NH Senate Bill 167 was killed by a 5-0 vote of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee March 21, 2013. The bill was deemed inexpedient to legislate, exactly what the NH Department of Environmental Services and lobbyists had asked for. The bill is dead for this session. We thank everyone who took the time to go to the public hearing and to submit written comment. Click here to review the bill’s history.

Senate Bill 167 seeks to amend NH’s Groundwater Protection Act (RSA 485-C) by removing the language that excludes municipalities from passing ordinances about large groundwater withdrawals. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a public hearing about the bill March 13, 2013 with written comments due March 19. You can track the bill by entering SB 167 on the Senate’s bill track page. SOG is following this legislation and supported it because we believe it offers communities more water security and might foster more of a partnership approach between the state and towns in the large groundwater permitting process. We encourage you to contact members of the Committee with your written comments by March 19 and to copy your local delegation to the General Court. You may email comments to the committee’s aide Chris Cote at christopher [dot] cote [at] leg [dot] state [dot] nh [dot] us

The bill, sponsored by Senator John Reagan as a constituent request of Nottingham Selectmen Chair Mary Bonser, is trying to address the power relationship between the state and towns when it comes to local water security.  Municipalities already have many ways they can act to protect water and think like a watershed such as prime wetlands zoning, aquifer protection zones, shoreland protection and declaring a proposal to be one of regional impact. It just doesn’t make sense to exclude large groundwater withdrawals which could potentially affect a town’s ability to host other businesses, expand residential housing or other land uses. Towns should not have to spend thousands of dollars defending their community water from the state’s decisions.

Join Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (PREP) and Strafford Regional Planning Commission for a presentation and discussion of the 2013 State of Our Estuaries report, covering Great Bay, Hampton and Seabrook estuaries. Groundwater and surface waters are related, and this is your opportunity to learn more about the 3-year study looking at 22 key indicators of the health of these important waters.

WHERE: Rochester, NH Community Center, 150 Wakefield St.

WHEN: January 23, 2013, 7-8:30 p.m.

RSVP: 603-994-3500 (the organizers request that you RSVP for planning purposes)

Arnie Arnesen interviews NH Business Review reporter Bob Sanders about his October 5, 2012 investigative article “Accusations Swirl Around Failed USA Springs Bailout” for “Attitude with Arnie” on WNHN 94.7 in Concord, NH. You can listen to the October 9th show podcast; the interview begins at about 01:25. Click here.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manchester, NH converted Delaware-corporation USA Springs, Inc.’s bankruptcy case to Chapter 7 today, putting the court in charge of the process for liquidation of the company (court document #891). Timothy P. Smith of Middle St. in Manchester was appointed interim court trustee; the trustee’s role is to arrange for the sale of assets and manage the liquidation process (document #892).

During the same hearing, the court also approved the withdrawal from the case of the company’s two key legal teams at their request: Bruce Harwood of NH’s Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green (document #889) and Riemer and Braunstein LLP of Boston, MA (document #888).