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it was kinda "watery"
......Shitty situation;
Council wants more information before deciding sewer rate
Consulting engineer review sewer system upgrade
Barbara Tetreault
BERLIN— The city council wanted more information before making a decision on a 5.7 percent increase in the sewer rate.
At Monday’s work session, City Manager Patrick MacQueen reviewed the financial history of the sewer fund which the city runs as an enterprise fund. While the city has financed some sewer projects from the general fund, MacQueen said the goal is to cover both operating and capital costs from sewer user fees.
Because of the closing of the pulp mill and the loss of the $235,000 the mill paid in sewer fees, MacQueen said the sewer fund is in a bit of a financial crunch. When the federal prison comes on line in fiscal 2011, MacQueen said the fund expects to more than recover the income it lost with the mill closing. But until then, the manager said the fund is running on fumes.
MacQueen is recommending a fiscal 2008 sewer rate of $7.01 per 100 cubic feet of water consumption. He pointed out that rate is in line with statewide averages.
Councilor Tom McCue said in comparing the city’s rate to the state average, it is important to remember than income levels are lower in Berlin. Councilor Ron Goudreau asked if there was any way the city could avoid increasing the sewer rate this year. He said property owners are being hit with rising heating costs and tax increases.
MacQueen said the upcoming budget will call for reducing a position in the department. He said there is limited money in the capital budget.
Engineer Chris Dwinal, with the firm Wright Pierce, said the sewer department has worked to reduce operating costs. Wright Pierce has worked as a consultant on the sewer system since 2001.
Councilor Mark Evans asked what happens if the federal prison does not come on line in 2010. MacQueen said the sewer fund would have to hang on for another year.
Councilor Lucie Remillard asked how other communities charge residential and commercial customers for sewer usage. The city charges commercial uses at 100 percent of water usage. Residential customers are billed at 80 percent because of the assumption that some water is used for activities like watering lawns and washing cars and does not go into the sewer system. MacQueen said he would research the question and get back to the council.
Dwinal and MacQueen provided the council with an overview of the ongoing sewer system upgrade. In 2001, the city hired Wright Pierce to review the status of the wastewater treatment plant and collection system. The plant came on line in 1978 and upgrades were needed to address the aging equipment and infiltration into the collection system.
The city has been notified by the state that the system has reached 80 percent of design capacity and all future connections have to be approved by the state.
The study released by Wright Pierce in 2002 estimated the system needed $8.2 million in improvements and upgrades. The city decided to do a Phase I project focusing on the Watson Street pump station and some improvements at the wastewater treatment plant.
The city was authorized to borrow up to $8.3 million from the state revolving loan fund. The city did about $4 million in work through 2005. At that time, the city applied for $6 million in loan/grant funds from Rural Development, hoping to get grant money. Rural Development provided a $5 million loan and $1 million in grant money. But the city had to accept the loan to get the grant money. So the city accepted the loan and used it to pay off the $4 million loan from the state revolving loan fund.
In 2004, Wright Pierce prepared an assessment of what was needed to serve the federal prison. The report placed the cost at $11 million - of which it attributed $2 million to the city and the rest to the prison. A preliminary design was prepared for the $6 million worth of upgrades needed at the treatment plant.
The city submitted a solicitation to the Bureau of Prison in July 2006 requesting $10.4 million to provide sewer service to the prison. That figure included $450,000 for infiltration and inflow reduction projects.
After negotiations last fall, the city reduced its solicitation to $9.1 million. The bureau requested detailed preliminary designs and has contracted with the city for that work at a cost of $232,340. Wright-Pierce is doing the design report and expects to have it completed by the end of next month.
The council authorized the city to bond $15 million through the state revolving loan fund including $4 million to pay off the Rural Development loan which is at a higher interest rate than the state offers. By the time the city starts paying off the loan, the prison should be on-line and paying more than the $235,000 the city lost annually when the pulp mill closed.
The city estimates its total share of the $15 million project will be $2 million. The Bureau of Prison’s share is estimated at $9 million and Rural Development provided the $1 million grant. The state will provide $3 million in funding through its loan forgiveness program.
where's my martini!? who stole the $%#^%N olives?
ot hey homie whats up hope all is well
todays paper;
Small power plants might be better than big ones
But North Country years away from building more power lines
Chris Dornin Golden Dome News
CONCORD— Lawmakers will probably kill a bill to let Public Service build a North Country power plant. The same idea has died in the Statehouse the last two years. Opponents of House Bill 1460 say letting a rate-based utility expand would turn back the clock a key part of the state’s energy policy. Its goal is to open up the power markets to all the risks, rewards, efficiencies and creativity of free competition.
But some closely related legislation, Senate Bill 451, would let the same regulated utilities joint venture with their residential and business customers to build tiny power plants all across the transmission grid. There’s a new environmental buzz word for the idea- distributed energy.
Here’s how it would work. The transmission utility would re-invent itself. Imagine a map of the electric grid dotted with windmills on telephone poles and solar panels on barns instead of a Seabrook nuclear power plant or a Newington Energy every 20 miles in population centers. North Country Environmental Services landfill in Bethlehem might pipe its waste methane gas to a small generator that lighted the local elementary school and half the town.
Lyle Bulis, R-Littleton, was disappointed with the 9-5 committee vote last week against his House Bill 1460. In its initial form it would have let Public Service build several new wood-fired plants to employ idle loggers and paper mill workers in Franconia and Conway, Berlin and Gorham. He quickly offered an amendment to the bill to authorize just the single new PSNH facility.
Bulis said the North Country has been asking for economic help for years. Now the region is in crisis. Lawmakers always promise to do something.
“This decision gives us nothing but talk, as usual,” Bulis said. “All we have left is Senate Bill 383 to set up a commission to come up with a plan for transmission lines. Worded paper doesn’t fit well on the dinner plate or pay the mortgage.”
Co-sponsors of the Bulis bill said developers in Berlin or Groveton could have built a wood-fired power plant by now if lawmakers had cleared the way. Rep. Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett, said the region keeps hearing excuses.
