Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

PSNH Asks Supreme Court To Weigh In On Scrubber Costs

Public Service of New Hampshire, the state’s largest electric utility, has filed an appeal with the state supreme court. PSNH is trying to head off regulators’ attempts to question whether the company should have installed a mercury scrubber on its largest coal-fired power plant.

At issue is who should pay for the $422 million dollar emissions scrubber on Merrimack Station in Bow. Regulators are working to determine if PSNH acted imprudently by continuing to build the scrubber even after the economic downturn, and the historic drop in the cost of natural gas, that has rendered the plant less competitive than it once was.

“We’re asking the court for its interpretation of the so-called scrubber law,” says spokesman Martin Murray.

He explains PSNH believes a 2006 law required the scrubber be built no matter what, and so PSNH customers should pay for it. “For about 4 years the PUC acknowledged that we were required to intall the scrubber as a matter of law, but recently the PUC changed its mind,” he says

PSNH competitors, notably TransCanada, argue that much or all of the cost of the scrubber should be deemed imprudent, and so the company should be required to foot the bill.

Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about “the natural world and how we use it.” His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.