Annie Ropeik

Advocates in New Hampshire say they’re feeling a sense of relief -- and cautious optimism -- after President Joe Biden signed several executive orders Wednesday related to immigration and climate change.

 Escrito por Annie Ropeik y Sarah Gibson. Traducción de María Aguirre 

Activistas de justicia racial de New Hampshire dicen que la respuesta policial a la manifestación pro-Trump que se dio en el Capitolio nacional el pasado miércoles 6 de enero demostró un claro contraste a su propia experiencia con la policía durante sus protestas. 

Los grupos dijeron que habían más policías presentes en las protestas pacíficas que se dieron en New Hampshire el verano pasado como respuesta a los fallecimientos de personas Afro-americanas en manos de la policía. 

Homeowners who install modern wood heating systems can now get a new tax credit, under the federal omnibus bill passed late last year.

New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation supported the measure, which the state’s timber industry has wanted for years.

Racial justice activists in New Hampshire say the police response to Wednesday's insurrection by a pro-Trump mob at the U.S. Capitol was a stark contrast to their own experience with law enforcement at protests.

They said they saw more police presence at New Hampshire's peaceful protests this past summer in response to police killings of Black people.

Members of New Hampshire’s congressional delegation say they support growing efforts to remove President Trump from office, either by impeachment or use of the 25th Amendment, one day after he incited supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol and halt the certification of Joe Biden as president-elect.

State senators are working on a bill that would have New Hampshire spur the development of major offshore wind projects and other renewable energy in the region.

The bill comes from state Sen. David Watters, a Dover Democrat. He previewed it at a late-December meeting of a bipartisan Senate wind commission, and said the aim is to create new zero-carbon energy and bring jobs to the state.

A judge has granted bail to an inmate in Manchester’s Valley Street Jail who tested positive for COVID-19.

The New Year’s Eve order from Hillsborough County Superior Court grants home confinement to 37-year-old William Jones, under his mother’s supervision.

This past year was another of the hottest years on record in New Hampshire, as the warming trends of climate change continue -- faster in this region than many others, especially in winter. 

From January to November of 2020, New Hampshire saw its fourth-hottest average temperatures since the late 1800s, according to state climatologist and UNH associate professor Mary Stampone.

Portsmouth is the first community in the state to ban some single-use plastics as of Thursday, but the city’s new rules won’t be fully enforced just yet.

The city council voted last year to bar most restaurants and businesses from distributing polystyrene cups and containers, beginning at the end of 2020.

First responders in the Upper Valley rescued two women who fell through thin ice on Canaan Street Lake Wednesday morning. 

A police officer was checking a lock at the nearby beach house and had seen the women ice skating. Officials say the next time he looked, they were gone.

The women were in the water for about half an hour before rescuers from several local agencies pulled them out. They were treated at a local hospital for hypothermia and are expected to recover.

The state Public Utilities Commission says it needs more time to decide on the future of New Hampshire’s energy efficiency programs, meaning no immediate changes to residents’ utility bills.

A new study shows New Hampshire residents could save thousands of dollars a year by electrifying all of their energy uses – particularly their home heating systems.

Renewable energy advocates say they expect to be playing defense on perennial policy debates in next year’s Republican state Legislature.

A health-focused commission on reducing New Hampshire’s greenhouse gas emissions has finished its work with one recommendation: for the state Legislature to do more formal study of the issue next year.

A final plan is out to relicense three major hydropower dams on the Connecticut River between New Hampshire and Vermont – a big milestone in a years-long federal process.

Get NHPR's reporting about the environment and energy in your inbox - sign up for our newsletter today.

New Hampshire ski areas are reopening for winter with new safety precautions amid the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

Jessyca Keeler of Ski NH says a lot of slopes are instituting reservation systems for lifts and lodges, limiting capacity overall and putting in place socially distanced systems for getting on and off the mountain to prevent the spread of the virus.

NHPR’s new climate change reporting project, By Degrees, begins in the midst of a global pandemic, mass protests against systemic racism, a presidential transition and an economic crisis. 

The incoming Biden administration has promised to combat climate change, while New Hampshire lags behind its neighbors on similar legislation. In many ways, climate change has taken a backseat as governments deal with the social and economic costs of the coronavirus.

We need your help to tell new stories about how Granite Staters are experiencing climate change at this historic moment. How has climate change affected your life, and how have you responded? In what ways are you observing climate change in New Hampshire? What questions do you have?

Portsmouth is closer to postponing its first-in-the-state ban on certain single-use plastics, after the city council voted Monday to advance the proposed delay to a final reading later this month.

The new rules were set to take effect at the end of this year and would be the first municipal ban on plastics in New Hampshire, and one of a growing number in the country. 

The region’s recyclers are encouraging towns to cut costs during the economic downturn of COVID-19 by trying new ways of reusing their glass.

Reagan Bissonnette is executive director of the nonprofit Northeast Resource Recovery Association. She says it’s been a couple of years since the sudden closure of the region’s main facility, in Massachusetts, that recycled glass bottles and jars.

A new report finds that small-scale solar power saved New Hampshire residents and utilities at least $83 million over the past several years, out of $1.1 billion in savings across New England.

A plan for a new cell tower just outside the White Mountain National Forest, on land owned by Gov. Chris Sununu’s family, is getting criticism from some neighboring residents.

Citing pandemic-driven economic concerns, top Republican state lawmakers are asking the Public Utilities Commission to put off the adoption of more aggressive energy efficiency goals, currently set to take effect at the start of next year.

Leaders with New Hampshire Audubon say they found white supremacist vandalism at their Concord sanctuary last month.

The Environmental Protection Agency has finalized a new permit for a dozen communities around Great Bay, capping a years-long effort to control nitrogen pollution in the protected estuary.

The five-year permit takes an unusual approach to setting limits for each municipality’s output of nitrogen – a nutrient that’s overloading the bay, causing eel grass to die and severely degrading the ecosystem.

The state of Maine is proposing the country’s first floating offshore wind farm in federal waters off Northern New England.

They hope to win a federal research lease to build a dozen turbines over about 16 square miles. The project will generate 120 megawatts of power.

That's enough to power at least 75,000 homes. It's bigger than many onshore wind projects in the region, but far smaller than the typical full-scale offshore development. 

Permits are now available to harvest Christmas trees from the public lands of the White Mountain National Forest.

The permits are being sold online for the first time this year, and can also be picked up at forest offices in Campton, Conway and Gorham.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared a drought disaster across all 10 New Hampshire counties.

It comes as the drought worsens again in the Southeastern area of the state, surrounding Strafford County.