7/2/2015
Robert Blechl, Caledonian Record
FRANCONIA, N.H. -- U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-NH, and state Sen. Jeanie Forrester, R-Meredith, were given a warm welcome in Franconia Wednesday and applauded for their efforts against the proposed Northern Pass Transmission line.
"Kelly took the lead in defending us and Jeanie has been our staunchest ally," Dolly McPhaul said to the more than 100 area residents and several elected officials across the state attending the reception at the Profile Club. "When no one else in Washington would pay attention to us, Kelly was there."
McPhaul, who hosted the event with her husband, Dave, of Sugar Hill, Bruce and Beth Perlo, also of Sugar Hill, and Bob and Muffy Copenhaver, of Littleton, said Ayotte and Forrester care about the residents above the notch and that is also why they are being honored.
Ayotte, a first-term U.S. senator who announced her reelection campaign this week, visited the Water Wheel restaurant in Jefferson Wednesday afternoon for a North Country reelection kick-off rally before visiting the Profile Club.
Last year, after a hike in the mountains of Easton, Ayotte spoke against the Northern Pass line as it is being proposed overhead and said all of the line can be buried along transportation corridors, as is being done with similar transmission line projects in Vermont, New York and Maine, using today's technology.
"We need to keep pushing for that," she said.
The state's scenic landscapes are special in their own right and important to the North Country tourist economy, she said.
"We need to make sure we preserve the great beauty of New Hampshire that is part of her heritage," said Ayotte.
Repeating what she said in Easton last year, Ayotte said, "New Hampshire is worth it."
Also thanked was state Rep. Larry Rappaport, R-Colebrook.
Forrester said the fight began with Rappaport sponsoring the bill that sought to prohibit private utilities from taking private land by eminent domain. That bill successfully passed into law.
Ayotte, Forrester and Rappaport have been at the forefront of the fight and Ayotte is "standing in defense of New Hampshire's landscapes," said Will Abbott, vice-president of policy for the Society For the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, which also opposes the overhead line.
"Scarring our New Hampshire heritage is something we should reject," said Abbott, who added Eversource Energy's notion that its proposed steel towers won't impact property values is "absurd."
To applause, Abbott said, "I think it's time to live free and bury ... Senator Ayotte and Senator Forrester and other legislators, thank you for your efforts to help Northern Pass discover the shovel."
Ayotte's visit to Franconia comes at a time when the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Northern Pass is expected to be released any day by the U.S. Department of Energy.
In recent months, the race has been heating up between Eversource, parent company of Northern Pass, which seeks to move its project along as quickly as possible, and opponents of an overhead line who seek thorough public hearings and lengthy public comment periods, in which they can state to the permitting agencies how the line would adversely impact them, the North Country and New Hampshire.
As proposed overhead and mostly along the PSNH right-of-way, the $1.4 billion private Northern Pass investment would generate nearly $10 billion in revenue for Eversource during the 40-year term of the line.
Project opponents say Eversource is avoiding any discussion of burial because the company wants to monetize the PSNH right-of-way for profit.
Ayotte also visited the Indian Stream Health Center in Colebrook Wednesday morning for a town hall meeting and celebrated the rollout of the new veterans clinic in Colebrook.