Author: 350NH

Categories
Coal

CLIMATE ACTIVISTS ARRESTED DEMANDING SHUTDOWN DATE FOR MERRIMACK GENERATING STATION

Over 150 people gathered in Bow, 50 took to the river in boats and 18 were arrested building a garden at the Merrimack Generating Station.

image of a crowd of people in t shirts that say "no coal no gas" walking behind a big banner that says "Tear it down." The people are carrying plants and buckets of soil

(image credit: Candace Hope)

BOW, NEW HAMPSHIRE— Over a hundred and fifty people descended on Bow this Sunday to take direct action to shut down the Merrimack Generating Station – the last coal-fired power plant in New England. The Merrimack Generating Station is destroying the river, the land and the water and making the Bow community sick. It is contributing to the escalating climate crisis. The No Coal No Gas campaign is taking action to end the use of coal in Bow. The group gathered in the field across from the coal plant for a rally demanding a shutdown date for the coal plant.

“There’s a boat ramp across the way [from the coal plant] with a sign that reads ‘Merrimack Station is pleased to share this boat ramp with the Bow community, please use this property safely and responsibly,’” recounts Mary Fite, resident of Bow. “When I first read this sign, I felt like crying. Is operating a coal-fired power plant on the banks of the Merrimack River safe? Is polluting our air, land, and water responsible?”

After a rally across the street from the coal plant, the group broke into three groups – one went to the Merrimack River with kayaks, one marched down River Road chanting, and a third headed towards the entrance of Merrimack Station holding signs, plants, and gardening tools. No Coal No Gas activists blockaded the entrance to the coal plant and tore up the pavement to plant a garden in its place to begin to heal the polluted soil from toxic coal. 18 people were arrested. 

image of a group of individuals sitting on concrete in front of a banner that has flowers on it and the text "Tear it down." The coal plant in Bow, NH is in the distance and cops in riot gear are approaching the group.

(photo credit: Candace Hope)

“The Merrimack Generating station only stays open because it receives millions of dollars in forward capacity payments – essentially fossil fuel subsidies” explains Rebecca Beaulieu, Communications Director with 350NH Action. “We must end this unjust system that pays polluters to destroy our environment. Our politicians and the plant owners think that they can ignore the problem and just let people in Bow keep getting sick. We are here to say enough is enough. If our elected leaders won’t end the use of destructive fossil fuels, then we will take matters into our own hands and keep coming back until we end the use of coal once and for all.”

The No Coal No Gas campaign formed in 2019 with the goal of forcing the Merrimack Generating Station to shut down. Since then, the campaign has built a large community of supporters, taken direct action at the coal plant, blockaded six coal trains heading for Bow, and targeted ISO-New England, the regional grid operator responsible for the coal plant’s subsidies. At this event, No Coal No Gas activists started the process of remediating the land by planting native NH plants that will absorb toxins from the coal. 


“The owners of this plant, Granite Shore Power, which is owned by Atlas Holdings and Castleton Commodities, are getting rich, destroying lives and entire communities. But while they and the ISO do nothing to prevent the harm happening in Bow, we are ready to act. We are ready to decommission and dismantle this coal plant ourselves. And we will replace it with the seeds of a better future,” said Leif Taranta, Organizer with the Climate Disobedience Center.

image of a group of kayaks and canoes in the Merrimack River, holding various signs that say "shut it down" and "no coal no gas." The big looming coal plant is in the background

(photo credit: Noah Harrison)

“What do I have to lose fighting for climate justice? Nothing. I have nothing to lose. My future and the future of the planet are on the line. If we are complicit in the climate crisis, my generation will have nothing left. I will fight with everything I have for a just transition to renewable energy in New England, the United States, and the world, and I hope you all will join me,” Said Kai Parlett, organizer with No Coal No Gas and freshman at UNH, in her speech at the rally.

Millions of people and the planet continue to suffer from the effects of the climate crisis. We will keep fighting for a shut down date for the coal plant and for an end to fossil fuel use and expansion until we run the world on 100% renewable energy.

image of a group of people standing along the side of a bridge overlooking railroad tracks and a big coal plant. They are carrying yellow painted flowers and signs that say "no coal in bow." one person wearing a yellow vest stands in front of them.
Categories
Granite Bridge

Liberty Utilities Wants Us to Pay for the Failed Granite Bridge Pipeline

On July 31st, 2020, we stopped the Granite Bridge pipeline after years of grassroots organizing. Now, Liberty Utilities – the company behind Granite Bridge, is asking the state to sign off on a $7.5 million bill for ratepayers, to recoup some of the money they lost pursuing the project.

