrets.

Hassan to Malloy: Hydro Doesn't Need Support

Sam Evans-Brown — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:58:47 +0000

Governor Maggie Hassan has sent a letter to the governor of Connecticut, Democrat Dannel Malloy, asking him to reject changes to that state’s renewable energy laws, called the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). The changes are seen as a boost to the controversial Northern Pass Transmission line.

The Governor Hassan’s letter says the Connecticut proposal that would allow hydro to be counted toward that state’s renewable energy goals quote, “undermines our common goal of fostering new and small-scale renewable resources here in New England.”

Connecticut Law Could Be Good For Northern Pass, Bad For N.H. Biomass

Sam Evans-Brown — Fri, 03 May 2013 01:25:13 +0000

Lawmakers in Connecticut are working to review and revamp the rules that encourage renewable electricity generation. And the changes as proposed could be good news for Canadian hydropower, and bad news New

Hampshire Biomass.

Democrat Bob Duff chairs the Energy and Technology Committee in the Connecticut State Senate. He’s also a sponsor of a controversial bill on renewable energy.

Stabilizing The Suncook: Pacifying A River Run Amok

Sam Evans-Brown — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 19:28:54 +0000

Since 2006 the Suncook River has been on a different course: it jumped its bank in the Mother’s Day flood, and the state has been trying to stabilize it ever since. Now as part of a recent fine for filling wetlands, a gravel company will give the project 8,000 tons of stone for the project. But this is only part of a continuing effort to live next to a changing river.

Invasive Beetle Survey Finds Infestation Along Merrimack River

Sam Evans-Brown — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:23:53 +0000

A survey is now underway in Concord, to determine how far an infestation of invasive beetles has spread. The Emerald Ash Borer has been detected in trees up and down the Merrimack River in Concord. But so far the survey has not found any of the pests outside of a six-mile radius of the city.

There are 25 million ash trees in New Hampshire, found mostly in western and Northern counties. They make up about 6 percent of the state’s forests. But so far, the beetle that has decimated forests in the Midwest, has only been discovered in and around Concord

As Water Infrastructure Ages And Funds Dry Up, Towns Struggle To Keep Up

Sam Evans-Brown — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:30:00 +0000

Folks working in the world of water infrastructure have a joke: if all of those pipes, and storm-drains, and treatment plants were fire trucks, they’d be kept shiny and new. But instead much of that is buried underground, or kept out of sight in industrial parks, and often out of mind. So instead, tax and sewer rate-payers don’t worry about it until it breaks. And when it breaks you’ll know about it: sinkholes in streets, and backed up sewage aren’t pretty.

Prospects Good For Tighter Lead Laws

Sam Evans-Brown — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 18:24:25 +0000

People who work to protect loons think that this year the stars could be aligned for passing a bill that would tighten restrictions on lead fishing tackle. The proposed bill would ratchet up restrictions on lead fishing jigs in 2015.

ExxonMobil Found Liable In N.H. Pollution Trial

Sam Evans-Brown — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:19:30 +0000

A jury in New Hampshire has ruled that Exxon-Mobile must pay the state $236 million dollars to help clean groundwater contaminated with a gasoline additive known as MTBE. But the monetary award is by no means a done deal.

In a little state like New Hampshire, $236 million is nothing to sneeze at.

Delaney: This is the largest verdict obtained by the state of New Hampshire in the history of the state.

That’s attorney General Mike Delaney announcing the verdict to reporters.

Rising Tides In Seabrook: Is the Nuclear Station Ready For Higher Seas?

Sam Evans-Brown — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:15:00 +0000

The Sea is rising. Satellite measurements have found that globally the seas are coming up about 1.2 inches per decade; a rate that has increased by 50% since before the 1990s. On New Hampshire’s seacoast, there’s a lot of vulnerable infrastructure, the most obvious of which is Seabrook Nuclear power station.

Seabrook station sits in a salt-marsh, more than two miles from the open ocean. It’s nestled behind Seabrook and Hampton beaches, and you can see the buildings of the strip in the distance.