© 2025 New Hampshire Public Radio

Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Support community focused, fact driven journalism as a Leadership Circle Member today.

Senate Opts For Study on Northern Pass and Wind Farms

The New Hampshire Senate rejects placing a one year moratorium on wind farms and new electric transmission projects, and instead opts to study how such projects are sited and whether new transmission lines could be buried.

The study passed 23-1, but only after a long debate and the defeat of two proposals to impose moratoria strongly backed by opponents of wind farms and the Northern Pass project.

Before the final vote, Senate majority leader Jeb Bradley, who'd angered Northern Pass critics by stripping a ban of that project out of an earlier version of the bill,  told colleagues  he hoped more study would cool what he called the "white-hot rhetoric" surrounding these issues.

"I ask everybody, and not just the 24 people that are sitting here, but the people who are saying all the things they are saying to all the people out there to come together, and work to improve our state  so the people can have the reliable eclectic system that we all need."   

Bills to slow or block wind farms and the Northern Pass project were also considered by the N.H. House, which voted retain them in committee

over the summer.

I cover campaigns, elections, and government for NHPR. Stories that attract me often explore New Hampshire’s highly participatory political culture. I am interested in how ideologies – doctrinal and applied – shape our politics. I like to learn how voters make their decisions and explore how candidates and campaigns work to persuade them.

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.