Now that the bill designed to block the Northern Pass project from using eminent domain to acquire private land has passed the New Hampshire House without debate (House Bill 648) and is moving onto the governor, there is one simple fact that needs to be understood by ALL New Englanders.
Northern Pass is NOT about eminent domain rights and laws. In fact, Northern Pass has stated time and again that it does not want to use eminent domain to acquire the small amount of land it needs!
What Northern Pass IS about is bringing much-needed clean, renewable and affordable energy to New Hampshire and creating the thousands of local jobs that will come along with constructing and maintaining the project … and NOT at the expense of landowners or by scarring the landscape.
Even Gov. Lynch has said he supports bringing more renewable power to New Hampshire and believes hydropower from Canada should not be dismissed.
These important elements aside, the Northern Pass project already has much of the right-of-way to construct the lines and substations required to help ease New Hampshire’s energy needs. Some of that land was purchased at more than fair market value from landowners.
But Northern Pass is anything BUT a land-grab. The company is trying to acquire needed land through purchase or easements.
Northern Pass spokesman Martin Murray has said the company has transmission rights for the majority of the proposed route — from the southernmost terminal to just north of Groveton — and does not want to use eminent domain.
“There is no intention on the part of the project to use eminent domain … It’s not something we’re dependent on,” Murray has said.
So, the issue becomes PROVIDING POWER TO NEW HAMPSHIRE and PROVIDING GREEN LOCAL JOBS TO LOCAL ELECTRICAL WORKERS … and that is why IBEW Local 104 supports Northern Pass and asks you to SIGN THE NORTHERN PASS PETITION.
Your website is just as misleading as Northern Pass’s statements.
Northern Pass’s official filings with the federal government make it 100% clear that the project may seek to use eminent domain. So do Gary Long’s statements to the press. What part of the these written eminent domain threats can’t you read or understand? You can’t wish Northern Pass’s eminent domain threats away. They are facts, and your failure to acknowledge them shows your lack of intellectual seriousness.
You state that Northern Pass is not about “scarring the landscape”. Really? How, then, would you characterize the visual impact of 135′ transmission towers through previously undisturbed natural vistas? Again, you have no anchor in facts.
You are the same people who have been afraid to debate the opposition at any public event. Your website shows why. Facts appear to be foreign to your vocabulary. That would become obvious in 10 seconds in a real, two-way discussion. That’s why you hide here on your website where you can mislead to your heart’s content.
Once again, I would invite you to come out for a public, two-way debate… Or do the facts make you just too uncomfortable?
Thank you for responding to our blog. We respect your opinions and appreciate your respect for ours. Firstly, IBEW Local 104 is not affiliated with Northern Pass in any way whatsoever — other then the fact that we know, should the project become a reality, that there would be an influx of meaningful and much needed jobs added to our industry that will be available to our membership of trained linemen. But, these are also jobs for the entire region, from which everyone will benefit … and we further believe from what we know and watch as industry professionals that the Northern Pass will bring a viable solution for New Hampshire’s energy issues.
All that being the case, we also have not seen any evidence of eminent domain being forced on any individuals. We also have read that Northern Pass says publicly they do not plan or wish to use eminent domain; since we are not in the business of he-said/she-said, we have to take everyone for their word in this matter. We also know that over 150 miles of the 180 miles needed are already existing right-of-ways on which power lines exist.
We have further heard that Northern Pass is offering fair value for the land it seeks. But again, the acquisition of land for the project is not our issue; it is Northern Pass’s issue, as far as IBEW Local 104 is concerned.
Northern Pass spokespeople are still having trouble with the truth as this article demonstrates. First: Big Hydro, such as Hydro Quebec represents, is not considered renewable. When seven million acres of forest are cut down and flooded that area can no longer sequester carbon. Instead it liberates carbon and methane, a much more potent greenhouse gas. Second: The energy that Northern Pass wants to sell is for someone else, not NH. NH produces far more energy than it uses and is a net exporter of electricity. So, Northern Pass just wants to use NH as a power corridor to markets south of us.
IBEW Local 104 believes North American energy independence is vital, and we can either rely on relatively clean hydroelectricity from Canada or fossil fuels from the Middle East. New England power is on one single grid, so the hydropower from Northern pass will go to all of New England. However, as Local 104 understands, New Hampshire ratepayers will get a discount on their bills that others in NE will not enjoy due to a “Purchase Power Agreement,” guaranteeing lower rates to NH customers. And again, this project will bring jobs and revenue to New Hampshire.
Who do think youre kidding ? Quite possibly you selves to think New Hampshire will ever benefit from the power lines !! Are your pockets being greased as well !! Get real ! Go tear down the landscape in your yard and see if you like it ! Better yet have your children grow up under those lines .
You may sincerely believe that Northern Pass is not about eminent domain, but if you believe this you have not been talking with landowners in Coos County who have been approached by Northern Pass to sell their land or a right of way over their land. The fact is that the high premiums Northern Pass is offering and paying for land for the power line are pitched as short term offers, against the implicit threat that eminent domain may pay a far less amount if it were used down the road. This is an unconscionable violation of the constitutional property rights every landowner in NH has been granted by Article 12-a. And Northern Pass has arrogantly pursued these violations of rights in more than 25 separate acquisitions of land, spending more than $6.5 million to date. The power may be clean, but the tactics are anything but.