Book Reading and Signing - Sacred Trust - Plymouth Historical Society May 15, 2019

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An Opportunity in a Crisis - Time for NH Eversource to Move On From Northern Pass

The Whisper of Wind 

Here in the shadow of Rattlesnake Ridge winter is slowly evolving into spring. The morning calls of the Black Capped Chickadees or the Blue Jays alerts us to that fact. Today I listened to the winter remembrances of one woman who was stunned when she was able to walk right up to a group of ducks on a frozen lake this winter, only to discover that their feet were frozen in the ice.


NH Eversource, New Hampshire’s largest utility company, has a problem . . . They are stuck in the 1980s. The world has changed around them and they have remained firmly implanted. Like ducks with their feet frozen in the ice. They have hunkered down in the face of a wintry storm of deregulation and relied on the old standbys: elect a governor who will be “your guy” - better yet, your toady - spread some cash around and you’ll get whatever you want. That’s how we got the highest electricity rates in the country, some will recall.

To summarize just how we arrived at the place we are today, I’ll make the blatantly self-interested - but nevertheless appropriate - reference to my new novel “Sacred Trust”. In this fictional account, a group of citizens who have banded together to stop “Granite Skyway” a powerline proposed by a consortium of investors including the state’s principle utility company. In this excerpt James Kitchen, a journalist covering the fight, gives the following factually-based summary.

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“Two years before Jimmy Carter ascended to the Presidency, New Hampshire held an election for a United States Senator to replace the retiring Norris Cotton. A close contest between the Democrat John Durkin and the Republican Louis Wyman led to two recounts; the first won by Durkin by ten votes and the second won by Wyman by 2 votes. Finally, headed for another recount and seemingly at an impasse, the election was decided in the US Senate and Durkin was seated.

Two years later, as the Carter (Administration’s) National Energy Policy Act was moving through the congress John Durkin slipped an amendment into it. The amendment required utility companies to purchase power - at market rates - from any producer of electricity generating fewer than 80 megawatts.

Durkin originally believed he was helping establish a foothold (for New Hampshire-based) wood to energy biomass and trash to energy cogeneration. He was. But the door he opened with his amendment turned out to be big enough for every dreamer and entrepreneur, with a viable idea for generating electricity renewably, to walk through. Soon proposals for small hydro (called Low Head Hydro), solar power, wind power and other renewable resources were on the drawing board or underway.

The National Energy Policy Act passed the Senate by 1 vote.

Over the years since then changes have been made to the Energy Act, but all moving the country toward the day when renewable energy would account for a larger and larger portion of the power produced.

The changes of the 70s represented the first steps in a changing relationship between America’s public utilities and the people and businesses that consumed the energy. Utilities no longer held complete monopoly power over both the sale and the purchase of electricity as well as its transmission.

(This transmission line) represents a well-planned effort to reverse the evolutionary chain of events leading us to this place. (The state’s largest utility) and a large group of investors, both individuals and institutions, have joined together to build a private transmission line. Not subject to the same constraints of public utilities, allowing them to circumvent many of the requirements the utility would be subject to had they proposed to do this alone, as a public utility. At the same time, because the utility company is an investor in the project, they are able to make side deals between their company and the Transmission project that gives it access to the electric utility rights of way - - perhaps even - - a backdoor to allow the project to use state laws providing protection from losses that result from so-called stranded assets, to assure that if the investment made turns out to be uncompetitive - as the cost of renewables continue to go down - The Transmission project will still be able to charge New Hampshire ratepayers for a portion of the costs of the transmission line.

From the Canadian Border to a terminus in Southern New Hampshire, the only electricity that will flow through the transmission lines will be what it purchases from Hydro-Quebec in Canada. This will effectively limit the number of renewable energy projects possible forcing the state backwards relative to our surrounding states.

The motivation that brought on this Transmission line proposal is, despite all this, understandable. The changes that have taken place over the past twenty years represent an existential challenge to many utility companies, including ours. They are casting around for ways to generate more profits in an era of shrinking opportunities.”

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The final paragraph of the excerpt above is an important reality to understand. In fairness to NH Eversource, the changes taking place in an era of deregulation represent an existential threat to utility companies nationwide. Particularly those whose feet remain stuck in the ice.

In the coming “Age of Electricity” the principal battleground will be over who controls the production and distribution of power. All across America today the battle lines are being drawn and the two sides are rushing to create advantages for themselves. Already many other power transmission projects are proposed from Maine to Washington State and the Canadian Electricity Association projects a tripling of that demand in the next ten years. In most instances these transmission projects are being proposed by utility companies or consortiums that include a local utility company.

