New Hampshire had at least six climate strikes last Friday. Hundreds of people attended, ranging from school children to people in their 90s. It is clear that New Hampshire wants to move away from fossil fuels. But that is hard to do when the last large coal-fired electricity generating station in New England is right here in Bow.
This station costs us lots of money. From January 2018 to May 2023, New England ratepayers will pay more than $400 million just to have the plant “on call” to produce power in periods of peak demand. And that’s in addition to what it earns for the electricity they actually produce.
This is a fossil fuel subsidy. If the coal plant did not receive this money, it would probably not be cost-effective to continue to use coal to generate the amount of electricity they actually produce.
It’s time to stop paying the coal plant in Bow to do nothing. It’s time to stop using coal to generate electricity. On Saturday, Sept. 28, at noon there will be a rally at the Bow plant to urge the owners to shut it down.
MARY RAVEN
Merrimack