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letters | Concerns over N.H. hydropower project

N.H. community would never be the same

The proposed route of the Northern Pass hydropower project would run the length of New Hampshire, including through Sugar Hill, whose high elevation provides a view of Franconia Notch.File/the Boston Globe/Boston Globe

I was disappointed in your Sept. 15 editorial “Gains outweigh the costs for hydropower from Quebec.” The community of Sugar Hill, N.H., unanimously voted to oppose the Northern Pass project as proposed at our 2011 town meeting. The proposed towers and widened rights of way would cut our town in half and devastate our scenic views and historic main street. The tax revenues that Northern Pass has promised to the town fail to consider the losses in property taxes and real estate values in Sugar Hill that have already occurred with the mere suggestion of high-voltage direct current towers.

Northern Pass is an elective transmission project. It is not needed to keep the lights on in New England. It would be built on spec. The developers hope that if they are allowed to build, they can compete with local power producers to sell the imported electricity.

New Hampshire already generates more electricity than it uses.

No environmental organization has endorsed this so-called green project.

If Northeast Utilities is so desperate to pursue this endeavor, why isn’t this private corporation talking about burying all the lines along existing state-owned transportation corridors?

Margo Connors
Sugar Hill, N.H.

The writer is a member of the select board of Sugar Hill.

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