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Old 07-11-2011, 10:32 AM   #7
MAXUM
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Originally Posted by ishoot308 View Post
Maxum;

They want to take land, homes and businesses from people in the State of NH for a utility that only benefits Massachusetts. Remember, NH produces over 75% more electricity than it uses, we are set for years to come. They are trying to do this under the eminent domain law.

"State" infrastructure such as roads, highways, bridges, etc, etc are not for profit state necessities that we pay taxes on. This power that is coming out of Quebec is strictly for profit and billions of dollars of profit and does not, I repeat does not benefit the state of NH. This is completely against our state constitution which clearly states, "No part of a person's property shall be taken by eminent domain and transferred, directly or indirectly, to another person if the taking is for the purpose of private development or other private use of the property." Hydro Quebec IS a private company and IS profiting from this!

In March of this year The NH House approved a bill blocking the utility companies from taking private land regarding the Northern Pass Project by an overwhelming 317 - 51. Make no mistake however this is far from over as Hydro Quebec has given PSNH / Northeast Utilities millions of dollars to fight this. They have also put almost every lawyer capable of trying this case on retainer to keep anyone against it out of their way. They have paid many many lobbyist and have many millions of dollars to try and force this down our throat.

Oh yeah here's another good one, Massachusetts who needs this power is shutting down Salem Harbor one of their primary electrical producing plants in 2014 which produces 800 Megawatts of electricity. Guess what most likely will be going in in it's place... A casino!!

Everyone needs to do their homework on this issue and follow the money for the real answers. Don't believe anything you see and hear on TV.

Dan
Right Dan I agree Northern Pass is not in our best interest and therefore should not be done period. We don't need power from anyone, if there is a need there is no reason why we can't produce it ourselves. If your data is accurate Dan where we are producing 75% more power than we need it's unconscionable as why this is even being considered! What isn't surprising is that there are lots of pockets that will be padded if it is allowed to happen. Thankfully it looks like the state legislature is on the ball here and overwhelmingly saying no! So with no support from the legislature and clearly enough support to override the Gov on this why isn't it a dead issue? Guess I need to brush up on this one some more.

However back to what I was saying in regards to running or extending the power grid, I can see where eminent domain could in theory be used to run lines and is it accurate to say that PSNH and NE Utilities are all for profit companies too? I'm asking only because I don't know for sure. Needless to say the power grid is a matter of public interest and a necessity so I'm just saying I can see where eminent domain could be applied and would directly benefit for profit companies again subtracting the whole Northern Pass project from the equation. That said, and assuming that my premise is accurate on the for profit status of these entities, massive oversight should be put in place to ensure that any seizure of land is done so with due process and only where absolutely necessary with minimal impacts to the rights of land owners. I just can't see how it would be possible to expand the power grid if eminent domain were not a last case resort assuming the expansion was needed in the first place.

Plus we do have an electricity consumption tax what's that collected for?

Looking south of the border - NH should just take notes on what MA does as it's a great lesson in how NOT to do things!
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