How is this protecting and preserving?

I live within short walking distance from the proposed New Ipswich site of the 80,000-plus hp compressor station planned by Tennessee Gas/Kinder Morgan for the 36-inch-diameter pressurized gas pipeline through Southern New Hampshire.
Those so close to, but not subject to, eminent domain will receive no compensation from Tennessee Gas/Kinder Morgan yet our properties and homes have already become worthless in the marketplace from the pure intent of the pipeline. How is it that a private company is allowed to destroy the values of our properties, upset our peace and quiet, slaughter the rural landscape we have paid to maintain, and place us the circle of destruction by way of explosion, fire, toxic gases, poisoned water, noise pollution, high impact vibrations and terrorist threat?

I need the fair and whole market value of my home to fund my retirement. I am 64 years old and cannot re-do my life to regain the financial loss I now face.

Can we do the same to those people who have crafted this scheme upon us?

I cannot host a noisy party without being cited. I cannot scatter a toxic mix of poisons across the land, water and air without criminal prosecution. I cannot build something that is subject to a massive explosion with such intense thermal radiation impact that it incinerates everything it its path over great distances.

I cannot use my property to even raise swine as it is deemed detrimental to the value of my neighbor’s property.

Who has issued such powers of ruin to other human beings to a private corporation with the singular private interest of making huge profits?

Energy companies are some of the richest on the planet. Who gave them license to not only strip us financially, but to also put so many people in harm’s way whenever they choose to do so?

Who is responsible for these travesties of justice? Why are we answering to this call? Why aren’t legislators and regulatory commissions being tasked with these responsibilities?

Isn’t that the purpose of government to protect and preserve?

Evelyn Taylor

New Ipswich

More to pipeline plan than meets eye

Do you live in a town that will not be hosting the Kinder Morgan-Tennessee Gas Pipeline project and think it won’t affect you?
Think again.

Kinder-Morgan, a multi-billion dollar company founded by Enron executives, has petitioned to impose tariffs on electricity bills to finance its project. The fourth largest energy company in the country, already subsidized by your tax dollars, wants you to pony up more money for their profit.

New Hampshire is an exporter of energy to New England. The infrastructure in place has been running below 2008 levels for years. In order to manipulate prices, these companies pretend that there isn’t enough gas to meet demand.

The product flowing through these pipes is not the clean, green energy everyone thinks of when they hear “natural gas.” This gas will be full of toxic substances used during fracking.

The “natural” gas industry has become the primary emitter of greenhouse gases in the country. These pipelines, and the compressors needed to push gas along the pipe, leak. They spew thousands of tons of chemicals into the environment, polluting watersheds, wells, soil, animal forage and the air you breathe.

It will cause chronic health issues for thousands of people. Maybe one of those people will be someone you love. I hope not.

Kinder-Morgan employs public relations workers in New Hampshire to advise it on changing their corporate image. The company has paid out massive amounts in fines, millions of dollars, for violations of federal and state regulations, but one well-placed ad, one donation to a school, or a politician’s event and that is forgotten.

Is that why we haven’t heard the voices of our elected officials denouncing this project?

Wake up, New Hampshire. If this is approved, more will be coming. Add your voice to those fighting this corporate Goliath.

Julie Erb

Hillsboro

Kinder Morgan gains important victory in pipeline project

Posted: Wednesday, July 1, 2015 12:00 pm

By Sentinel Staff

If it smells like fish...

The state’s Public Utilities Commission staff gave the proposed Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline project a key boost Friday. They gave the thumbs-up to a contract that would allow Liberty Utilities to buy space on the proposed pipeline, called the Northeast Energy Direct line, that would run through southern New Hampshire, including five local towns.
The state’s oversight panel is now one step closer to approving the contract between Liberty Utilities, the state’s largest natural gas distributor, and Kinder Morgan, according to an article in today’s Union Leader of Manchester.

Next up is a formal vote by the three-member commission, which will come after a public hearing July 22. But the endorsement by commission staff is an important victory for proponents of the pipeline.

Opponents told the Union Leader they plan to contest the agreement at the July 22 hearing.

Members of the Pipeline Awareness Network (PLAN) argue the agreement came despite testimony from the PUC’s expert witness and consumer advocate strongly recommending against the plan.

Ultimately, the final decision will be made by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, whose five members were appointed by President Barack Obama.

Pamela Young-Allen, the federal commission’s spokeswoman, told The Sentinel last month that the commission will evaluate the possible environmental impact of the pipeline — and whether alternatives exist — before issuing a draft environmental impact statement that will be available for public comment. A final statement will then go to the commission.

