byte&chew

Making believe

As much as I'd love to move to some other subject, the Laidlaw biomass project keeps making front page headlines in the local papers and at our public meetings. I believe that the issue has divided the community and the arguments over the project are all too often based on distorted information. On Friday(5/29/09) The Berlin Daily Sun reported that the executive director for AVER Max Makaitis had formed a committee "to identify local concerns about the facility". This is the equivalent of the alpha male of the pack picking the slickest wolves to keep an eye on the condition of the chicken coop. We're supposed to believe that the committee of 12 staunch supporters of Laidlaw is going to identify the negative issues related to the project and negotiate solutions. Why the dirty dozen of confirmed supporters have chosen to engage in the worlds oldest profession and compromise the future well being of the community remains a mystery. Under the guise that the Laidlaw project will create jobs and pay taxes the dirty dozen have completely ignored the position taken by the Mayor and Council who after all, were elected in opposition to the Laidlaw project. At this critical time in the history of our City when we should be joining together to study and define how and what we're going to do to replace the 1,000 or so jobs that were once available at the mill site, we're fighting amongst ourselves over a make believe company proposing a make believe project. Laidlaw is on life support, kept alive through the ongoing sale of millions of shares to speculators at the average value of $.0004 per share. The myth that the Laidlaw project is the foundation of a new economy for Berlin is a cruel hoax!

Trouble for biomass power

FERC approves Quebec-New England power line plan

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The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a funding plan for a major transmission project expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and deliver about 1,200 megawatts of Quebec power to New England, according to Reuters.

Berlin-based Northeast Utilities, NSTAR and Quebec province-owned Hydro-Quebec are negotiating a joint development agreement for the design, planning and construction of the high voltage direct current line.

NU and Boston-based NSTAR said in December they would build the U.S. part of the line and Hydro-Quebec would build the Canadian part. It will connect the Des Cantons substation in Quebec with a point to be determined in southern New Hampshire.

FERC did not say how much the project would cost in its release, but in December, the developers said the line would cost about $1 billion and transmit enough power to serve more than a million homes.

The project is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by about 4 million to 6 million short tons of carbon dioxide per year by displacing gas-fired generation in New England.

A typical 1,000 MW coal plant produces about 6 million tons of CO2 each year.

While the federal government moves closer to controlling greenhouse gas emissions, New England has already done so and therefore needs to invest in low carbon power sources to meet the mandates of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI).

Hydro-Quebec will pay for the line and recover its investment through long-term power purchase agreements, the parties said in December.

As opposed to other big transmission lines in New England, the companies did not seek to recover the cost of the project from all of the utilities in New England.

Although Northeast Utilities and NSTAR would own the U.S. portion of the line, any company could sign power purchase agreements with Hydro-Quebec to buy the power.

In December, the companies said they could start construction in late 2011 with power flowing in mid-2014 when some of the 4,500 MW of new generation Hydro-Quebec is developing was expected to enter service.

NU transmits and distributes power and natural gas to more than 2 million customers in New England.

NSTAR transmits and distributes power and natural gas to 1.4 million customers in Massachusetts.

Hydro-Quebec, of Montreal, owns and operates more than 40,000 MW of generating capacity (97 percent of which comes from hydropower) and transmits and distributes electricity to 3.8 million customers in Quebec. 

Community Exploitation

Noise? ...What noise?

Two for Berlin

Today's The Berlin Daily Sun's front page article "Council hires legal counsel to fight Laidlaw plant" I believe is a bit misleading. Yes, the City did hire legal counsel, but I'm not sure it's to "fight" Laidlaw as much as it is to make sure that the various issues that would impact the City if the Laidlaw project moves forward, receives the attention it deserves. When the State in its infinite wisdom decided to take the right of self determination away from communities if a power plant was over 30MW, it put in place a committee and a process (Site Evaluation Committee) to scrutinize the developers and their large projects. The lawyer hired by the City will be the person representing Berlin during this permitting process/hearings. I'm of the opinion that the decision to seek professional representation was the responsible thing to do and that the choice of lawyer was the result of a long debate by Mayor & Council. If Berlin really wanted to "fight" Laidlaw it could have followed a very different path, including taking the property by eminent domain. Of course, we could have avoided all of these unpleasant and costly actions if the previous administration had become involved early on when Fraser announced the sale or, when NADC purchased the mill property with no intention of doing anything with it, except demolition. But no, City Hall sat on its collective hands and ignorantly pronounced that, it was "private property". I hope that the citizens of Berlin remember this fact come November, when some members of the former administration make a grand move to be elected to office in the name of "saving Berlin" by supporting Laidlaw.   ...Another action that didn't receive as much headline as the lawyer hire by the City but that might have an equally sobering impact on Laidlaw was the announcement by Clean Power Development that it had retained the services of the Dupont Group. The Dupont Group is one of New Hampshire's premiere government affairs and business consulting firms. The Dupont Group has a proven track record representing energy companies and of having considerable political clout in Concord. If push comes to shove between the Laidlaw and Clean Power projects, I see the Dupont Group neutralizing whatever political advantage Laidlaw may have with Charlie Bass as a "has been politician". Both the move by the City and by Clean Power puts even more doubt in my mind that the Laidlaw project will ever become reality. For the first time in a long time I feel optimistic that the best interest of Berlin may be served after all.

What's wrong with this picture?

Heaven help us!

Cozy ain't it?

Wasted view from the Beast

The Beauty and the Beast