“At least (Resources and Economic Development) Commissioner George Bald supported our bill,” Chandler said. “I was pleased with that.”
Senator John Gallus, R-Berlin, another co-sponsor, said the logging industry still needs help. The wood-buying paper mills in southern Canada and nearby states will cut back and close sooner or later, he warned.
“Public Service could have taken care of the power upgrade too,” Gallus said. “We’re kidding ourselves if we think New Hampshire ratepayers won’t eventually pay for that project.”
Senate Bill 383 would get all the stakeholders together to figure out how to build 400 to 500 megawatts of new power line capacity from Coos County into the grid. Half a dozen renewable energy proposals across the northern half of the state hinge on solving that cooperation problem. But building those poles and wires would take time, maybe four or five years, assuming a diverse group reaches a consensus. That task force would include the Public Utilities Commission, the ISO-New England power grid, lawmakers, and representatives of the utilities and their competitors.
If the Bulis bill fails next month on the House floor as expected, HB 451 might jump start a distributed energy industry in New Hampshire by letting Unitil, Public Service or National Grid earn rate recovery for setting up a customer with a sawmill turbine that burns waste sawdust or a homeowner with a contraption that makes electricity off their wood stove. Somebody else could use a micro-power technology nobody has seen yet. Net metering hardware would track the excess electricity the customer sells into the bulk power grid.
The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Martha Fuller Clark, D-Portsmouth, offered her own amendment at a public hearing last week to limit the size of any distributed generation projects to less than 5 megawatts. One megawatt can heat and light about a thousand homes.
“These are customers who would find it hard to get financing for a project on their own,” Fuller Clark testified. “They will displace energy from fossil fuel plants and reduce the peak demand. It will keep energy dollars in New Hampshire and promote economic development.”
The bill would let Public Service earn a guaranteed 10.67 percent return on their investment in distributed energy, which is 100 basis points or 1 percent greater than the regulated margin on its power plants. The profit margins would be fairly similar for Unitil or National grid.
George Gantz, a Unitil vice president, said it needs a way to make money if it enables its customers to install their own tiny power plants. He said this fledgling industry could minimize losses from friction in the power lines. It would also help utilities meet their mandates to cut carbon missions and provide at least 25 percent of their power from renewable sources by 2025.
“I’d hate to see nothing happen in this field for another ten years,” Gantz said.
Sandi Hennequin lobbies for Constellation Energy and said her company wants to get into this emerging market too, but it would have to compete with utilities assured a profit.
“Why guarantee them a rate of return from ratepayers?” she asked. “Companies like ours are doing some of these things already. Don’t create a chilling effect for us. We suggest a small pilot project to see if the benefits of distributed energy materialize. You need that test before you put ratepayer dollars at risk (on a wide scale).”
Donald Kreis, lawyer for the Public Utilities Commission, warned against giving utilities the extra 1 percent profit because they’re taking a lower risk than most private investors.
PSNH president Gary Long listened to the debate on the Senate Bill 451 and later called it a good tool for promoting renewable energy with an individual solution for each customer.
“Unitil advanced the idea, and we support it,” he said in an interview.
and......
Androscoggin Valley Notebook
Barbara Tetreault
— Androscoggin Valley Notebook
By Barbara Tetreault
If the xxx yada yada yada.....
Laidlaw Energy interconnection filing
ISO-New England, the not-for-profit corporation that manages the region’s power system acknowledged Monday that it has received Laidlaw Energy’s application to connect its proposed Berlin biomass plant to the grid. ISO-NE said Laidlaw will now be added to the queue which already contains projects proposing over 400 megawatts of new generation in Coos County.
Under the present system, projects are considered in the order they are received. The present transmission system in Coos County can only accommodate an additional 100 megawatts of generation without a major upgrade that can range as much as $210 million.
ISO-NE said it will schedule a scoping meeting with Laidlaw within the next month.
While Laidlaw moves forward with its plan to purchase the former chemical recovery boiler and 60 acres of land from North American DIsmantling, the city master plan committee is holding a public visioning session on Wednesday March to collect public input on the mill property.
yada yada yada
shares from 8K "As of January 31, 2008, there were 1,245,510,602 issued and outstanding shares of our common stock and 19,284 outstanding shares of our Class A 5% Preferred Stock."
at least u guys are awake :^)
ooooooooooooopps nevermind
i got one trade on GIAS then 4 more on GIASXZ
CHECK YOUR ZECCO ACCOUNTS HISTORY i got a bunch of trades which i didn't make in there, all round ups!!!!!
remember they're now charging. traded GIAS on me 5 times
got mine
Bill would establish group to work on North Country transmission
Norma Love
CONCORD— With no regional solution in sight, New Hampshire should establish a commission to take charge of expanding electric transmission capacity in the North Country, a state senator said Tuesday.
Without more transmission capacity, development of renewable power is largely stymied in New Hampshire, Sen. Martha Fuller Clark told a Senate committee. Clark said her bill would create a single entity to develop a plan to pay for the expansion.
Renewable power projects that would produce roughly 400 megawatts of power are competing for about 100 megawatts of available transmission capacity in Coos County. The proposed expansion could cost $200 million to connect the projects to the rest of New England.
Last year, New Hampshire joined other New England states in adopting renewable energy standards, which require electric utilities to obtain renewable energy certificates for a certain percentage of the power they supply to customers. Each certificate represents one megawatt of power generation from a renewable source, such as solar, geothermal, biomass, wind or hydro.
Gov. John Lynch also has joined governors and business leaders nationwide in endorsing 25 x 25, an effort aimed at producing 25 percent of the energy consumed in the United States that comes from clean, renewable power by 2025. Renewable energy portfolios are intended to increase the development of renewable sources.
But achieving the goal faces high hurdles -- chief among them the lack of transmission capacity in northern New Hampshire. That is where the best locations are for wind and biomass plants because of prevailing wind currents and the proximity to wood.