Young-Allen also told The Sentinel that the federal regulatory commissioners rarely recommend against a project.

The state’s role, through the Public Utilities Commission, is to determine whether Liberty Utilities is warranted in looking to the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline for gas for its customers. Thus, Friday’s approval by the PUC’s members is an important victory for Kinder Morgan.

It comes despite testimony by the PUC’s own consultant, Melissa Whitten, who said in May that the deal would leave Liberty with “substantial excess capacity that it would not completely absorb or grow into over the life of the contract,” the Union Leader reported. And assistant consumer advocate Pradip K. Chattopadhyay testified the deal should not be approved because it’s not in the best interests of Liberty’s customers.

Consumer Advocate Susan Chamberlin said she didn’t know why the PUC staff came to conclusions that seem to contradict testimony by its own experts. “I can’t explain the discrepancy,” she told the Union Leader.

The agreement between Kinder Morgan and Liberty Utilities was first announced in November.

The proposed pipeline would extend from Pennsylvania to Dracut, Mass., where it would connect with a pipeline to Canada. It would cross through five local towns along the way: Fitzwilliam, Richmond, Rindge, Troy and Winchester.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Will make Pipeline Decision .. Intervenors Have Say In Decision..

A long road lies ahead for pipeline plan:

 By Martha Shanahan Sentinel Staff

  In the months since energy company Kinder Morgan announced it would be shifting its proposed pipeline route north through southern New Hampshire to avoid parts of Massachusetts, some local anti-pipeline activists have placed their emphasis on understanding — and stymieing — the federal approval process.

With slogans like “get the FERC out of Rindge,” local residents concerned about the impact the proposed pipeline will have on their neighborhoods, conserved land and property rates have focused on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that ultimately will give federal approval or disapproval for the project.

But before FERC’s five commissioners make a final decision, a long road lies ahead.

Kinder Morgan and Tennessee Gas, the subsidiary building the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, remains in what FERC calls the pre-filing stage, during which it has held public meetings and sent surveyors to assess the land the pipeline will cross.

Before it can officially file it must first hold a series of so-called scoping meetings in towns along the route.

New Hampshire’s U.S. congressional delegation wrote a joint letter to FERC in April asking that the company hold scoping meetings with any towns that request them and that they cooperate with the towns in scheduling them.

Once those meetings are held, and if enough deals are finalized with the power companies along the pipeline route that have promised to buy gas from the companies, the company plans to file its official application for FERC approval in September, according to documents it filed with FERC.

Then, according to FERC spokeswoman Pamela Young-Allen, the commission’s staff will evaluate the possible environmental impact of the pipeline — and whether there are any alternatives — before issuing a draft environmental impact statement, which the public will be able to comment on. A final statement will then go to the commission.

Staff members rarely recommend against a project, Young-Allen said.

The commission’s five members — all Obama administration appointees — will then read the environmental impact statement and issue a decision on the project.

While the agency doesn’t keep statistics on how many projects the commission approves or declines, Young-Allen said, a “no” answer from the commission is also rare.

Any person or entity who filed after the initial application as an “intervenor,” or a party that would be affected by the pipeline, can appeal the decision, Young-Allen said.

“When the commission issues its order on the project, the intervenors — and only the intervenors — can seek rehearing or an appeal of the commission’s decision,” she said.

But before September, Kinder Morgan must first try to show show it is meeting actual demand in the states the pipeline will cross. Companies in the states between the Pennsylvania shale fields and the proposed Dracut, Mass. terminus — where the gas will connect with a pipeline to Canada — have already signed on to sell the gas to their customers.

The state’s role

The N.H. Public Utilities Commission is charged with determining whether Liberty Utilities is warranted in looking to the Northeast Energy Direct pipeline for gas for its customers.

In New Hampshire, Liberty Utilities has emerged as the only company willing to enter into a contract with Kinder Morgan for the gas, and opponents, such as the nonprofit corporation Pipeline Awareness Network for the Northeast (PLAN), are aiming at that contract as the battle before the FERC war.

“We’ve all been hearing FERC is where all the decisions get made,” PLAN’s president, Kathryn R. Eiseman, said. “But states have an enormous amount of power.”

PLAN combined two Massachusetts and New Hampshire groups joined to form the regional organization, Eisemen, who is also the director of the Massachusetts group, said.

Eiseman said PLAN has hired a Boston attorney who focuses on energy issues to help the group file, giving it the opportunity to testify at hearings on the deal.