The Granite Bridge pipeline would have cost $340 million and locked us into years of burning fracked methane gas instead of transitioning to renewable energy. Liberty claims the costs were necessary to “conduct due diligence” on one of two options to meet the growing demand for natural gas.350 New Hampshire opposed the Granite Bridge project and argues that any fossil fuel infrastructure expansion in NH is dangerous for our state. 

“Building new fracked gas infrastructure locks us into burning expensive and dangerous fossil fuels for decades to come,” says Lila Kohrman-Glaser, Co-Executive Director of 350NH. “Building new gas pipelines makes the shareholders of Liberty Utility and the fracking companies rich at the expense of our communities and our health and safety. We don’t need any new gas infrastructure to meet our energy needs in NH.”

Liberty Utilities should instead consider focusing their efforts on clean, renewable energy like solar and wind – and doing work to electrify the energy grid. The climate crisis is already impacting New Hampshire – rising sea levels, droughts, fires, and heat waves are threatening people and ecosystems across the state.

On learning that Liberty wants to make ratepayers cut the checks for failed pipeline projects, Karen Merriam of Epping said: “Allowing Liberty Utilities to charge ratepayers $7.5 million for the scrapped Granite Bridge Project would contravene long-standing NH law (the 1979 Anti-Construction Work In Progress law) and would set a terrible precedent.”

Why should ratepayers (whose energy costs are already high) have to front the bill for Liberty’s mistake?  Liberty Utilities is showing us yet again that they do not care about their customers – they care about making a profit. 

350 New Hampshire’s mission is to stop the climate crisis by enacting a just transition to 100% renewable energy and an end to fossil fuel use and expansion. You can learn more at 350nh.org

Categories
Renew

Health Care is a Part of NH Renews

NH Renews is a coalition working to build a better New Hampshire for us all. Central to NH Renews’ policy platform are solutions to the climate crisis – and that includes creating good jobs with access to good health care. This is how the platform imagines a different future for our health care:

As New Hampshire continues to grapple with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, many of our residents are dying or going bankrupt due to lacking healthcare coverage. The United States remains the only major industrialized nation to not have a universal healthcare system and consequently, many New Hampshire residents are suffering from tremendous medical costs. In order to achieve universal health care for all New Hampshire residents, the first step we must take as a state is to implement a Jobs Guarantee Program.

A Job Guarantee Program will build hundreds of community health centers for thousands of New Hampshire residents who are either uninsured or underinsured. The number of people without healthcare coverage has increased during the pandemic due to the job losses. Since healthcare coverage is tied to employment, these community health centers will provide the crucial treatments for people who are unable to afford the expensive medical costs. 

In addition to the community health centers, a Job Guarantee Program would also expand public education programs to train and certify healthcare workers. In order to service the thousands of sick patients across the state, we need more doctors and nurses. These programs will give healthcare workers the education and experience necessary to handle the patients and give the proper treatments. 

A jobs program like this would not only bring medical relief to many New Hampshire residents, but also bring us one step closer to a universal health care system. As thousands of residents continue to die or go bankrupt without healthcare during this pandemic, the time is now for New Hampshire to lead the way in making healthcare a human right.

-Written by David Sanok

-Graphic art by Alexandra VanderClute

Categories
Legislative

Coalition United for a People’s Budget Rallies at the State House for “A Better New Hampshire is Possible” And Condemns Passage of Budget by House and Senate

CONCORD, NH – Today a grassroots coalition for a People’s Budget gathered at the State House in Concord to demand a better budget for New Hampshire. The coalition demanded that Governor Chris Sununu veto this budget. In addition, the coalition made 6 demands as the House and Senate held concurrent sessions to vote on the final version of the state budget: 

  1. We demand the freedom to speak the truth about systemic oppression.
  2. We demand reproductive liberation and the right to bodily autonomy.
  3. We demand well-funded public schools and strong public education.
  4. We demand a supportive and strong Department of Health and Human Services.
  5. We demand taxes on the ultra-wealthy and corporations.
  6. We demand climate action, not climate denial.