Doug Patch, representing Noble Environmental Power, said little progress has been made to upgrade the transmission line in Coos County. Noble has one wind project that is first in line for the 100 megawatts of available capacity. Noble can't move ahead with a second 146 megawatt wind project without an upgrade, said Patch.
"It has been Noble's position, a position shared by some of the other stakeholders, that the best solution to this upgrade would be to have the costs socialized across New England, like many other transmission projects have been over the years," he said. "If this is the case, New Hampshire would only pay approximately 9 percent of those costs."
Patch said Noble is willing to pay its fair share of the transmission upgrade -- estimated to cost $200 million.
So far, the upgrade has not won support from ISO New England, which manages power for the region and would decide if all New England electric users would benefit and consequently should share in its cost.
Spokesman Steve Rourke told the committee ISO is beginning to review how to incorporate New England's renewable power transmission needs into the regional plan.
"The region obviously has established lofty goals for renewable power," he said.
Rourke acknowledged renewable power producers' hurdle is transmission.
"They're constrained by location. They're in far northern Maine. They're in far northern Vermont. They're in far northern New Hampshire. They're off shore," he said.
Fuller Clark said she will entertain possible solutions to put before the Senate in her bill. As it stands, her bill would have the commission study a New Hampshire-only funding approach. She said she plans to amend the bill after more discussions with stakeholders.
thing is w noble (wind power) after its built, u end up w only one guy climbing the ladder oiling the gears in the mill thats it. this is gonna be the bread and butter for the whole county. Charlie bass, if still on board, will use his political influence to speed it thru. on my last post its the first time i've seen the word "crisis" in any of the news articles.
2/19/08 Lynch pledges state's help in keeping Gorham mill operating
Barbara Tetreault
GORHAM— Gov. John Lynch pledged the state will do all it can to help Fraser Papers keep the Gorham paper mill operating and assist those workers who will be laid off in two months.
In the long term, Lynch said he is optimistic the legislature will pass his Coos County tax credit bill and it will attract new jobs and businesses to the region.
Lynch spent yesterday in Groveton and Gorham dealing with the latest round of mill closings and layoffs in Coos County. In Groveton, Lynch met with business leaders and stopped by the workers assistance center to check on those who lost their jobs with the closing of the Wausau Papers mill in December. Then he traveled to Gorham for a meeting with Berlin and Gorham officials before going to meet with workers at the mill. Last week, Fraser announced it will shut down two paper machines in April, laying off 167 workers. Two paper machine employing about 180 would continue to operate.
Approximately 60 workers turned out to hear from Lynch, Fraser Vice President for Operations Bill Manzer, and other state officials. .
Manzer said the company is hoping to find a way to finance at least one biomass boiler to reduce the facility’s dependance on expensive oil. He said the Gorham mill consumes about 200,000 barrels of oil annually at a cost of up to $16 million.
Lynch and George Bald, commission of resources and economic development, said state and federal officials are working with Fraser to find a way to finance one or two biomass boilers which would significantly reduce energy costs.
Greg Cyr, head of Human Resources for Fraser, said the boilers generate steam which is used in the drying process and to heat the facility. He said one boiler would reduce costs significantly - two would supply all the needed steam.
Fraser officials said the layoff is temporary although the company issued a two month notice as required by the federal Warn Act. Cyr stressed the company is working every day to increase orders and reduce costs. He said if efforts are successful, the number being laid-off could be reduced.
Mike Power, head of the Workforce Opportunity Council, said the state Rapid Response team will set up a worker assistance center in the Berlin-Gorham area soon. The team will will take an assessment of workers from Fraser Paper to determine what their needs may be in order to help them re-enter the workforce, including job counseling and retraining. The state will also be working with employees and the company to extend federal Trade Act Assistance benefits.
“We’re going to work day and night for you,” Power promised.
With an average age over 50, workers said they believe they will have a harder time getting employment. One woman said when the mill closed three years ago, she believes she was discriminated against in seeking employment because of her age.
Others noted many employers are hesitant to hire mill workers if there is a chance the paper machines will restart and the workers recalled.
Power said age discrimination is against the law and the state will do all it can to fight such prejudice. He said there are some companies that prefer experienced skilled workers.
Lynch noted many in the room had worked more than 30 years in the mill.
“You’ve given your lives to the company,” he said.
Lynch said the state is working hard to recruit new companies to move or expand to Coos County. Bald said there has been interest in the mill site in Groveton.
Lynch called his Coos County tax credit a “bold initiative” and predicted it will be a valuable tool in attracting new businesses to the state’s northern county.
The bill would provide businesses with a $1,000 credit against state business taxes for each new job that pays twice the minimum wage in Coos County. The credit would run for five years. The credit would be available to businesses that startup or move to Coos County as well as to existing companies that expand their work force.
Coupled with state’s other tax incentives and the North Country’s quality of life and work ethic, Lynch said the county has a lot to offer a company.
Many of the state representatives from Coos County turned out at Groveton and Gorham and expressed support for the measure. Rep. Scott Merrick, (D-Lancaster), said the bill has bipartisan support. State Senator John Gallus (R-Berlin) predicted it will pass the Senate.
and ....
North Country seeks tax break for jobs
Chris Dornin Golden Dome News
CONCORD— Governor John Lynch unveiled a bipartisan bill last week to give Coos County employers a yearly $1,000 tax break for up to five years for every job they create that pays twice the minimum wage. He was willing to let a health insurance benefit help to qualify a job for the incentive. The company could deduct the $1,000 from it business profits tax. If profits were too low to claim the full amount, it would apply to the business enterprise tax.
The public hearing for House Bill 1 1644 was timely. The Fraser Papers mill in Gorham laid off 167 people last Monday. Groveton Paperboard, Wausau Paper and the pulp mill in Berlin have axed another 650 jobs in the past three years from an industry 150 years old but shrinking all across northern Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Paper makers in all four states face withering competition from countries with much lower costs for labor, healthcare benefits, wood, pulp and environmental compliance. The logging and timber industries that supply the mills are taking a major hit too.