Eiseman did not say which municipalities or organizations are members of PLAN.

But several local towns, including Fitzwilliam, Greenville, Richmond and Troy, have joined another group, the N.H. Municipal Pipeline Coalition, to join together, some signing on as an intervenor in the Liberty Utilities deal.

In a letter to Gov. Maggie Hassan last month, the 13 towns called the pipeline unnecessary and “an insult to conservation efforts of the state, municipalities and conservation easement holders given the existence of better alternatives.”

Susan Silverman, chairwoman of the Fitzwilliam Board of Selectmen, said her town filed with the Public Utilities Commission as an intervenor in hopes of convincing commissioners that the pipeline is unnecessary.

She said she doesn’t yet know if the town will file to participate in the FERC application this fall as an intervenor.

“There’s a lot of ground to cover before that,” she said. “We try to take it one step at a time. ... what comes out of the (Public Utility Commission) will dictate what we do.”

The commission’s decision could be the last time New Hampshire officials can make a decision affecting the future of the pipeline in New Hampshire.

The project won’t need a input from the N.H. Legislature, and local zoning requirements are unlikely to stand in the way of Kinder Morgan’s path once federal approval is granted.

“There isn’t a simple process,” Silverman said. “It would be nice if there was.”

Even if the Liberty contract is stymied, FERC could still go ahead with its application in September, and still get FERC approval.

Eiseman said she’s waiting to see what happens at the state level before her group starts to tackle the federal regulation process.

“When it gets to September, we’ll see whether Kinder Morgan has any contracts approved,” she said. “Everyone is very happy to show them the door.”

Martha Shanahan can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1434, or mshanahan@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MShanahanKS.

Upcoming Pipeline Meetings

On  May 26th a meeting will be hosted by Winchester Pipeline Awareness at Town Hall.  The intent is to help answer questions the public still has.  The Kinder Morgan open house seemed to just cause more confusion and more unanswered questions.  The meeting will be held between 7-9pm.

There will also be a presentation put on by Kinder Morgan on June 2nd.  It will be like the meetings that have been held in Richmond & Fitzwilliam,  if anyone attended one of those.  Preference to asking questions to KM reps will be affected landowners,  abutters,  residents and non-residents if time allows.  The meeting will be held from 7-8:30pm.

Please attend both meetings. Your support and voices matter. This is a very important issue for all of us , not only just those affected immediately by the construction of the pipeline through their properties; but the town itself and all citizen's of Winchester. This project will have great environmental impact and poses numerous threats to public safety as well as allowing an out of state company to seize private property for profit.


 More information regarding the fight to keep Kinder Morgan out of Southern New Hampshire and our backyards 

 https://www.facebook.com/nopipelineinRindge

 https://www.facebook.com/groups/winchesterpipelineawareness
 

BOS Meeting Minutes 04-01-14

And the trend continues, even with a new board .. spending more than needed to ensure favoritism is alive and well in Winchester..

Winchester selectmen divided

... on allowing company to survey for pipeline

 By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

 

WINCHESTER — The board of selectmen will stand against the surveying of town property for Kinder Morgan’s proposed natural gas pipeline, but its members will do so divided.
The board voted 3-2 at its most recent meeting to draft a letter to Kinder Morgan, denying its representatives access to survey town-owned property.

Selectmen Chairman Roberta A. Fraser and members Ken Berthiaume and Jack Marsh Jr. voted in favor of the motion. Herbert “Chan” Stephens and Theresa G. Sepe opposed it.

About 25 people attended the meeting at the Winchester Town Hall, with most of them there to encourage the selectmen to take a stance against the project.

“I know many of us here are looking for leadership,” said Rick Horton, a resident and chairman of the school board. “You are the leaders of this town, and you need to make a statement and follow through.”

The selectmen’s vote comes after the majority of residents participating in town meeting last month approved three petition articles directing town officials to take certain actions opposing the proposed construction of a pipeline by the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. LLC, a Kinder Morgan company.

Those actions are to deny the company and its associates permission to enter town-owned property to perform surveys; oppose approval of the project by the N.H. Energy Facility Site Evaluation Committee because the proposal is inconsistent with the town’s goals of protecting and preserving its aquifers, drinking water, wetlands and streams; and oppose approval of the project by the N.H. Energy Facility Site Evaluation Committee because the proposal is inconsistent with the basic tenet of individual property rights.

The margin of approval for each article ranged from 149 to 183 votes, out of roughly 600 total votes.

