21 hours Ago
This story is part of a series of check-ins on where things stand on big issues like housing, immigration and education at the midpoint of the State House calendar. Find more stories at NHPR.org/crossover .
State lawmakers have tackled a handful of energy, climate and environmental bills so far this year. And what better place to start . .
. than trash? Looking closely at landfills Landfill regulations have been a top issue for lawmakers for a while, as some in the North Country continue to fight plans for a new Casella Waste Systems landfill in the town of Dalton. Gov.
Kelly Ayotte expressed her support for a one-year moratorium on new landfills earlier this year, and lawmakers are trying to make a recently-adopted set of rules for where landfills can be located more protective of the environment. They’re also pushing to make sure that no new landfills are permitted until stronger rules are in place. That would mean this landfill proposed in Dalton that’s received so much criticism would not get the permits it needs until regulators update those rules.
A bill that would direct state regulators to modify the landfill rules to be more protective passed in the House and is moving on to the Senate. Similar efforts have been included as amendments in the state budget, which lawmakers will be working on until June. While Ayotte has pushed for a one-year ban on new landfills, lawmakers in the House originally wanted to see a five-year moratorium, and the Senate considered a six-year moratorium.
That was put on hold, and the House bill was turned into a three -year moratorium. That three-year moratorium is also included in an amendment to the state budget. So, it seems that lawmakers are moving towards settling on some compromises on those policies.
Energy officials Another focus for lawmakers this session has been the roles of various energy agencies in the state: the Consumer Advocate’s office, the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Energy. This effort to reorganize New Hampshire’s current energy regulatory system comes in the wake of some conflict at the Public Utilities Commission, or PUC, which has faced criticism in recent months over the way it has wielded its authority. All of this seems to be related to some growing pains from the creation of the Department of Energy in 2021.
Two bills transferring some of the PUC’s roles to the Department of Energy — including the control of the Electric Assistance Program — passed in the Senate and are being considered by the House. That could be the path towards some movement on this question of how energy is regulated in the state, since some other efforts failed this session. A few House bills have already fizzled out this year: One that tried to clarify roles and responsibilities at the Public Utilities Commission and one that would have changed some expectations at the Department of Energy.
Some legislators also tried — both through a bill and the budget — to get rid of the office of the consumer advocate. That's the independent government agency responsible for advocating for the interests of energy consumers — regular people with an electric bill — in front of the Public Utilities Commission. That effort seems to have been shelved now too.
Other policies gaining . . .
energy Early in the session, Ayotte signed a bill with bipartisan support in the House and Senate to expand a program that helps with energy efficiency improvements for apartment buildings and other commercial housing. A couple of net metering bills passed in the Senate and are heading to the House. As a reminder: net metering is a term for the way smaller renewable energy systems get compensated for the power they put on to the grid.
One bill would require large systems that are on a customer’s property — like a solar array on a business for example — to consume 33 percent of their own power. Another would modify some policies around community solar projects, along with adding limits on the size of solar projects in lower and moderate-income communities and raising the total limit on how many of those projects can participate in a state program each year. That bill also includes nonprofit educational institutions in the list of generators allowed to generate larger amounts of power.
Rolling back renewables The House was considering some changes to the state’s renewable energy policies — and we’re seeing some efforts to put those changes into the state budget. There’s a budget amendment that would send money from the state’s Renewable Energy Fund to the General Fund instead of using it for renewable energy projects. The original proposal had that going directly to ratepayers, but it stalled out.
Lawmakers are now looking at that money to help balance the state budget, but that’s a bit in conflict with another effort to reduce some of the renewable energy requirements on utilities. Those requirements are what prompt the utilities to pay into the renewable energy fund. So with weaker standards, there would be less money in the fund.
Lawmakers have discussed a plan to push that effort off into the future. There have also been some shifts on the state’s approach to offshore wind this year. We’ve seen in the House what seems to be a larger shift away from any previous interest New Hampshire lawmakers had in collaborating with other states on offshore wind, to opposing that technology outright.
Ayotte has also spoken out against wind projects in waters near New Hampshire. House representatives passed a resolution to reject all offshore wind projects along with a bill that now heads to the Senate that would eliminate a state office that was working on offshore wind development and committees focused on workforce training and port development. There’s a bigger picture here too: Republicans in the State House in general, especially in the House, have been inclined to reject proposals addressing climate change.
Bills that ranged from adding a climate change division to a state agency, to studying how much climate change is costing the state, were killed in the House before they could be considered by the senate..