The Coalition for a People’s Budget includes: NH Poor People’s Campaign, NH Voices of Faith, American Friends Service Committee, Granite State Organizing Project, Rights & Democracy NH, Granite State Progress, 350 New Hampshire, Kent Street Coalition, Unitarian Universalist Action NH, NH Council of Churches, NH Youth Movement, Change for Concord, NH Conference United Church of Christ Economic Justice Mission Group, Occupy Seacoast, Meriden Congregational Church (UCC), Planned Parenthood NH Action Fund, Raise Up NH, NH Peace Action, Occupy Seacoast, the Reproductive Freedom Fund of NH, National Education Association NH (NEA-NH), and many other organizations and individual activists. 

Advocates and speakers released the following statements: 

Grace Kindeke, Program Coordinator, American Friends Service Committee NH: “We’re here today to send a message that this budget cannot pass. We may be working on different issues, but we are all here today because on this issue, we are united. Liberation must happen for all of us. Our founding fathers may not have intended for a multiracial democracy, but that’s what they’re getting.”

James McKim, President of the Manchester NAACP: “While our demands are for a people’s budget in New Hampshire, we must understand that the budget put forth by our own legislature has been heavily influenced by forces outside our state. Outside forces who work daily to have an impact on New Hampshire communities, New Hampshire women’s rights, New Hampshire children – our future; and the moral character of our state. This nationally-crafted language is being tweaked ever so slightly for the New Hampshire context. But don’t let that fool you. This is part of a larger set of trends we are seeing in legislatures across the country. Public discourse does not tend to include discussion of these trends. But we will discuss them here today. And following this discussion, we will stop them.”

Anthony Harris, Decarceration Organizer with the American Friends Service Committee: “They’re saying to our communities, there’s no racism in New Hampshire – that there’s no systemic racism in this nation. But this nation was founded on racism. To white people – I’m not asking to hold you accountable for what your ancestors did centuries ago. I’m asking you, if you’re not racist, help us destroy the systemic racism in our communities.”

Asma Elhuni, Movement Politics Director of Rights and Democracy NH: “The contents of this budget will strike fear in teachers, hospitals, and all organizations that receive public funding. Even if they want to do better and teach their doctors, teachers, and employees about our country’s history and the harm of systemic racism, they won’t be able to. We will not let this happen. That’s why we’re here today to make our voices heard.”

Hon. Andru Volinsky, former Executive Councilor and Education Advocate: “When it comes to funding public schools we need a sustainable and reliable source of funding that doesn’t create learning ghettos in communities with property values too meager to support vibrant schools. That’s true whether Republicans or Democrats are in power. We’re not talking about collective guilt – we’re talking about collective responsibility.” 

Maggie Fogarty, Program Director, American Friends Service Committee NH: “I want to remind us all that we are never going to have the kinds of investments we need and deserve in our public schools, in affordable universities and colleges, in real and lasting solutions to homelessness and housing affordability crisis, in mental health care, alternatives to policing and incarceration, environmental protections, disability supports unless we also demand a fair and adequate taxation in New Hampshire. Lawmakers that are generous to wealthy people are stingy with the rest of us.  They want us to have a scarcity mindset. And scarcity is real! We often don’t measure the toll that scarcity takes but it’s real and lasting. Why do we put time limits in poverty relief when there’s no time limit on poverty? They want us to look at each other and clutch our purses, and parrot this false narrative that there isn’t enough. Don’t settle for the message that there isn’t enough. There is. We just have to demand it by making everyone pay their share. Especially wealthy New Hampshire residents and corporations.”

Deborah Opramolla, Chair, NH Poor People’s Campaign: “In the disability community, we depend on the DHHS to fund our budgets so that we can care for family members with disabilities. These empty positions have left parents struggling to find services that meet the needs of their families. New Hampshire believed at one point that everyone should be able to thrive. Additionally, the divisive concepts language tells me I can’t have uncomfortable conversations on ableism, racism, sexism, or anything that makes someone uncomfortable. However, if we have those tough conversations, we can rejoice in our diversity and create a future that all will thrive.” 

Katie Lessard, 350 NH: “Corporations do not have the power to vote, and should not have their views represented by our representatives. Our representatives are supposed to be “of the people,” but somehow we haven’t been prioritized. We demand that New Hampshire takes action on the climate crisis for our futures and for our children’s futures. We demand that New Hampshire takes action on the climate crisis because New Hampshire needs to prioritize lives over money. This budget is a disappointment, and New Hampshire must do better.