“It is very clear that Coos County is struggling,” Lynch told the House Ways and Means Committee. “Average wages are significantly lower than the rest of the state. The unemployment rate, even before the latest layoffs, is much higher, and its economic growth is expected to significantly lag behind the rest of New Hampshire. This tax credit will help our efforts to bring new good-paying jobs to the families of the North Country. It’s an issue everyone who cares about New Hampshire should care about.”
Several members of the House Ways and Means Committee grilled witnesses for the bill. Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester, asked most of them the same question. A company might lay someone off for 90 days, rehire them and claim the credit. What about making that a year’s waiting period? Lynch was receptive to the idea, but said, “We have to do something bold and aggressive to help these workers.”
Rep. Scott Merrick, R-Lancaster, represents 10 towns in the county and serves as prime sponsor for the legislation, backed by top leaders of both parties in the Senate. He thanked the governor for making the Coos crisis one of his personal priorities. Lynch will push for the tax credit today at four sites in Gorham: Normandeau Trucking, the Worker Assistance Center, the Route 16 Fire Station and Fraser Papers.
Merrick said Northumberland has now lost 60 percent of its job base. The recent loss of Wausau Paper cost the county 7.5 percent of its jobs and a $72.3 million piece of its gross economic product.
“The collateral damage of losing these mills will be extraordinary,” Merrick warned. “Already towns are watching restaurants shut down, lifelong residents moving away and the utter destruction of a region. The bill will not completely fix the economic challenges in Coos County. But it will play a very important role in diversifying and rebuilding our economic base.”
Bill co-sponsor John Gallus, a Republican senator from Berlin, warned southern tier lawmakers they will soon share in the pain of his constituents. Those jobless folks will be showing up at welfare lines in Manchester, and the exodus has already started.
“New Hampshire is number one in job growth,” Gallus mused. “I wonder where that place is. I remember when the population in Berlin was 26,000. Now it’s less than 10,000.”
Rep. Bill Remick, R-Lancaster, another co-sponsor, appealed to lawmakers as far south as the Seacoast. He said the crisis is on the same order as losing 4,000 nuclear submarine repair jobs would have been for Portsmouth.
“We voted $100,000 to keep the Naval Shipyard open,” Remick said. “The North Country worked hard to help do that. We appeal to your sense of fairness and compassion. We’re not asking for a whole lot of money.”
Revenue commissioner Phil Blatsos guesstimated the inducement might employ 200 workers a year at most, for a maximum cost to the state of $1 million. The economic ripples from that employment would bring in new tax revenue to offset the drain on the state treasury, he assumed.
“It’s more or less a wash,” Blatsos said.
Lawmakers wanted to know if the change would pass the constitutional test of tax proportionality. Blatsos said somebody might challenge it, but a small and time-limited tax break like this for one part of the state in demonstrable need would probably stand.
Bill sponsor John Tholl, a Republican rep from Whitefield, said the area hospitals are feeling the loss of insured patients. Androscoggin Valley Hospital in Berlin is the last one to offer birthing care.
“I listened to a woman last week who lost her house trailer,” Tholl said. “Her husband lost his job at Wausau and she is disabled. This is a bipartisan issue.”
Rep. Martha McLeod, D-Franconia, a co-sponsor, said her district has many unemployed paper mill workers too. The loss is regional.
“I lived through the downturn of the 1970s up here,” she said. “A slowdown always hits the North Country hardest. We live on the discretionary income of the rest of the state.”
Mike King, director of the North Country Regional Council, said the bill would partly offset some obstacles to economic development in the area, including its poor roads and broadband network.
concord monitor 2/19
Feb 19, 7:08 AM EST
Lynch meets with worried paper mill workers
Advertisement
GORHAM, N.H. (AP) -- Gov. John Lynch has told worried paper mill workers in Gorham (New Hampshire) that the state will do everything it can to try to keep their mill open.
Fraser Papers announced last week that it will shut down two of the four remaining paper-making machines at its Gorham mill and lay off 167 workers.
Lynch went to Gorham on Monday to meet with employees, union workers and local officials.
The company says rising fuel prices were one reason for its decision. Lynch said the state is working to find grants or financing to allow the mill to install a bio-mass power facility to lower energy costs, but he said nothing is definite yet.
Lynch also pushed his plan for tax incentives to bring jobs to the region. He told local officials that Coos County is in the middle of a crisis and everyone in New Hampshire needs to understand that.
this is where Charlie Bass comes in(frmr DC man), if he gets this thing pushed thru, this could be his ticket back to DC.
look thru some of my past posts for the old news. found some info re the states energy commishion too
posted local news this weekend here a few times. sounds really desperate in the north country. this plant is needed. Gorham sounds like they are panicing seeing whats going on Berlin.
............ok, but i got scared. hahahahhahaha
.....guess someone missed out
Laidlaw still pursuing biomass project
Groveton energy park plans on hold
Barbara Tetreault
COOS COUNTY — The head of Laidlaw Energy said his company plans to move ahead on purchasing the chemical recovery boiler now that the deadline for appealing the lot line adjustment granted to North American Dismantling has expired.
Last month, the Berlin planning board granted North American Dismantling’s request to adjust the boundary lines for the former pulp mill property to create two parcels that would be 60 acres and 61 acres in size. Opponents had 30 days to appeal the decision. That deadline expired this week without an appeal.
Laidlaw President Michael Bartoszek said the company was waiting for the end of the appeal period before finalizing the purchase of the parcel containing the boiler. Laidlaw proposes to convert the boiler into a 60 megawatt biomass plant. Bartoszek said Laidlaw has lined up all the financing for the project which he said totals over $80 million.
Within the next few weeks, Bartoszek said expects to both complete the purchase and file an interconnection application with ISO New England, the private, not-for-profit corporation that oversees the region’s bulk electric power system.
While Laidlaw is continuing its effort to develop a biomass plant in Berlin, North Country Renewable Energy announced it is putting its proposal to build a renewable energy park in Groveton on hold. NCRE proposed to build a 75-megawatt biomass plant along with a biofuels facility.
