DOE Hearing Comments, Concord, NH

Concord Scoping Hearing Comments

Colin Novick, Massachusetts resident

My name is Colin Novick. I am not an abutter. My position is not based on personal financial impacts.

 I am from Massachusetts. My parents brought me to New Hampshire annually. I return to New Hampshire annually. Now I bring my children here. I proposed to my wife on a New Hampshire mountain summit, and I drove 2 hours to be here to speak tonight.

This project supposedly benefits Southern New England. As a resident of Southern New England I am here to speak out in opposition to the Northern Pass. I do not want this project or this electricity. We Southern New Englanders come to New Hampshire for the beauty.

 The Department of Energy Presidential Permit requires the determination of the Public Good.

Where is the Public Good?

This is a private project, to generate private profits, benefiting private investors. All of the costs for this private good are borne by the public. Property owners pay. The Tourism Industry pays. Environmental habitats are compromised. The Citizens of the United States, through our collective beloved White Mountain National Forest, pay.

This is not a Public Good, but is a private benefit that the public pays for.

 I buy 100% renewable energy for my house and for my business. Industrial hydroelectric production is NOT considered a renewable energy source. I speak as a consumer. This is not green energy. The market does not view it as green energy.

 Moreover, in terms of energy production this project is of the past. Energy production is going to be decentralized in the future with power production generated in smaller amounts from within the grid. The future of energy production is a Smart Grid, with small scale wind, and solar, and biomass which is locally produced, more resilient, and more secure. This is a project of the past. We should not be building a project of the past for the future.

 Thank you very much.

Paula Bedard - Goffstown, NH (vacation property owner in Thornton, NH, along ROW, Rt 175)

My husband and I  oppose the Northern Pass Transmission project for the following reasons:

DEGREDATION OF SCENIC LANDSCAPES

We oppose the scarring of New Hampshire's landscapes by the construction of new, and the expansion of existing, towers and transmission lines that will forever our ruin scenic landscapes.
The beauty of our scenic vistas is one of the most valuable resources that we have in our state. This should be fiercely protected.

We hike, we bike, we ski, and we snowshoe. It’s beautiful here and we’d like to keep it that way.

Once the corridor exists, we believe that over time, just as we are seeing now, that corridor will be expanded upon, widened, and will destroy more and more views.

NO BENEFIT TO NH – ALL BENNIES TO SOUTHERN NE…

I’d also like to point out, and make sure that people are aware, that the state of New Hampshire currently exports a lot more energy than it actually uses. Why then, would we even consider such a massive and devastating proposal that would forever leave our state scarred, simply so that Hydro-Quebec, which is by the way, a foreign company, can sell more power to states like Massachusetts,  Connecticut, and New York?

We also do not support entities like Hydro-Quebec, who are built on the premise of damming up wild rivers and creating a huge environmental disturbances.  This is not green energy. We oppose Hydro-Quebec.

We don’t believe that New Hampshire should bear the burden of this proposed project so that states like Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York can benefit from the energy being transmitted to them.

DIMINISHED VIEWS AND PROPERTY VALUES

We'd also like you to know that we are one of many property owners who currently abut the existing PSNH ROW in “the lower 140”. We own a vacation property that currently looks over the existing 40-foot tall wooden poles that support the existing lines. WE PURCHASED THIS PROPERTY SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE OF THE VIEW OF THE MOUNTAINS.  That view will be destroyed by the 135-foot (or even higher) massive metal towers that are likely to be installed. These towers would exist directly in the path of our current view of the mountains -- no thank you!

Do I even really need to say that we are opposed to the dramatic decrease in our property value that we have already been subject to because of the Northern Pass project? 

(This is the real deal. This is what real people are facing with the prospect of this project. )

JOBS?….

I’d also like you to know that I stand here before you as someone who is currently unemployed and job hunting, so I fully understand the value of adding more jobs to our economy. However, just because a project adds jobs, that does not mean that that project  is a good thing for our state. Many of the jobs proposed by the Northern Pass project are temporary, and there are no guarantees that any of them, the permanent ones, or the temporary ones, will go to New Hampshire residents.

It is more important to us to protect the nature beauty of New Hampshire’s landscapes than to “sell out” for what is supposedly approximately 1200 jobs. And not all of these are even permanent jobs.

Comments from Elaine Kellerman, Concord, NH

My name is Elaine Kellerman and I moved to Concord six years ago, September 2007. I didn't move here because of a job or because of family. I moved here because New Hampshire is a beautiful state and I wanted to call this place home instead of a vacation destination. I am not yet a homeowner, although I want to be. In searching for a home, I have become very familiar with the Northern Pass website, especially the "In My Town" section. If I am interested in a house for sale which is in a town impacted by Northern Pass, I immediately check to see how close the house is to the power line cut-through. I won't even look at a house within a mile of the power lines. If the house is in an elevated area, it has to be even further removed since from higher up, the towers and lines will b visible for miles. Now these towers aren't even built yet and thy're scaring me away. I guess the Northern Pass people didn't take people like me into consideration when they did their studies about property values. I would never buy a house near these proposed towers because I wouldn't want to try to resell this house after the towers are constructed. I don't think I'm the only one who feels this way. Those towers will diminish the value of any property with a view of them.

Honestly, when the leading industry in this state is tourism, I cannot grasp why anyone living here would be supportive of this project. Trust me, visitors don't come to New Hampshire to look at 110-foot-tall towers. They come to see our beautiful mountain vistas. If Northern Pass comes to fruition, it will be like performing open heart surgery on this state. It will leave a permanent, visible scar down the center of New Hampshire. Concord will have an excellent view of the damage. Just one example: Turtletown Pond Recreation Area off of Oak Hill Road will have towers up to 109 feet bordering the southern edge of the pond. So anyone wanting to snap a photo of that area had better do so before construction begins. I don't think you are going to like the image nearly as much once the towers are in place.