The company is proposing a pipeline to carry natural gas from shale gas fields in Pennsylvania through upstate New York, part of northern Massachusetts and into southern New Hampshire before going to a distribution hub in eastern Massachusetts.

The Monadnock Region communities on the proposed route are Fitzwilliam, Richmond, Rindge, Troy and Winchester.

Selectmen in Fitzwilliam and Rindge have already taken united stances against allowing Kinder Morgan to survey property in their towns of the pipeline, and supported other anti-pipeline warrant articles voters approved last month.

Before the Winchester selectmen voted on April 1, board members engaged in about 20 minutes of heated debate among themselves and with some audience members about whether the selectmen should take a position on the entire project.

Sepe and Stephens said they needed more information about the project to make a decision, while Berthiaume, Fraser and Marsh said they needed to stand behind town meeting’s approval of three anti-pipeline warrant articles last month.

The debate escalated to a shouting match at one point, with Sepe defending her position to anti-pipeline audience members that selectmen don’t have all the information yet to take a stance on the project.

Sepe said she and her family live less than 300 feet from the pipeline, but she hasn’t made a decision yet about the project because she doesn’t feel she has all the information.

In addition, she said she believes it’s important to separate her personal opinions from her role as a selectman.

“I want to get more information. That is just how I feel. If you don’t like it, too bad, that is how I feel,” she said.

The only action Sepe said she’d agree to is selectmen writing a letter to Kinder Morgan saying that voters approved the three anti-pipeline warrant articles, and including the wording of the articles.

Horton said he was disappointed that Sepe feels as she does about the matter.

Fraser said selectmen should take a stand against the proposed pipeline.

“As the governing body of the town of Winchester, we have a responsibility to carry out the voters’ wishes,” she said.

Toward the end of the debate, Stephens said selectmen would meet with Kinder Morgan officials at the end of this month, but didn’t have a specific date.

Marsh then made a motion to draft a letter to Kinder Morgan to deny its representatives access to town-owned property.

He had just gotten a few words into it, when applause and cheers erupted from pipeline opponents.

After the vote, some residents spoke for and against the pipeline, including Bill McGrath who said he was concerned the town could get slapped with a lawsuit because one of the anti-pipeline warrant articles goes against state law.

Fraser confirmed that one of the articles isn’t legally enforceable.

The article they were referring to was about not allowing Kinder Morgan representatives to survey town-owned property.

Resident Ronald W. Croteau said the town has to fight the project.

“It’s not going to help the state of New Hampshire one iota, or the town of Winchester,” he said. “It’s going to deface our town.”

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

 

Town puts out call for budget advice

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

WINCHESTER — Selectmen have decided to appoint a financial advisory committee after voters opted to dissolve the budget committee earlier this month.
Meanwhile, the budget committee’s former chairman, Brian Moser, said Thursday he questions if residents knew what they were voting on at the March 10 town meeting.

Voters decided, 299-248, against keeping the budget committee, which was established at town meeting in 1935.

The warrant article, which was amended at the deliberative session in February, made no mention of the budget committee. Instead, it asked voters if the town will continue honoring Chapter 32 of state law. The provision allows for communities to establish budget committees.

“I think nobody understood it,” Moser said. “But the way it was written is apparently legal, so there is not a whole lot I can say about it.”

The original warrant article asked voters to “rescind the provisions” of Chapter 32, and included a sentence saying that an affirmative vote would abolish the budget committee.

The committee was tasked with setting the town’s annual operating budget, but with the group disbanded, the responsibility now falls to the selectmen.

Selectmen Chairman Roberta A. Fraser said Thursday the board voted unanimously on March 18 to appoint the five-member financial advisory committee that will function similar to the budget committee.

“It kind of keeps the checks and balances still in place,” she said.

The biggest difference is that the advisory committee won’t have legal standing, she said. Also, she noted residents will be voting on a budget crafted by selectmen, not a committee specifically formed for that task.

Tell us all how that keeps checks and balances in place Roberta, if : #1) the BOS CHOOSES who's on this committee and ..#2) The committee has no legal standing
 

Fraser said she hopes the advisory committee will be in place by June, as the budget meetings start in late summer and culminate with voting the following March.

Anyone interested in serving on the committee is welcome to contact the town hall, she said.

Moser said he hasn’t decided if he will put his name in for the committee. He added he is concerned that

 only the selectmen and school board are empowered to put a budget before voters.

“I think the taxpayers will lose some protection from overspending and bad choices that they would have had with the budget committee,” he said.

It’s too early to say if there will be an article on next year’s warrant to bring back the budget committee, he said, but he believes some interest exists among residents to restore the committee.