Alyssa Antman, Public Affairs Organizer for Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund: “Listen to us Governor Sununu: This state budget is a disaster for health care providers, for women, for the LGBTQ+ community, for low income Granite Staters, for uninsured Granite Staters, for families, and for us. We deserve a budget that represents our values. We deserve a budget that expands access to health care. We deserve a budget that supports reproductive freedom. And we won’t settle for anything less.”

Emma Lubic, Student Organizer, New Hampshire Youth Movement: “I am 15 years old and had to quickly realize that it is on me to figure out what is true and false about my education. How is that fair? I’m still a child and it is not at all reasonable that I, and other young students, are thrown out into the world to figure out how to discover what’s fact and what’s fiction. It is now made our responsibility to teach ourselves the factual history of America. However, not everyone is granted with outside resources to help them along the way and they are easily tricked into believing the lies that they’re told. The state budget prevents people from talking about lessons that show how racist and sexist this country is. The whole point of teaching history is to prevent it from repeating. Edmund Burke, an Irish statesman once said, “Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it”  If we don’t teach kids about the true history of our country, how are they going to be able to help fix the mess they were given?”

Rev. John Gregory Davis, Meriden Congregational Church, UCC: “Unlike this budget, a true people’s budget would be driven not by the false premise of a zero sum mentality, falsely maintaining that we have insufficient resources to care for those most in need among us, but rather by the recognition that we are all in this together, and that none of us can truly thrive when others of us can barely survive.  Not only is this dishonest economics, pretending this is the best we can do, but it is also just plain wrong, immoral, and inhumane.  Virtually every spiritual tradition in the world affirms that our hearts know to be true, which is that our humanity is at its best when we treat others, especially those most in need, with the same kind of respect, generosity, and dignity which we desire for ourselves. We refuse to accept the lie that this is the best we can afford as a state.  And because we likewise reject the individualistic lie that pits us against each other as winners and losers, we insist that we can and must do better.”

Louise Spencer, co-founder of the Kent Street Coalition: “That this budget contains one extreme measure after another is bad enough. But the fact that many of the worst provisions were purposely pulled from the normal legislative review process and randomly attached to the budget makes this a case of legislative malpractice by the Republican majority. Governor Sununu seems ready to join his fellow Republicans in abdicating his duty to the people of New Hampshire.”

Zandra Rice Hawkins, executive director of Granite State Progress: “This budget contains some of the most extreme and devastating policies to ever be considered in New Hampshire. While the Biden Administration is working to help us build back better and create a more equitable, sustainable, and fair economy, the Sununu administration is doubling down on the same failed policies that got us here in the first place – this time with an extra dose of racist, extremist behavior. From corporate tax give-aways to abortion bans to defunding public education and censoring discussions around sytemic racism, sexism, and ableism, Governor Chris Sununu and his Republican majorities in the State House are pursuing a reckless agenda that puts our families, our communities, our schools, and our small local businesses at risk. We call on Governor Sununu and state legislators to reject this toxic budget.”

Categories
Uncategorized

Stop Line 3: No More Tar Sands

It’s past time to stop building new fossil fuel pipelines. They are costly, unsustainable, dangerous, and will lock us into further decades of leaked methane and carbon emissions – two major contributors to climate change. Just last year, 350 New Hampshire and our NH community defeated the Granite Bridge pipeline – another attempt to expand fossil fuels instead of investing in renewable energy. Now the attention is on Minnesota and the Line 3 tar sands pipeline. 

If completed, Line 3 would violate treaty rights of Indigenous people, threaten the headwaters of the Mississippi river, and commit us to fossil fuel dependency for years to come. As fuel sources, tar sands are vastly wasteful. Each barrel of crude oil extracted from tar sands uses 2-4 barrels of water and tremendous amounts of energy. An estimated one billion gallons of wastewater from this process leaks into surrounding natural habitats every year. Once crude oil is burned, it releases large amounts of carbon and sulfur dioxide, contributing to the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. 

More than 10 New Hampshire activists joined in the Treaty People Gathering Over the weekend between June 5th and June 9th to join in efforts to stop a tar sands pipeline being built through Minnesota. Frontline groups have been fighting the pipeline for years and called for allies from across the country to join them for mass action to call attention to the injustices of the pipeline. 

“Biden promised us on the campaign trail that he would end fossil fuels,” says Lila Kohrman-Glaser, Co-Director of 350NH Action, “I am here taking a stand against Line 3 to make sure Biden keeps his promise.”