Josh Levine of Tamarack Energy Inc., one of the two partners in the project, said NCRE has already invested over $1 million in the venture.
The company had options on three parcels of land off Route 3 that it proposed as the site for the energy park. Two of the options with private landowners expired last week. The third, with the Northumberland school district, expires in April.
With no guarantee that the issues surrounding the transmission loop in Coos will be resolved soon, Levine said NCRE could not afford to invest more money in the project.
“We needed to make a decision,” said Levine.
NCRE decided not to renew the two options with private landowners and will release the option on the parcel owned by the school district.
The current Coos loop can only handle an additional 100 megawatts of generating power without a major upgrade that a report by the state Public Utilities Commission estimated could cost as much as $210 million. Noble Environmental Power is first in the ISO-NE queue for Coos County with two wind projects. The first project, in the Phillips Brook watershed, would use the available 100 megawatts. Overall there are projects in the queue totaling over 400 megawatts of generation.
Levine said NCRE remains interested in the Groveton project if a solution is developed to the Coos transmission issues. He said the cost to upgrade the loop is “too much for one project to absorb”.
Levine said he was pleased to hear state Senator Bob Clegg said he would support the state bonding $40 million to start the process of upgrading the transmission lines.
“We would love something like that,” he said.
Levine said NCRE will retain its position in the queue behind Noble but acknowledged NCRE can not hold that position indefinitely with the project on hold.
Noble is in the process of negotiating a payment in lieu of taxes with Coos County for its proposed Phillips Brook wind farm. The wind farm falls within the unincorporated places of Dixville, Odell, Erving’s Location, and Millsfield which are under the county’s jurisdiction. A public hearing on the PILT payment is scheduled for March 8.
Clean Power Development of Concord, which hopes to build a 41-megawatt biomass plant in Berlin, last month signed an agreement with Anheuser-Busch to develop a biomass facility at the brewer’s Merrimack facility. The facility would provide electricity and steam to the brewery using wood residue and biogas created in the brewery’s bio-energy recovery system. Any surplus electricity would be sold through the electric grid.
Clean Power has an option with the city of Berlin for three acres of land near the city’s wastewater treatment plant where it wants to site its biomass facility. Clean Power is in the queue for two biomass projects in Coos County. In addition to the Berlin biomass plant, the company plans a second facility in the Lancaster area.
Fraser workers tell Hodes help is needed now
Lynch will visit mill today
Barbara Tetreault
GORHAM— Fraser Papers workers told U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes they need help immediately to save jobs at the Gorham mill.
Top union officials Friday stressed the need for money in the next two months to help the company convert the boilers at the mill from oil to biomass.
PACE Local 75 officials estimated it will require approximately $30 million to install two wood-fired boilers that would replace two of the three oil burners there. One of the oil burners would remain as a back-up source of heat.
Hodes held a conference call with union officials and local media Friday morning.
Eddie Deblois, recording secretary for the local, told the congressman conditions in the North Country are dire. Three paper mills have closed over the past two years and hundreds of employees have lost jobs.
"We are in an economic situation here that is so dire that we are going to shut down the northern part of New Hampshire," he said.
Hodes said he sent a letter to U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman asking for a grant to help Fraser switch to a biomass boiler.
Hodes said he will also look for grant or loan money from the Departments of Labor and Agriculture. He promised he and his staff will look under every rock for money that might be available immediately.
Last week, Fraser announced it will shut down two paper machines at the Gorham mill in April, laying off 167 workers. The company said the high cost of oil and pulp have resulted in significant operating losses for some of the paper grades made in Gorham.
“It is difficult to describe how devastating these proposed layoffs are to the community, the families, and the already fragile economy in the region. I will do everything I can to help keep these jobs in Gorham," Hodes said.
For the longer term, Hodes said he will introduce legislation creating a revolving loan fund to help manufacturing facilities across the country convert to renewable energy fuel sources. He said he will ask the rest of the state’s Congressional delegation to support the bill in a show of bipartisan support. If no money is available from the various federal departments for the Gorham mill, Hodes said he will push for faster action on his bill
Deblois stressed time is a factor. He said it is his understanding that without the conversion, all 350 jobs at the Gorham mill will be gone within six months.
“Once this place shuts down, we’re not going to be able to start it up again,” Deblois said.
PACE Vice President Raymond Blais said the biomass conversion would also benefit the wood products industry by providing a market for low grade wood. He said it would help replace some of the demand lost when the pulp mill closed.
Hodes said he has sent a letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chou, asking her to approve the state’s application for Trade Assistance Act funds for the Fraser workers. Those funds provide money for worker retraining.
Deblois suggested it would be beneficial if TAA funds were available to help prevent job losses. He said the funds come into play only after a facility has closed.
Also participating in the conference call was Local 75 President Leo Lozier and USW Sub District Director Ron Pickering.
Gov. John Lynch is scheduled to meet with mill workers and local officials Monday. He will start in Groveton at 10 a.m. with a press conference on his proposed Coos County tax credit at Normandeau Trucking on Route 3. At 11 a.m., he is scheduled to visit the Workers Assistance Center on Main Street. From Groveton he will travel to Gorham to a noon meeting at the fire station with Berlin and Gorham officials. Then he heads to the Fraser mill for a meeting with workers and company officials.
...............oh man
hahaha..........you sir are an idiot, fact.
http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=B000220
charlie's out of work, but this would put him back in DC
I dont see how they can't. Gorham and Berlin are neighboring towns. Look at my past postings you'll see how closly the towns are intertwined. I didnt realise it till yesterday from somone else's posting that the huge pipe i seen running up the river from the gorham mill went to berlin, so i wouldnt be surprised that the infrastructure is already there.
They gotta come up w some answers for those people up there and fast. Berlin has a pop of 9500 and Gorham 3000 and between those 2 two 500 properties are up for sale, how many in another month? The states 3rd largest industry is tanking, and largest for Coos Co.
I posted last night on the chairman of the state energy committee, She feels for those folks but believes that telecomutting and other careers would benefit the north country. i feel she has her head up her arse.
