Offshore wind will be critical in reducing carbon emissions for New Hampshire. Carbon emissions are polluting the atmosphere and contributing to the climate crisis and yet New Hampshire remains heavily dependent on fossil fuels. Even with the defeat of the Granite Bridge Pipeline, New Hampshire is still lacking an alternative energy that is 100 percent clean and the state government has refused to invest in renewable energy. Offshore wind can be that alternative energy because New Hampshire is right next to the ocean where there is plenty of wind for the turbines to absorb and create renewable clean energy to power our state.
Offshore wind power New Hampshire state senators are in the process of crafting legislation that could potentially jumpstart major offshore wind projects and other renewable energy across the state. This bill known as SB 151 would force the New Hampshire government to work together with utility companies such as Eversource in developing a proposal for 600 megawatts of offshore wind. This power would pour into the New England electric grid and will assist New Hampshire in meeting its renewable energy goals, which aim to decrease the carbon emissions. Special interests groups paid by fossil fuel companies however, have fought to kill legislation that will harm their profits. Offshore wind would cut carbon emissions but also put these polluting companies out of business.
Failure to implement offshore wind will lead to a further increase in carbon emissions which will cause the polar ice caps to melt resulting in rising sea levels across the world. Public pressure from 350NH as well as other activist groups were instrumental in stopping the Granite Bridge pipeline from being built and will be critical in pressuring our local politicians to take action in implementing offshore wind turbines for New Hampshire. While 350NH won our campaign to have New Hampshire join an offshore wind task force, we have to keep the momentum going.
Read SB151 here: https://legiscan.com/NH/text/SB151/id/2284771
Send a letter to your Senator in support of SB151 here: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/support-sb-151
Written by David Sanok
