New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte took office last week. Throughout her campaign she promised she would follow in Gov. Chris Sununu’s footsteps on many policy matters, including energy and climate change.

But her background suggests she’s been willing to split with the Republican party line on those issues in the past. As a U.S. Senator for New Hampshire, she affirmed that she believed humans are contributing to climate change at a time when very few of her Republican colleagues did the same. And she was the first Senate Republican to support an Obama-era emissions reduction plan.

Now, Ayotte will inherit a state climate policy landscape that is unique in the region. The state remains the only one in New England without greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets in state law, and Sununu’s administration charted a distinct path on energy policy. He also created the New Hampshire Department of Energy, which gives Ayotte a new tool for energy policymaking.

As Ayotte takes office, the state is embarking on two big projects to update its energy strategy and to plan for limiting climate-warming pollution. In an era when more Republicans are advocating for leadership on conservative solutions to climate change, what will Ayotte do with New Hampshire’s climate and energy policies moving forward? To look into the future, we’ll look back.

What is Ayotte inheriting?

Throughout the past eight years, other states in New England started making and fulfilling ambitious climate goals. New Hampshire didn’t create those kinds of goals.

During Sununu’s time in office, his administration was clear that their north star when it came to energy policy was lowering ratepayer costs and staying out of the way of market forces.

Under his leadership, the state pursued a “technology neutral” approach to energy – leaders avoided policies that would support particular kinds of energy, like renewables. Instead, Sununu’s administration tried to let markets drive decision making about energy.

It’s complicated to track how the state’s market-based approach impacted energy in New Hampshire; energy markets are highly regulated, and New England uses a regional energy system, so the state is deeply intertwined with neighbors.

But Sununu’s administration argued that their approach brought lower energy cost increases and benefitted ratepayers. The math they used to show that was somewhat fuzzy – and the state has had its spikes in costs, particularly in recent years.

Nonetheless, Sununu’s approach has been praised by other Republicans in the state.

Michael Vose, the head of the House’s Science, Technology and Energy committee, said he expects Ayotte to follow in his footsteps.

“When she campaigned, she said that keeping ratepayers at the forefront is at the top of her energy agenda. So I don't see any dramatic changes coming from an Ayotte administration compared to a Sununu administration,” he said.

Throughout Sununu’s governorship, there was less focus on the other costs of the energy system, like carbon emissions.

How has New Hampshire planned for a clean energy transition?

New Hampshire remains the only state in New England without any laws around reducing greenhouse gas emissions. And plans for a state council that could plan for environmental adaptation, resilience and innovation were quashed by a veto from Sununu last summer.

Sununu also vetoed several efforts to expand net metering – the system that allows solar arrays to get compensated for their power – saying they would hurt ratepayers. He approved a limited version of expanded net metering, which only covered cities and towns, in 2021.

He kept the renewable energy industry at an arm’s length, expressing interest in offshore wind but not pursuing the same kinds of procurement programs other states did. He also kept New Hampshire from participating in regional efforts to curb transportation emissions.

But the rise of community power programs happened under Sununu’s leadership, which proponents say could be a key way to build more clean energy in the state by allowing more local control.

Climate advocates have been largely disappointed with Sununu’s stance on the issue.

“I would say he's really chosen to ignore the substantial negative consequences of a warming climate on New Hampshire residences and businesses, while sort of hiding behind this sort of all of the above energy policy that has really just favored fossil fuel,” said Cameron Wake, a professor at New England University in Maine, who worked at the University of New Hampshire for many years.

Wake, who had a role in creating New Hampshire’s 2009 climate plan, said transitioning to clean energy to protect against the worst threats from global warming is hard as it is. Without support from leaders to make it happen quickly, it can stall easily. He worries the state will lose out on the renewable energy industry and economic benefits that could come with that.

“I really do hope that the Ayotte administration sees those opportunities to not only sort of reduce emissions and reduce the impact of driving climate change, but also to really support this burgeoning renewable energy and green economy that we are going to get to one way or the other,” he said. “It would be really nice if New Hampshire could contribute to that.”

How is Ayotte approaching climate policy so far?

Ayotte seems to be echoing other Republicans in New Hampshire, emphasizing being technology neutral, coming out against the offshore wind projects being proposed in the Gulf of Maine and straying away from making climate change an issue during her campaign.

But there is some reason to believe she may diverge from the Sununu script. Ayotte made a name for herself in the climate world by becoming the first Senate Republican to support Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which was aimed at cutting climate-warming pollution coming out of power plants.

As a Senator she also affirmed that she believes the scientific consensus that humans are contributing to climate change, an unpopular stance among her colleagues at the time.

In a written response to questions from NHPR on her approach to climate change, Ayotte reiterated her opposition to a North Country landfill proposal and said she would work to conserve the state’s environment and ensure New Hampshire has resiliency plans in place. She also said energy costs in the state are too high.

“My administration will pursue an all-of-the-above energy strategy to lower costs for hardworking families and work to position New Hampshire to adopt new technologies like small modular nuclear and hydrogen power, which would allow us to produce our own clean energy. We will look at every project individually to ensure it’s the right fit for our state,” she wrote.

Jim O’Brien, New Hampshire’s deputy state director for The Nature Conservancy, spent time advocating for climate and environmental issues when Ayotte was in the US Senate. He said he felt her door was always open and she shared values with environmental movements, like a desire for clean air and water and an appreciation of the natural world.

“She didn't always agree with what we wanted or what we said, but I think we always felt like we had an ear in that office in that she was listening and paying attention,” he said.

O’Brien said he’s hoping to see Ayotte start to bring people together, facilitate some collaboration around addressing climate change in ways that also meet the state’s economic needs.

What could Ayotte do to change climate policy in New Hampshire?

One model for taking on climate policy comes from former Democratic Gov. John Lynch, who created a climate change policy task force through an executive order.

But unlike in 2007, New Hampshire now has a Department of Energy. One of Sununu’s major acts as governor, the creation of that agency changed how energy policy is made in the state, shifting responsibilities and staff away from the Public Utilities Commission. That department – a centralized place for energy policy making – reports to the chief executive.

Sununu appointed the top officials who built that agency up in its first years, many of whom came directly from his team. The first commissioner, Jared Chicoine, was Sununu’s first policy advisor. Deputy commissioner Chris Ellms also worked for Sununu for several years.

Sununu’s energy appointees at the Department of Energy and at the Public Utilities Commission have come under scrutiny for their lack of experience in the energy world prior to taking leadership positions.

Ayotte will have the opportunity to appoint new people to positions of power at the Department of Energy, and to appoint at least one new Public Utilities Commissioner.

New Hampshire will embark on two significant efforts during Ayotte’s time as governor. The Department of Energy is set to update the state energy strategy, which has changed very little in the last six years. And the Department of Environmental Services is creating a new plan to address climate-warming pollution.

How Ayotte will influence those processes remains to be seen.

These articles are being shared by partners in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org.