Feb 15, 12:35 PM EST
Fraser Papers to lay off 167 workers in Gorham
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GORHAM, N.H. (AP) -- Paper mill workers from northern New Hampshire told U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes today that they need help right away to keep their company open and prevent other job losses in the region.
Hodes said he and his staff are looking under every rock to find emergency money to help Fraser Papers, including grants or loans to help the company convert its oil boilers to burn biomass, including wood, to make paper and heat.
Reporters listened in on a conference call this morning between Hodes and several union officials.
Fraser Papers told 167 workers in Gorham this week that they will be laid off in two months. The company says the rising cost of oil was a major factor.
Hodes says converting the plant to be able to burn other fuels would save jobs and cut energy costs. He said while working on immediate sources of money, he's also drafting legislation and hopes for quick action on a plan to set up a loan fund to help companies convert from burning oil.
Eddie Deblois, of the union representing paperworkers, said without the conversion, the entire plant probably will close in six months. He said the situation is so dire, that the whole region will be affected.
....... politician in article(from heavily populated SE NH, same place Katie Paine is from)
Rep. Naida Kaen, D-Lee, the chairman of House energy policy, said she feels for the depressed North Country, reeling from the loss of several paper mills. But better roads and broadband access would open up the region to telecommuting and high tech development, she suggested. That ought to be the focus of recovery.
“It would give them new ways to make a living,” she said. “It’s better than a piecemeal change to the state’s whole energy policy.” (yea cause now its gonna be the loaves and the fishes at the welfare office)
George Bald, commissioner of Resources and Economic Development, said the bill would help the third largest sector of the state’s gross product (forestry), and it might jump start a renewable energy industry.
So chairman of the House energy policy wants the 3rd largest industry in the state to just go away?
so lets see......
http://www.puc.state.nh.us/Electric/EPC%20Interim%20%202007%20Formatted%20with%20sig.pdf
"Energy Pillars"
System reliablility (HA!!! i got a house up there, we call it summa electricity cause its only on summa the time)
Fuel Diversity/buffer against global instability
-reduce fossil fuel component of energy mix, promote renewables (can't see the forest thru the trees?)
Economic Benefits and Certainty
-Benefits to NH economy and long term economic predictability
Consumer Price Stability
-goal to minimize spike in energy prices(it cant spike cause they are already paying the highest rates in the state)
398 properities available today in Berlin and 101 in Gorham on realtor.com
Remember, she feels for these people.
tks
“A wood power plant would create 40 jobs and another 80 in the woods,” he said. “I know the people in the long lines at the unemployment office.”
George Bald, commissioner of Resources and Economic Development, said the bill would help the third largest sector of the state’s gross product (forestry), and it might jump start a renewable energy industry.
“The longer we wait the less of that (logging) infrastructure will survive,” he said.
Rivals pan bill to let PSNH expand up North
By Chris Dornin Golden Dome News
CONCORD— Lawmakers heard three hours of complex testimony last week on a deceptively simple bill to let Public Service build additional regulated power plants in the northern part of the state. Facing strong opposition, the prime sponsor of House Bill 1460, Rep. Lyle Bulis, R-Littleton, quickly narrowed its scope. He offered an amendment to let the utility build a single wood-fired plant in any of the three northern counties.
“This will stabilize the whole wood industry,” Bulis said. “It’s a big part of the economies in Coos, Grafton and Carroll counties. Those 45 power plant jobs will have a big trickle down effect.”
The bill is bipartisan. Its co-sponsors include Rep. Robert Theberge, D-Berlin; Rep. Gene Chandler, R-Bartlett; and Senator John Gallus, R-Berlin.
A dozen unregulated competitors of Public Service warned against rolling back the state’s policy of de-regulation and divestiture in the electric industry. Rivals said the change would chill plans to launch an array of renewable power projects in the region. Their investors would assume the full risk of any plant failures, while ratepayers would underwrite any losses by Public Service. That argument prompted Bulis to offer his new version of the bill.
“The intent is just to let Public Service build one plant,” he said.
Jim Wagner of Berlin is a former manager of the Berlin pulp mill that closed in 2006, shutting down 250 jobs. He said the surrounding economy is a tragedy. A hundred logging firms supplied the 1.2 million tons of low grade wood chips the plant burned.
“A wood power plant would create 40 jobs and another 80 in the woods,” he said. “I know the people in the long lines at the unemployment office.”
George Bald, commissioner of Resources and Economic Development, said the bill would help the third largest sector of the state’s gross product (forestry), and it might jump start a renewable energy industry.
“The longer we wait the less of that (logging) infrastructure will survive,” he said.
Dick Winn opposed the legislation on behalf of the Seabrook Station nuclear plant and its parent company, FPL Energy, which owns nuclear, solar and fossil-fuel power plants in 26 states.
“We need a level playing field for companies willing to build a power plant without a safety net,” Wynn said. “We bought Seabrook on a trust that PSNH would never get back into the power generation business. We’ve been looking at a number of possibilities for wind and fossil generation in New Hampshire. If this bill passes we would feel negatively about that.”
Several years ago the state forced Public Service to sell off Seabrook. Lawmakers soon saw a series of wild price spikes and rolling brownouts in the de-regulated California energy market. Policy makers backed off making PSNH unload its remaining 1,150 megawatts of oil, coal and hydro plants. As a result, the utility still owns many large and small plants with regulated profits and rates, monitored by the Public Utilities Commission. But PSNH can only build a new plant if it retires a plant the same size.
Donna Gamache, the lobbyist for PSNH, said it was not looking for a bill like this after similar legislation to help the North Country failed each of the last two years. But she supported HB 1640; it would be good for ratepayers and would help the company meet its statutory goal of using another 750 megawatts of renewable power by 2025. The bill would also limit the company’s carbon footprint in the face of global warming and greenhouse gas cap-and-trade legislation this term.
“We’re the only utility in the country that is required to be economical to its ratepayers,” Gamache said.
