Project No Project

Granite Reliable Power, Coos County Wind Project

STATUS: In progress, with opposition

TYPE: Wind

OPPOSITION: Residents of Coos County, Groveton area residents, Fish and Game Department, Appalachian Mountain Club

PROSPECTS:  Indeterminate

Public Service of New Hampshire (PSNH) Clean Air Project, Merrimack Station

STATUS: In progress

TYPE: Coal

OPPOSITION: Stonyfield Farms' Gary Hirshberg, the Sierra Club, Conservation Law foundation.

PROSPECTS: Likely

Lempster Mountain Wind Project

STATUS: Complete

OPPOSITION: Citizens

PROSPECTS: Prolonged delay

BACKGROUND: Lempster Mountain Wind Power Project is a 24-megawatt wind farm in Lempster, NH. It has 12 wind turbines and will produce enough electricity to power roughly 10,000 homes a year. Owned by Iberdrola, it is the first major wind-power installation in the state of New Hampshire. Concern about appearance, and about the effect of the large construction work stretching along about five miles of ridgeline, led several landowners in and around Lempster to file opposition to the project after it was proposed. Delayed after the opposition, the project ultimately opened in 2008.

SOURCES: The Boston Globe; Nashua Telegraph

GenPower Biomass Facility

STATUS: Killed

OPPOSITION: Citizens: Hinsdale; Winchester; Concerned Citizens of Hinsdale

PROSPECTS: Dead

BACKGROUND: GenPower LLC submitted designs for a $95 million wood-burning power plant to the Hinsdale, N.H. Planning Board. The proposal included a $7 million construction and demolition facility that would supply about 15 percent of the plant's fuel. The processing operation would accept debris from a 50-mile radius and would be capable of handling between 600 and 750 tons of material per day. GenPower's preliminary plan said the project could bring about 51 jobs to Hinsdale and pump an additional $1 million in annual tax revenue into the local economy. However, residents raised concerns about increased traffic, noise and pollution. The State put a moratorium on the burning of construction and demolition debris. Governor Lynch extended New Hampshire's moratorium on the burning of construction and demolition debris. The legislation extended the moratorium from July 1, 2006 to Dec. 31, 2007, causing GenPower to withdraw its proposal for Hinsdale.

SOURCES: New Hampshire Public Radio; The Boston Globe

Henniker Biomass Facility

STATUS: In progress with opposition

OPPOSITION: Citizens

PROSPECTS: Unlikely; prolonged delay