Lila was not the only New Hampshire resident who traveled to Minnesota – at least 10 others from across the state made the journey to support the efforts to stop Line 3, including Kai Parlett, from Manchester.

“The fossil fuel industry operating in a ‘status quo’ fashion and continuing their path of destruction is propped up by public consent,” Parlett said. “When masses of people withdraw their consent from the system, that’s when real change happens. The fossil fuel industry cannot continue to burn our future if we refuse to let it, if we put our bodies in the way and actively work to change the status quo.”

Over 2,000 people from across the country were gathered in Minnesota overall, and more than 150 people were arrested for trespassing on pipeline property. 

The more we allow pipeline projects like these to go ahead, the worse climate change will get. We will continue to see rising sea levels, oil spills from pipelines, changing weather patterns, natural disasters, destruction of natural landscapes, and disregard for the rights of Indigenous folks and of everyone along the path of these pipelines. A better choice is possible! We demand a renewable energy future, free from environmental injustice and climate catastrophe. It’s time to Stop Line 3, and keep new oil infrastructure away from communities all across this country. 

Check out the Giniw Collective for more updates on Line 3.

Categories
Youth Team

Youth Protest Bank of America Funding Fossil Fuels

NH Student Activists Gathered on May 8th to Demand Bank of America End Funding to the Fossil Fuel Industry:

Bedford, NH — On Saturday evening a group of high school activists from the 350NH Youth Team and members of Extinction Rebellion met at the Bank of America in Bedford to protest the bank’s involvement in funding the fossil fuel industry. Speakers urged for the end to the money pipeline from banks and other firms that keeps the fossil fuel industry afloat even as our society has increasingly recognized the environmental costs of fossil fuels. The event was both virtual with a Zoom call run by youth team members and in-person where participants drew in chalk along the sidewalk near the bank.

Nikhil Chavda, sophomore at Coe Brown Academy and organizer of the event says: “Bank of America lends money to fossil fuel companies that build pipelines such as Line 3 in Minnesota. Between 2016 and 2020, Bank of America lent $3.16 BILLION dollars to Enbridge, the company building the pipeline. They lent $350 Million to the Dakota Access Pipeline, which still operates today! Without money from big banks, fossil fuel companies wouldn’t have enough money to support the building of more pipelines. Bank of America could stop this, if they stop lending these companies billions of dollars.”

This action, organized by high school-aged activists across New Hampshire, sends a message to the CEOs of Bank of America and other big banks that it is unacceptable to profit off of the destruction of the climate. Individuals in positions of power have failed to protect the climate and it is now up to ordinary people to make the changes necessary in the time we have left. We demand that the people in power step up, and stop investing money in the fossil fuel industry, funding dangerous projects such as the Line 3 Pipeline, currently being built on indigenous land. 

“We are calling from all corners of the globe that it is time to Defund Line 3. This is just a start, but it is not the end of our efforts. We will continue to fight until we strip the monetary foundation of the fossil fuel industry away and put out the fire that threatens all of us, once and for all” says Anna Rose Marion, a senior in high school and organizer of the event.

Grassroots resistance to the pipeline is growing across the country, day by day. Actions in opposition will continue to be organized, and the corporations funding such destruction of the planet will be targeted. Bank of America is not innocent, and the youth of New Hampshire will not stand to pretend that they are. This action was one of many, and we will continue to fight until big banks stop funding the fossil fuel industry, and the building of Line 3 in Minnesota.

This action is a part of a global day of action to call on banks to Defund Line 3 pipeline. Learn more about the national coalition here.

Categories
Jobs

We’re Hiring!

We’re hiring a 350NH Climate Organizer!

350 New Hampshire’s mission is to stop the climate crisis by building grassroots support for a just transition to renewable energy and an end to fossil fuel use and expansion. We envision a society with a renewable energy economy that works for all people, where all communities live free of environmental injustice and climate catastrophe. We run grassroots campaigns to shut down fossil fuel infrastructure and bring 100% renewable energy to NH. Our political arm works to elect climate champions and to hold our elected officials accountable. 350NH is a multiracial and multigenerational organization. We have a dynamic staff team of four women and five high school student fellows.

If you are interested in the job, submit your application here by May 31st.

