NH needs your help!

Plymouth Area Renewable Energy Initiative

New Hampshire is a member of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). This is a fund that is created when utilities emit greenhouse gasses and pay into a fund based on their amount of pollution.

Watch a video about RGGI

From the www.rggi. website:

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is the first market-based regulatory program in the United States to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. RGGI is a cooperative effort among the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont to cap and reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector.

States sell nearly all emission allowances through auctions and invest proceeds in energy efficiency, renewable energy, and other consumer benefit programs. These programs are spurring innovation in the clean energy economy and creating green jobs in the RGGI states.

In New Hampshire, RGGI has been able to provide a portion of the funding for such things as biomass plants (powered by locally sourced wood chips) at schools, large renewable energy projects and weatherization projects that reduce the amount of energy used in NH buildings. It has helped build the clean energy industry providing thousands of jobs from energy auditors to solar installers to weatherization contractors, loggers and truckers.

One project: the wood chip plant at Merrimack Valley High School has saved over $500,000 since installing their system 8 years ago.

Detractors say that it raises rates by costing the utilities money. If this is so, the rates they are talking about are .0024%. Or .24 cents per $100.

Now there is a bill before the NH legislature that will eliminate RGGI. Thursday, January 22nd at 10am in the state house there will be a hearing on this bill.

If you are interested in helping to keep RGGI intact, please contact your representative and senator before Thursday. Better yet, if you are available to come to the hearing on Thursday that would be even more powerful. They need to hear from people and businesses that care about the continued advancement and implementation of renewable energy here in New Hampshire. They need to hear that people in New Hampshire are proud of our state for being a leader on this important economic and environmental issue.