That is correct, the coos county commissioners are backing the Laidlaw energy project. The entire state of NH is behind this, except for a few NIMBYs in Berlin who worry about Real estate prices.
As far as the application goes, a poster on here had an email conversation with Mr. Bartoszek in which he said that he expects the application to be submitted within 60 days.
Did you get a chance to read what the permit application entails? Do a search on the ibox for "NH PERMITTING", I provided a link on the ihub lleg front page.
Matthew