The 350NH Climate Organizer Will:

  • Organize actions and events for 350NH campaigns
  • Recruit, train and support volunteers to participate on campaigns and programs
  • Represent 350NH in coalition campaigns with state and national partners
  • Present 350NH educational materials to community groups and at events
  • Support campaign planning and development
  • Canvass, phone bank and text bank to engage supporters
  • Support the endorsement and election of climate champions

Required Skills & Qualifications:

  • Minimum 1-3 years of community or student organizing or other relevant work experience 
  • Strong commitment to climate justice and antiracism
  • Ability to organize and facilitate online meetings with volunteers and speak over the phone to community members
  • Strong verbal communication skills
  • Ability to work independently, and collaboratively with others
  • Access to the internet

Desired Skills & Qualifications:

  • Experience recruiting and managing volunteers
  • Experience canvassing and phone banking
  • Experience and willingness to speak at public events
  • Experience making fundraising asks
  • Access to a car/driver’s license

Position Type: Full time (35 hours/wk)

Application Deadline: May 31st

Start Date: Flexible, preferably asap after May 31st

Compensation: $41,600/yr

Benefits: 4 weeks of flexible time off, flexible hours, health and dental stipend

Location: Must live in or be willing to relocate to New Hampshire 

5 Reasons to work at 350NH!

  1. We respect and encourage work life boundaries as a crucial part of organizing and activist culture
  2. We win big change for climate justice like stopping the granite bridge fracked gas pipeline 
  3. We intentionally foster positive relationships and community within 350NH and the larger progressive movement 
  4. We encourage professional development and create space for learning and experimentation 
  5. Schedule and vacation flexibility

If you are interested in the job, submit your application here by May 31st.

Categories
Uncategorized

350NH Summer Climate Justice Internship

Apply here by May 14th

350NH is a community organization working to stop the climate crisis. We run campaigns to shut down fossil fuel infrastructure and bring 100% renewable energy to NH. We are building the movement for climate justice and working for systemic change locally and nationally. 

We’re hiring a team of summer youth interns to support our campaigns for climate justice. A 350NH internship will help you take your climate organizing and advocacy skills to a whole new level! 

Who Can Apply:

Youth ages 15-22 who are interested in learning more about climate justice and supporting the mission and campaigns at 350NH.

Time & Compensation:

Interns work from June 28 – August 28. Hours per week, start date, and end date are flexible but average between 10-20 hours/week. Compensation is $1,600 in the form of two monthly stipends of $800 each. Interns may use this program to meet school internship credit requirements when relevant.

Internship Responsibilities:

  • Plan creative actions to support 350NH campaigns to shut down the coal plant in Bow, to build offshore wind energy, and to bring 100% renewable energy to NH.
  • Attend community events and do outreach through tabling, canvassing, phonebanking, and texting.
  • Work on volunteer recruitment, social and print media and other projects.
  • Assist in planning 350NH’s Annual Youth Climate Retreat (Peace of Mind) in August.
  • Support outreach and planning for the ‘21-’22 350NH High School Fellowship program.
  • Assist with fundraising efforts by making donation asks and planning a grassroots fundraiser.

Desired Qualifications:

  • Commitment to climate justice, including willingness to expand your understanding  and relationship to racial justice and equity.
  • Dedication to support and strengthen social, economic and environmental justice movements and a strong motivation to end the use of fossil fuels.
  • Ability to organize and facilitate online meetings with volunteers and speak over the phone to community members.
  • Ability to work independently, and collaboratively with others.
Categories
Uncategorized

Residents Across New Hampshire Rally to Demand a Bold Economic Plan to Put Millions Back to Work

NH Organizers call on Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Senator Maggie Hassan, Rep. Chris Pappas, and Rep. Annie Kuster to Support a THRIVE Agenda in Congress

Manchester, NH; Dover, NH; Portsmouth, NH; Nashua, NH, and Keene, NH — In a national THRIVE day of action, organizers and community members from across New Hampshire gathered across the state (and virtually) for a rally calling on our Congressional Delegation to support the THRIVE agenda – a resolution in Congress calling for bold plans to address climate, economic, and racial justice.

“I am terrified of a future where we did not take bold action to stop the climate crisis. So here I am, at Jeanne Shaheen’s office to demand that she support the THRIVE Act so that my generation can have a livable future. One with green energy and well-paying jobs. One where basic human needs are met. One where Black, Indigenous, and people of color’s communities can thrive. We are here to demand that Jeanne Shaheen support a future where we can all thrive” – Jordan King, High School Organizer for NH Youth Movement

The THRIVE (Transform, Heal, and Renew by Investing in a Vibrant Economy) Agenda is a road map to a just recovery. It outlines policies to build a more just society from the ashes of today’s crises — one that enables dignified work, healthy communities, a stable climate, and racial, economic, gender, and environmental justice. Right now, we have a window of opportunity to create real, lasting change and we are prepared to make calls, send messages, and show up at the offices of our congress members until they stand with us and support THRIVE.

