George Kathios, superintendent of sewer for the town of Kittery,
discusses how the treatment plant works as water begins to fill
a tank at 500,000 gallons in 50 minutes, during a recent tour of
the facility.
Officials in Maine are holding their breath and waiting to see how an ongoing battle over wastewater treatment standards between several Seacoast communities in New Hampshire and federal regulators will play out.
The controversy surrounding nutrient criteria limits for New Hampshire communities surrounding the Great Bay estuary has been ongoing for years. Most recently, the battle over nitrogen limits led to a lawsuit from several Seacoast municipalities known as the Great Bay Coalition Communities against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and N.H. Department of Environmental Services.
A major concern for the coalition communities, which include Portsmouth, Exeter, Newmarket, Dover and Rochester, is the cost of upgrading their respective wastewater treatment plants. The communities have estimated they will collectively spend well above $100 million to upgrade the plants to meet a limit of 3 milligrams per liter.
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 22
CHARTER SCHOOLS AND OPEN ENROLLMENT LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (RSA 194-B:21), Room 103, LOB
10:00 a.m. Work session of Ad Hoc committee.
COMMITTEE TO STUDY COLLECTIVE BARGAINING BY PUBLIC EMPLOYEES (HB 580, Chapter 101:1, Laws of 2011), Room 307, LOB
2:00 p.m. Regular meeting.
COMMITTEE TO STUDY ISSUES REGARDING FINANCIAL RESOURCES MORTGAGE, INC. (HB 178, Chapter 119:1, Laws of 2011), Room 212, LOB
9:00 a.m. Regular meeting.
HOUSE SELECT COMMITTEE TO STUDY ISSUES REGARDING THE NEW HAMPSHIRE LOCAL GOVERNMENT CENTER, Rooms 202-204, LOB
10:00 a.m. Work session.
NH INNOVATION RESEARCH CENTER OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE (RSA 187-A:32), The President’s Conference Room, Thompson Hall, UNH
9:00 a.m. Regular meeting.
SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION FUNDING REFORM, Rooms 210-211, LOB
10:00 a.m. Public hearing on proposed amendment to CACR 14, relating to public education. Providing that the general court shall have the authority to define standards for public education, establish standards of accountability, mitigate local disparities in educational opportunity and fiscal capacity, and shall have full discretion to determine the amount of state funding for education. Copies of the proposed amendment are available from the Sergeant-at-Arms office.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23
HEALTH INFORMATION ORGANIZATION BOARD (RSA 332-I:8), 125 Airport Road, Concord
I wrote this blog a month ago and never realized I had it saved in my drafts. I found it very appropriate to finalize it now with the announcement on July 6th that Governor Lynch would be vetoing SB 57. It is due to the hard work and persistence of groups like the United Valley Interfaith Project that another truly reckless piece of legislation was avoided again this session.
The New Hampshire House will take up two Senate Bills over the next few weeks regarding predatory lending in New Hampshire. These Bills would once again allow lenders to charge extreme interest rates on payday and car title loans. Senate Bill 57 and 160 would remove the 36 percent annual cap and increase it to as high as 300%. . These pieces of legislation would allow lenders to prey on vulnerable residents of our State. Are we seeing a pattern here? SB 57 passed the House yesterday by very narrow numbers 180-171. I unfortunately had to be out of town this past week when this Bill was voted on and it pains me to no end to know that my vote truly could have mattered. I take attending every Session very seriously but sometimes every day life does get in the way of political life.
Please read the two testimonies opposing the bills below. Both were presented to the House and Senate Commerce and Consumer Affairs Committee by Steve and Donna Beaupre’ of Meriden and Rod Wednt Pastor at the Meriden Congregational Church and member of the United Valley Interfaith kProject, a coalition of faith communities in the Claremont-Plainfield-Lebanon-Hanover area.
Dear Committee Members of Commerce and Consumer Affairs:
Today, hearing testimonies on SB 160, which were very similar to the testimonies given last week on SB 57, we remain most concerned about these issues.
We write to urge that you carefully consider all ramifications to the lives of New Hampshire people who potentially could become victims of the extraordinarily high proposed interest rates charged by the car title and installment /payday lenders who claim to be offering additional jobs to the New Hampshire job market.
Victims — because of their inability to repay within the designated short time as set by the company, thus causing them to fall further into debt, perhaps over and over, month by month.
Victims — because of the wide range of folks without a viable ability to repay quickly, yet approved for and given loans. Loans not based on their potential ability to pay, but on telephone calls to ascertain a current job.
Victims — because being in difficult situations they see no other choices. Thus being vulnerable they choose unrealistic, unattainable, uncompromising methods of repayment, seemingly part of the companies’ corporate strategy.
Victims — because IF men and women in the legislature who, for a whole myriad of influences or persuasions, voted into law these two bills, the outcome would allow these companies to dupe New Hampshire citizens. Citizens who, for many, many reasons, find themselves cornered.
Please read and reread the papers presented to you by the New Hampshire residents who spoke — by those who represented groups and by those who told compelling personal narratives. Please take their words into your own hearts. Please reflect upon the basic perception of promoting human welfare. And, as a legislator, please also consider assisting in the development of strategies and plans to create NH jobs that can help and assist our citizens instead of stripping them of dignity, power, and hope.
We are both NH Volunteers for the group Heifer International. Its mission since 1944 has been to end hunger and poverty, caring for people and the earth. Each person who receives help is first given training. Each person is supported by the community. Each person agrees to Pass On the Gift to another person in need by sharing the same type of gift [animal, micro-loan, knowledge] that was given to him/her. Dignity, Hope, Resiliency and Self-Sufficiency reign in this program. If such successful support can transform 128 million families, most living in third world countries, why then are we in New Hampshire considering — for our own people — such injurious consequences that SB 57 and SB 160 would bring to this state?
Thank you.
Stephen A. Beaupré and Donna G Beaupré Meriden, NH
At the end of March, more than 2,000 people gathered
on the plaza in front of the New Hampshire statehouse
to protest spending cuts and the provision that would
strip public employees of their union protections.
Today, it’s still busy with voters trying to influence lawmakers
ahead of Wednesday’s override vote.
A vote in New Hampshire will decide whether the Granite State becomes the 23rd state to forbid union contracts that charge nonmembers a share of collective bargaining costs.
The Republican-dominated Legislature there has already passed a so-called right-to-work bill, which was quickly vetoed by Democratic Gov. John Lynch.
The override vote Wednesday is expected to be close.
‘If It’s Not Broke, Don’t Fix It’
It’s busy outside Representatives Hall at the New Hampshire statehouse these days — and not simply with the professional class of lobbyists who tend to roost there.