Utility companies, like NH Eversource, represent one front in this battle over competing visions of our energy future. After more than 3 decades of shifting regulations and with the backdrop of a growing movement toward smaller, green energy sources, utility companies are in an existential battle for survival.

Most utility companies, including Eversource, are seeking to maintain control of the revenues generated by the flow of electricity.

With a few rare exceptions, they are pitted against those advocates of a new distributed energy paradigm where small, renewable power production replaces the large electricity generators of today.

Most Americans notice that things are changing with respect to energy production and transmission but they have yet to put together the full picture of what will be a sea change in life for every American this presages.

This clash between the past and the, as yet unwritten, future is the overarching theme of “Sacred Trust” because it is the overarching theme of the fight for a sustainable future.

But here’s where things get interesting. Within this existential crisis for NH Eversource are the seeds of opportunity. It may require a house-cleaning at Eversource, though it is within the power of those already there to make these changes (and in the interest of transparency I have some folks there whom I consider friends). Some will describe such changes as revolutionary; others will say the changes required are simply evolutionary changes that Eversource missed out on because they thought that continuing to play the game of “power politics” would sustain them; Still more will simply describe them as getting back to the fundamentals of giving the customer what they want.

NH Eversource’s Northern Pass proposal represents the tragic and classic example of a company that has lost touch with its main mission, to serve its customers. Despite the outrage of the Governor over the decision of the Site Evaluation Committee, the unanimous decision - made quickly and decisively by the SEC - should have been the proverbial two by four between the eyes of the jackass, but Eversource persists.

It’s time for NH Eversource to drop the Northern Pass like week-old roadkill, and, if they hope to survive, to begin the process of reinventing the company. While I think it’s unlikely that they would go so far as to apologize to the people of New Hampshire for putting the interests of a small group of investors ahead of the people of the state, just the act of publicly beginning an introspective process to build consensus among stakeholders would go a long way toward restoring confidence among our citizens.

It really doesn’t need to be painful. Eversource - and the State of New Hampshire - can start by taking a page from Vermont’s play book.

Mary Powell, CEO of Vermont’s largest Utility, Green Mountain Power, with the support of her team, has transformed GMP into a powerhouse among Utility companies (though she calls GMP an energy transformation company); Delivering clean, cost-effective and highly reliable power to customers all across Vermont, with the highest customer approval ratings in the US. The list of her honors and awards from prestigious organizations would take up most of this column, including being named “Vermonter of the Year” in 2015 by the Burlington Free Press.

Here’s how she explains her company’s success:

“The first thing I got to do, which was really an amazing opportunity, was to radically transform the culture of our company, from a very traditional, bureaucratic, slower-moving organization to one with the credo “fast, fun, effective and customer-obsessed.” To make sure we were talking about customers, not meters, leaning in the direction customers wanted us to go.

The reason we love solar and distributed resources …was because that’s what our customers told us they wanted to do. It sounds trite, but in my experience working in different spaces, when you’re focused on the bottom line of your customers and your communities and those that you serve, you ultimately will do fine for yourself as an organization whether you’re a utility or a company selling t-shirts.”

“fast, fun, effective and customer-obsessed.” You don’t see the word shareholder anywhere in this. It’s not because no one cares about shareholders, it’s simply because if you do the job right, the customers will benefit first and the shareholders will follow.

Links:

http://midwestenergynews.com/2016/01/19/qa-a-vermont-utility-ceo-brings-her-story-to-wisconsin/

https://greenmountainpower.com/2010/01/11/president-ceo-mary-powell/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterdetwiler/2017/04/06/green-mountain-power-customer-obsessed-and-designing-for-elegance


About Wayne D. King: Wayne King is an author, artist, activist and recovering politician. He was a three term State Senator, who Chaired the Senate Economic Development Committee and the NH Senate Economic Summit. In 1994 King was the Democratic nominee for Governor and most recently the CEO of MOP Environmental Solutions Inc., a public company in the environmental cleanup space. His art is exhibited nationally in galleries and he has published three books of his images. His most recent novel "Sacred Trust" a vicarious, high voltage adventure to stop a private powerline has been published on Amazon.com as an ebook (http://bit.ly/STrust ) or in paper at http://bit.ly/STPaper . He lives in Rumney at the base of Rattlesnake Ridge. His website is: http://bit.ly/WayneDKing

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

News Release

For Immediate Release

1/23/18

For more information: 603-515-6001

“Sacred Trust” Now Available in Bookstores and on Amazon

Wayne King’s New Novel Echos New Hampshire’s Own Ongoing Battle Over Northern Pass

If the cover of “Sacred Trust”, created by Mike Marland, doesn’t clue you in, it won’t take long to realize that this novel is written as a vicarious homage to New Hampshire’s own ongoing battle over the controversial “Northern Pass” project and other similar projects.