“Environmental injustice has yet to be addressed, has yet to be answered for in any way,” said Sarah Tupper, 350NH Youth Organizer from Amherst, NH, “and if we expect to bring ourselves into the future that we were all promised, we have to bring everyone into the future – not just the wealthy or the white, but everyone.”

Organizers in each location stood outside of Congressional offices, gathered with speakers and signs that read “15 Million Jobs,” “Pass the THRIVE Act,” and “Climate, Care, Jobs, Justice.” They gathered in community, listened to speakers, and left messages behind for our Congressional Delegation to urge them to support THRIVE.

“Senator Maggie Hassan recently voted against Bernie Sanders’ amendment to include a $15 minimum wage for all in the American Rescue Plan. This flawed public dis-service must be called out in the daylight,” said Duaa Zahra, Rights & Democracy member from Dover, “We must make a massive shift and re-orient ourselves from an extractive economy to a regenerative one, an economy that invests in millions of new jobs and breaks our national addiction to fossil fuels, an addiction that led to the devastation of my home country Iraq.”

This action was organized by a powerful coalition of people from Rights & Democracy NH, New Hampshire Youth Movement, and 350 New Hampshire. We will continue to pressure our Congressional representatives to support the THRIVE Act and fight for economic, racial, and climate justice.

You can find the full Livestream of the event at this link.

###

Other photos from the event: 

(All above are Dover)

(Nashua)

(Portsmouth)

(Keene)

(Manchester)

Categories
Uncategorized

Our Energy Grid Needs to Change

As the fight against climate change heats up, many noble environmental organizations are stepping up to help educate people and pressure politicians to take action. However, there are established organizations that work to prop up the coal and gas industries instead of helping us progress towards 100% renewable energy. One of notoriety is an entity called the Independent Systems Operator-New England (ISO-NE). 

ISO-NE is an entity that runs the New England power grid. They market themselves as neutral competitors in the energy market. They have accomplished this by lobbying state governments to set policy that determines what kinds of sources New England’s electricity comes from. Recently though, ISO-NE has shown that they do not support the climate and environmental goals of the region’s governments. This is in large part thanks to many different members of the New Hampshire state legislature who wrote directly to ISO-NE calling them out on their contradictions. 

One such contradiction is how ISO-NE has used “Forward Capacity Payments” to subsidize fossil fuels on the grid. The way in which ISO-NE gets around this hypocrisy is by framing it as “grid reliability”. This kind of manipulative messaging is how ISO-NE sells dirty energy as something that is cheaper when in fact it is not. ISO-NE was founded in the era of coal and oil; a system not designed to support sustainable alternatives. They frame their grid model as “reliable” when in reality it is merely a method used to prop up fossil and discredit green energy alternatives. 

 ISO-NE has also been using its political influence to prop up other coal plants across New England while maintaining a neutral facade. One coal plant in New Hampshire is the Merrimack Generating Station (MGS) in Bow, New Hampshire. Thanks in large part to political influence by ISO-NE, MGS received $50 Million in subsidies in 2018 alone in order to keep their dirty climate changing emissions pouring into the atmosphere and poisoning those who live nearby. ISO-NE has directly assisted MGS’s pollution practices by committing tens of millions of dollars that will help keep powering MGS for the next several years and worsen the effects of the climate crisis.

These kinds of dirty practices by ISO-NE prove that they are not neutral and against renewable energy. They are actively choosing to support burning coal with the money from all of the New Hampshire residents who pay electric bills. As the fight to shut down Merrimack Station prolongs, it is important that we expose ISO-NE for supporting climate changing fossil fuel plants in order to convert New Hampshire to green energy and prevent other coal plants from being implemented to pollute the atmosphere.

Here are two things YOU can do to help us shut down this coal plant:

1. Sign this petition to call on ISO-NE (our energy grid operators) to phase out fossil fuels and bring about a just and democratic energy grid with clean and renewable energy.

2. Submit Public Comment to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission by 4/12, telling them to oppose subsidies for fossil fuel plants and the coal plant in Bow.

  • Written by David Sanok