She noted the state caps the company’s profit margin at 9.6 percent, but the competition can sometimes earn 35 percent, a cost borne by ratepayers. She said PSNH would be willing to share its risks and profits with customers if it could expand. It agreed to split half its profits and losses with ratepayers in building a wood-fired power plant in Portsmouth, she said. There haven’t been any losses, and the project will pay for itself in the first five years.
Attorney Doug Patch represents Noble Energy in its plans for 242 megawatts of wind farms in Coos County. He spoke against the bill on behalf of another client, TransCanada Energy, which owns wind, hydro and gas power plants and pipelines in the US and Canada.
“Let all the developers take the same risks in a competitive market,” he suggested. “After the first Noble Energy wind project, you can’t build any power plants up there until you solve the transmission problem.”
The existing power line loop in the county can handle another 90 to 100 megawatts of electricity, according to a recent report by the Public Utilities Commission.
Will Abbott, the policy director for the Forest Society, said the state’s commercial woodlands can support at least two more wood-burners in the 50-megawatt range. In comparison, the wood-burning power plants in Tamworth, Alexandria (getting ready to go back on line) and Whitefield are less than 20 megawatts.
“It may not be the most efficient way to use the BTUs, but it’s marketable,” Abbott said.
Rep. Naida Kaen, D-Lee, the chairman of House energy policy, said she feels for the depressed North Country, reeling from the loss of several paper mills. But better roads and broadband access would open up the region to telecommuting and high tech development, she suggested. That ought to be the focus of recovery.
“It would give them new ways to make a living,” she said. “It’s better than a piecemeal change to the state’s whole energy policy.”
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
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OBITUARIES | LETTERS | COLUMNS | COMMUNITY | LOCAL SPORTS | CALENDAR
Biomass a focus for Fraser mill
Barbara Tetreault
GORHAM — Fraser Papers and state officials are actively exploring ways to help the company reduce energy costs at the paper mill in Gorham.
Citing high pulp and energy costs, Fraser Monday night announced it will shut down two paper machines on April 13, laying off 167 workers for an indefinite period. About 180 employees will remain employed.
Fraser Vice President and CFO Glen McMillan said oil is used to both heat the mill and to heat water to generate steam used in the drying process. The plant presently heats water for its operations in three oil-fired boilers.
While McMillan would not provide any figures on the mill’s oil consumption, he said it is among the largest cost in making paper.
“The cost of oil is certainly having a tremendous impact on that operation,” said N.H. Commissioner of Resources and Economic Development George Bald.
McMillan said one option being considered for Gorham is a biomass boiler that would significantly reduce the facility’s dependance on oil. Bald said a number of things are being looked at but said biomass is a major focus. He acknowledged there is a real sense of urgency and said the state’s Congressional delegation is also involved.
McMillan said Fraser signed a memorandum of understanding with Laidlaw Energy Group last fall to receive hot water from the biomass plant Laidlaw is hoping to build on the site of the former pulp mill in Berlin. Laidlaw has an agreement to purchase the chemical recovery boiler and convert it to a 60 megawatt biomass plant. Under the MOU, Laidlaw would recover heat produced as a byproduct of the biomass plant and use it to heat water for the paper mill. There already is an existing pipeline between the two facilities.
But Laidlaw has yet to finalize purchase of the boiler and under the company’s best case scenario it will be the fall of 2009 before the project is completed.
Fraser has described the layoff as temporary and McMillan said if costs go down or prices go up, workers could be recalled. The two paper machines being shut down represent most of Fraser’s production of commodity freesheet paper. The company said selling prices for those papers do not offset costs. McMillan said Fraser’s focus is on specialty packaging and printing papers.
Of the 167 workers being laid off, McMillan said 20 would be salaried people and the rest would be hourly workers. He said the company was discussing the layoff with salaried workers yesterday. McMillan indicated the company has still to work out issues with the union on seniority rights. PACE Local 75 Acting President Leo Lozier could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Bald said the state’s top focus is the workers being laid off. He noted that Gov. Lynch has pledged to do what he can to bring jobs to the North Country and said the state is working to attract businesses to the region.
“We continually push the North Country and will continue to do so,” Bald said.
The governor is expected to testify tomorrow before the House Ways and Means Committee on his proposal to create a Coos County Tax Credit. The proposal would give a business that creates a job in Coos County that pays at least twice the minimum wage a $1,000 credit against its business taxes for each of the next five years. Most new businesses would pay no business taxes for their first five years. Existing businesses in Coos County would be eligible for new jobs they create.
In the meantime, the state’s rapid response team is expected to be in Berlin Friday to take an assessment of Fraser workers to determine what their needs may be in order to help them re-enter the workforce, including job counseling and retraining. The state will also be working with employees and the company to extend federal Trade Act Assistance benefits.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!! Welcome to ihub. take every poster with a grain of salt, and pay attn to their posting histories. :) Wonderful insite especially with your first post.
tell ya when i get my electric bill
thats from yesterdays
Concord Monitor
I just got a pvt message in my mail here from berlin nh resident for a link to http://berlinnh.proboards92.com/ . Looks
like the only Poster is a tim cayer. NH res would that be you?
http://forum.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=messageboard.viewThread&entryID=45358988&groupID=100305052&adTopicID=8&Mytoken=6ADF2AAD-79CA-454C-8CD50D26571615FF9830358
In the three way race for the 2-year position in Ward IV, David Poulin easily won over Timothy Cayer and Frederick Treiss.
This plant is a win/win situation for all. I want nothing more than for it to go thru. It will reduce taxes, put people to work, lower utility bills, raise property values and stop the residential flight. Berlin is beautiful, built on both sides of the Androscoggin river and in the shadow of the biggest mountain on the east coast. Polution? How many homes are chugging down cords of wood for their own fireplaces? Berlin is a mill town and if it doesn't get jobs soon it will be a twin of the sh!thole that is Lawrence Ma., where jobs and industry hasn't come back.
