Jane Difley Comments to SEC on Northern Pass March 1, 2016

The following comments were presented at the New Hampshire Site Evaluation Committee hearing in Meredith on March 1, 2016.

 

My name is Jane Difley. I am the president/forester of the Society for the Protection of NH Forests.

 

The Forest Society was founded in 1901 as a non-profit conservation and forestry organization. Our mission is to “perpetuate the forests of NH through their wise use and their complete reservation in places of special scenic beauty.” Today we have over 10,000 member families. We are one of the largest private landowners in the State.

 

We own and manage 54,000 acres in 185 reservations located in more than 100 NH municipalities. Our forest reservations include three properties directly affected by Northern Pass as proposed: the Washburn Family Forest in Clarksville, with more than six miles of frontage on the Connecticut River, the Kauffmann Forest in Stark, with more than one mile of existing PSNH ROW through it, and the Rocks Estate in Bethlehem, with one of the most scenic views of the Presidentials. In addition, we hold over 700 conservation easements permanently conserving more than 125,000 acres of land statewide. More than a dozen of our conservation easements are directly affected by Northern Pass as proposed.

 

We conserve land to permanently protect natural resources including; vegetation, surface and ground water, working forests, recreation lands and wildlife habitat. And we protect land to conserve scenic views of and from the land. These conserved lands are held in Public Trust. The Forest Society has a legal and ethical obligation to defend these conserved lands from private commercial developments like Northern Pass.

 

We believe that the Northern Pass application before you should be rejected. Of the proposed 192 miles, 130 miles would host towers well above the height of mature trees. Nearly all of the adverse impacts of the above-ground towers --- on aesthetics, on historic sites, on natural resources, on private property values --- nearly all could be avoided if the entire line were buried along an appropriate transportation corridor. Northern Pass acknowledges that such burial is technically feasible, but says it is too expensive to bury the entire line without providing any evidence to defend this claim.

Eversource seeks to subsidize its project through adverse impacts to land owned by others and landscapes cherished by all. It is a subsidy rejected by thousands who commented to the federal government in its Northern Pass regulatory review.

 

It is a subsidy rejected by most of the 31 communities directly affected by the proposal. It is a subsidy rejected by a large majority of the unprecedented number of intervention petitions presented to the SEC. It is a subsidy the Site Evaluation Committee should reject. The public interest is served by protecting these landscapes, not needlessly scarring them.

We believe natural landscapes are among New Hampshire’s most significant assets. They are part of the essence of what makes New Hampshire New Hampshire, and we believe that there is no need, nor any compelling reason, to allow a private transmission line to degrade these assets.

 

The Forest Society has not objected to the idea of bringing hydro power from Quebec through New Hampshire to electricity consumers south of us. All other developers of HVDC transmission lines in the region --- in New York, Vermont and Maine --- are completely burying their facilities. These projects will have significantly fewer adverse impacts. We believe that the SEC should consider the projects all around New Hampshire when determining whether the Northern Pass proposal represents an unreasonable adverse impact on aesthetics, historic sites and natural resources.

 

We will be presenting the SEC with evidence that we believe conclusively argues against granting the requested certificate of site and facility. We ask that you make a final judgment that you honestly believe --- based on the evidence presented --- best serves the public interest of the people of New Hampshire.

 

Thank you.