Author, former State Senator and 1994 Democratic Gubernatorial nominee Wayne D. King adroitly weaves a story with a familiar ring . . . the clash of ordinary people confronting money and power in an epic battle to protect the land they love.

“Sacred Trust” is the tale of a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience against a private powerline, pitting nine unlikely environmental patriots, calling themselves “The Trust”, against the “Granite Skyway” transmission line and its powerful, well-connected consortium of investors.

With an obvious deep fondness for both the people and the land, King weaves a fast-paced tale filled with both real and fictional stories from the political world and life in the Granite State.  In a rich tableau that includes sometimes hilarious and sometimes hair-raising stories of Senators driving North in a Southbound Interstate lane after a night of drinking at the Highway Hotel; Doctors sneaking a pregnant Llama into a hospital surgical ward for ACL surgery; A bear and a boy eating from the same blueberry patch atop Mount Cardigan as his father, the Ranger, watches helplessly from the fire tower, and more.

Among the heroes of the story is Sasha Brandt, an Iroquois woman from Canada. While hiking the Mahoosuc Range of the Appalachian Trail with her companion - a wolf named Cochise - Brandt meets Daniel Roy, a New Hampshire “boy” and now a guide and outdoorsman. After a unique first encounter they continue their trip together, eventually finding themselves camping with an unusual assortment of people including a former Olympic paddler, a conservative deer farmer, a retired spook, sidelined when he became the first US victim of Lyme disease; and an iconoclast and former Army Ranger named Thomas who lives in multiple backwoods abodes in the Great North Woods and rides a moose named Metallak – aptly named for the “Lone Survivor of the Megalloway” tribe, who in the late 1800’s was reputed to ride a moose himself.

The group quickly discovers that – despite their very broad range of ideological beliefs - they are united in their deep concern about the Consortium’s proposal to bisect the most beautiful parts of the state with massive 150 foot towers and clear cut forests for the sole purpose of transporting electricity from Canada to more affluent markets beyond its borders.  Like Oligarchs of the Gilded Age who minimized their costs by creating a legacy of polluted land and water, these modern Oligarchs stand to reap 100% of the benefits while passing off a large portion of their costs through the generations-long visual pollution of the public commons and all the economic shockwaves that result.

Determined to do more than shuffle papers and employ lawyers, the compatriots form a band of brothers and sisters - along with Cochise and Metallak. Armed with only their wits and a lot of heart they embark on a rollicking campaign of civil disobedience that would make Thoreau and Dr. King proud.

Although “Sacred Trust” is a work of fiction, King says that educators will find the novel a great classroom resource as well. Adding a new dimension and lively discussion to classes on the emergence of the renewable energy era, sustainability, and the American tradition of protest and its place in an “Era of Terrorism”.

“in the coming “Age of Electricity” “ King says, “a principal battleground will be over who controls the production and distribution of electric power. Across America today, the battle lines are being drawn. Utility companies, many in an existential battle for survival, are pitted against advocates of a new distributed energy paradigm where small, renewable power sources replace today’s large electricity generation plants.”

“Most Americans” King asserts, “notice that things are changing, but have yet to fully grasp what a sea change in life it will be for every American.”

“Sacred Trust” follows the trail of heroic citizens banding together to stop one especially egregious powerline. The citizens who stand to lose most are dead set against the project . . . but the political winds are against them. It is in this setting The Trust takes on the Consortium.

As the actions of The Trust gain traction and momentum, other citizens join in support including a wave of supporters on social media; “The Gazetteers”, a group of citizen activists writing in the style of the Federalist Papers; and journalists including one business writer who weaves together details of the historic record leading his readers through a virtual primer on the evolution of a post-carbon energy paradigm beginning with the 1972 election of Jimmy Carter and the passage of the National Energy Policy Act into which NH Senator John Durkin inserted an eight word amendment that rocked the world.

"Sacred Trust" is a hilarious and vicarious, high voltage campaign to stop the “Granite Skyway” leading the reader through the hijinks of The Trust, and the series of choices we all are currently confronted in the emerging “Age of Electricity”.

For each of the members of The Trust it is a sacred campaign fought against an impending legacy of steel towers and scarred lands - an existential threat to an entire way of life. The Trust is all that stands between the people and their worst fears . . . and they are willing to pay any price to prevail. 

                                                             

“Sacred Trust”

Paperback: 354 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN-10: 1981490302

http://bit.ly/STPaper

Price: $14.95*

Sacred Trust Kindle eBook

http://bit.ly/STrust

Price: $2.99*

https://thesacredtrust.blogspot.com/

* Special discounts are available to schools, libraries, and nonprofits. Please contact 603-515-6001