400 properties for sale today on realtor.com in Berlin
February 08. 2008 12:35AM
Concord Steam won approval from the zoning board Wednesday night for its plans to build a wood-fired electricity and steam heat plant in the South End. The planning board will review the proposal, and city residents will have one last chance to ask questions or comment on the plan during a public hearing expected to be held next month.
By moving from its current location on state hospital grounds to the former Boston & Maine railroad site at South Main and Langdon streets, Concord Steam would secure space to build a state-of-the-art, wood-fired power plant. Concord Steam, a local business since 1938, already provides steam heat to much of downtown, and the new plant could produce electricity and heat year-round, increasing its output from 2 to 17 megawatts.
The zoning board granted two variances to the company: one to build a 70-foot-tall building in the "opportunity corridor," a zone that restricts height to 45 feet, and a second variance to allow the company to use a smaller floor area ratio than typically permitted.
Only two residents spoke to the proposal at the meeting, and both said they support the plans, according to city officials who attended the meeting.
The city planning board already has the company's plans, and it will ensure that the application is complete this month. A public hearing is expected to be held during the March planning board meeting.
Even if Concord Steam receives city approval next month, it must still obtain permits from the state Department of Environmental Services and the Public Utilities Commission, said Mark Saltsman, manager and vice president of Concord Steam. The company hopes to began building in March 2009 and finish the new plant by the summer of 2010.
The plant would cover 15,000 square feet on the southern section of the rail yard near the South End Marsh. It would include a 110-foot-tall smokestack, which would emit water vapor, not smoke, and is slightly shorter than the plant's current stack, which stands at 150 feet. About 57,000 square feet of condemned, abandoned rail yard buildings would be demolished, and contaminated soil from leaky underground fuel tanks would be removed. Company officials hope that three old railway buildings near Langdon Street could be restored, including one damaged by fire last year.
Concord Steam President Peter Bloomfield has pledged to design the building so it looks less industrial, in case the city goes forward with plans to redevelop the area with housing and high-end commercial real estate.
In concord they gotta build the second plant from the ground up unlike Berlin, first one has been around a while.
when is it?
2 local articles;
Site plan review underway for wood pellet plant
Barbara Tetreault
BERLIN— Greenova L.L.C . continues to move forward on its proposal to build a wood pellet plant at the city’s industrial park. The company was before the planning board Tuesday night to begin the site plan review process.
Representing Greenova, Jay Poulin of HEB Engineering outlined the layout of the facility which will occupy four lots at the park. Two of the lots will be used for log storage. The logs will be debarked, chipped, and then conveyed to the processing facility. Poulin said the bark stripped from the logs will be burned for fuel. There will also be six bulk storage silos for the pellets.
Because there will be a lot of internal traffic on the site as well as up to 75 deliveries and shipments daily, Poulin said Greenova has proposed closing the road to through traffic. Both the Berlin Industrial Development and Park Authority and the city council have indicated their support for closing the road and creating two dead-end streets. Poulin said Greenova would create a public turnaround.
The plant will run 24 hours a day but trucking and chipping will be limited to day time hours.
Greenova will impact 2.3 acres of wetlands and under state regulations must provide mitigation for that environmental impact. Poulin said the company has spoken to the city about helping it provide conservation easements on 24 acres of land. Some of the easement area will be on-site but Greenova is proposing to include a piece near the city’s water treatment plant on the river and land near Mt. Jasper and the Dead River.
Poulin said Greenova is committed to doing what it takes to comply with the noise limits in the city ordinance.
“We intent to meet the zoning ordinance on noise at this point,” he said.
Last week, the zoning board granted Greenova’s request for a special exception on accessory building height. The company has applied for the necessary state permits and the applications are under review. Greenova has also agreed to cover the $2,500 cost of a study of the project’s potential impacts on the well head which serves as the back-up for Berlin’s water system. Poulin said Greenova hopes to have all of the regulatory permits approved by the end of next month.
Once Greenova has the necessary permits, Poulin said the company will order the specialized equipment required. He said, however, that the lead time on the equipment is eight to 12 months. While some site work may get underway this summer, Poulin said it will be next year before the plant is up and running.
The total cost of the project is estimated at $30 million and it will employ about 40 people. Poulin pointed out that the plant will also create spin-off jobs in the wood industry.
The planning board tabled the hearing until next month’s meeting. At that time, the well head study should be completed. Board Vice Chair David Morin also asked that a copy of the zoning board’s decision be forwarded to the planning board.
and Gorham the next town over......
Fraser reports loss for quarter and year
Barbara Tetreault
GORHAM — Fraser Papers reported a loss of $20.8 million or 70 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2007 and an overall loss of $43.7 million or $1.48 per share for all of 2007.
Fraser CEO and President Peter Gordon said the “disappointing results overshadowed some of the positive impacts” the company was able to make in its operations.
Gordon said Fraser reduced its energy consumption and improved both its product mix and the efficiency of its operations.
“However, continued increases in energy and fibre costs, combined with the strengthening Canadian dollar, continue to erode operating margins in the short term,” Gordon said.
The weak housing market also hurt the company, forcing it to close its sawmills in Juniper and Plaster Rock, New Brunswick for substantially the entire quarter. Fraser said its lumber operations operated at 37 percent of capacity.
Gordon said some of the cost increases were offset by the improvements that were made but said the full impact of the initiatives have yet to be realized. During the fourth quarter Fraser announced prices increases to customers representing almost 50 percent of its anticipated 2008 shipments.
Fraser said the company’s long term strategy calls for it to focus on value-added products especially specialty applications for packaging, printing, and roundwood paper grades. At the same time, Fraser will continue to provide superior customer service and technical support.
Last year, Fraser achieved Sustainable Forest Practices certification at the Gorham mill which allowed it to provide some of the paper used in the first and second printing of J.K. Rowling’s book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
In December, Fraser announced a rights offering to shareholders that was completed Jan. 22. The company offered over 20 million shares at $2.90 per share. Completed Jan. 22, the sale netted $59.9 million which was used to reduce debt . Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., purchased 18.8 million shares and now holds about 70 percent of the shares of Fraser.
Fraser is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.
YEA LIKE MINE