Letter: Anti-renewable energy legislation is a step in the wrong directio

As the climate crisis continues to accelerate, the New Hampshire state legislature is considering several bills that threaten to further deepen this crisis by stifling sources of renewable energy — most notably, wind. Wind is a clean, affordable power source constituting a critical part of the clean energy transition. Renewables like wind need to be rapidly scaled up in order to mitigate climate change, but House Bills 682, 575 and 219, alongside House Concurrent Resolution 4, stand to take our state in the exact opposite direction.

HB 682 would remove the office of offshore wind development from the office of energy innovation, HB 575 would prohibit all offshore wind development in the state and HCR 4 proposes to reject all offshore wind projects. HB 219, meanwhile, would phase out New Hampshire’s minimum electric renewable portfolio standard. As the climate crisis devastates our state and country through unstable weather patterns, increased natural disasters and ever-hotter temperatures, it is more important than ever that we work to phase out fossil fuels and transition to an equitable clean energy economy.

It is appalling and frankly absurd to see our state lawmakers propose legislation that would stymie the development of sorely-needed clean energy projects during a time of climate emergency. I urge readers to sign in on the state legislature website to oppose HB 682, HB 575, HCR 4 and HB 219. I urge the House Science, Technology and Energy committee to reject these unsound bills.

Hannah Waris

Amherst