Don’t let southern states tell you to pay for their electric needs 

Remember when Marvin Gaye told us to believe in “half of what we see and none of what we hear?” Maybe he was on to something. Because this isn’t shaping up as a great year as far as the credibility of wind developers are concerned.

We are currently seeing anti-wind protests in Vermont, Maine and Massachusetts. Residents from all of our bordering states are fighting with wind developers. They are fighting tooth and nail to stop more wind development in their states.

Let’s feel their pain for a minute.

Let’s start with news reports out of Vermont on March 1, 2014 – “Anti-wind forum focuses on high-elevation water impacts.” Vermonters share similarities with our watershed concerns and are experiencing lost property values. Maine politicians are already stating that some residents will be unhappy once their wind turbines start spinning. Massachusetts residents near Iberdrola’s Hoosac Wind power plant are doing everything but screaming at us. It’s a darn shame what happening down there. And the Offshore Cape Cod Wind talks are being seen as a Third World joke – even going as far as saying they can slow down hurricanes. Really?

That leaves us with our own backyard experiment: the Groton Wind Power plant. Our residents are just starting to see the ill effects of this wind plant on local rivers and streams, along with safety issues and money transfers to buy silence and/or support in our community.

A consistently loud message that I am hearing from our neighbors is: “Fighting now is easier than fighting later. Because once they’re up, they’re up.”

Many of you watch the Boston news channels on television at night and realize how happy you are to call yourselves resident of New Hampshire rather than residents of Massachusetts. Yet, you are now beginning to experience how the Massachusetts Electric Policy Initiative will soon affect your wallets.

It’s a rather simple initiative. Massachusetts is outsourcing their renewable energy quota to New Hampshire lands and they are seeking your help to pay for it.

I believe that all New England politicians are starting to see the bigger picture, and that the 25×25 policy is not attainable. For it to be successful New England would have to erect thousands upon thousands of new wind turbines to comply with state laws. We all know that will not happen. And that realization appears to be sinking in with Gov. Deval Patrick and his administration. Because the Patrick administration is now entertaining the fact that hydroelectricity needs to be part of the clean energy mix if the state is to meet the goals of the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act. That’s a huge shift in thinking.

That is good news for New Hampshire and its hydro facilities currently running at half throttle. I think the politicians are starting to read the handwriting on the wall, but as usual, they’re still months and months behind all of you in their thinking.

It doesn’t surprise me that residents of New Hampshire are smarter than residents from other states. And I’ve yet to meet a resident who isn’t proud to call themselves a New Hampshire resident. So go back to your national news where they talk about the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s feeding his uncle to 120 ravenous dogs, or your regional news where Massachusetts approves sex changes for their prisoners, and thank your luck stars that your local news stories are simple or weather related.

Oh, and don’t let southern states dictate to you on how you should help pay for their electricity problem. Remember New Hampshire has been an electricity exporter for decades. You’ve been doing things right. It’s time they own up to that fact.

Ray Cunningham

Bridgewater