Moser said he’ll be interested in what the selectmen’s 2016-17 proposed operating budget looks like, and how well the board does in managing the 2015-16 budget.

“There is no way to guess until they do it,” he said.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Planning Board Notice of Public Hearing 4-6-15

Town of Winchester

Planning Board

Notice of Public Hearing

4-6-15

 

 

The Winchester Planning Board will be meeting on 4-6-15 at 7pm on the Main Floor of the Town Hall, 1 Richmond Road for the following hearing:

The board will review an application for Earth Excavation Permit Renewal, which includes a request to excavate to a lower elevation, submitted by Mitchell Sand & Gravel. The property is located on Payne Road, Winchester map 15, lot 51. If the application is accepted as complete, the board will move into a hearing on the matter.

Should a decision not be reached, the hearing will stay on the Planning Board agenda until it is either approved or denied. The files are available for review at the Land Use Office during regular business hours.

Respectfully,

Margaret Sharra, Land Use

 

Surprised this even made public on the board's agenda. Notice that the fact he wants to dig down another 80 feet wasn't mentioned; nor the fact that once he has finished looting all the material he can ship down to Mass. he'll simply walk away, leaving a huge hole in the ground to be filled up by rain water and that will eventually become a hazard to all living in the area. This is unacceptable.

Mitchell Attempting To Expand Pit .. More Blasting

For those of you sick of the blasting and noise from Mitchell's Quarry, there's an important meeting coming up at the Swanzey Town Hall , March 26 at 6 pm. He's looking to get his permit renewed, which expires on November 15th, 2015 and permission to blast down 80' lower right on top of our aquifer. This place was once a brown zone and was never cleaned up. Can you imagine what could happen should they hit a vein and release long buried toxic chemicals? Though this will effect the Swanzey part of the pit, it will affect everyone down river should something happen. Plus, who wants a lake there once he walks away. What a hazard for children in the area who will be drawn to it and think about what a breeding ground for mosquitoes this will be. The meeting will be open to the public no matter where you are from. Come and let your voices be heard.

Keene is best place for Winchester students

This letter is in reference to the recent vote in Winchester regarding a petitioned article asking the voters if it is in the best interest to send the students to Keene High School.
The voters said that it was not in the best interest to send the kids to Keene. That is the 374 voters who voted in the affirmative, out of the 4,100 residents in Winchester. This article is purely advisory. I believe the article stated the tuition increase being charged to Winchester from Keene and that certainly influenced the vote.

I recently contacted Monadnock, and the tuition to send a student there is $16,400, and if that student is special ed, it will cost $25,000 plus; if the IEP requires a paraprofessional, that would be an additional cost.

The cost Keene is charging is right in line with Monadnock. The article in the paper cited poor communication and lack of information about the Winchester students. If the Winchester School Board members would like information from Keene, they should ask specific questions and allow the time to receive the information.

As far as lack of information on the students, ask the questions. It has been my experience so far this year that my communication with Keene has been great. I have been in contact with the guidance counselor, his administrative assistant and a number of teachers. They emailed or spoke to me with the accurate information in a timely manner with results.

I have found the teachers to be willing to help, caring and very knowledgeable. The classes my child is taking are challenging. I already had one child graduate from Keene High School, one to graduate in 2018 and I have one child in the Winchester School. I am very happy with the Winchester School and Keene High School. I do not want to see the students go to another school. Allow the parents and the students to voice their opinions and concerns, if any, before there are any decisions made.

The majority of the voters, 374, said it is not in the best interest, but that is not the majority of the town of Winchester. Sending the students to Keene is in the best interest of the town of Winchester.

Laura Aivaliotis

.Winchester

Vote is bad for Winchester, by Robert Davis

It is another sad day in Winchester.

Talk about the fox guarding the hen house. The article on Winchester abolishing the budget committee (Sentinel, March 12) stated the warrant article was not straightforward, which prompted local officials to seek advice from the town’s attorney.

The town’s attorney had full oversight Feb. 10 at the deliberative session; was this time to address the controversial language that should have never been allowed, causing this unclear, controversial article to be accepted as rewritten and presented to the town moderator to be read out loud and allowed for arguments.

Then the rewritten article was amended and voted to be placed on the warrant. When people’s questions arose, we the taxpayers then paid the town’s attorney for a second opinion, which looks like a ploy for covering up their mistakes. Something is not right here, unless you’re one of the supporters conspiring with the selectmen. In the town’s history, this was not the first warrant article that was purposely written to confuse the voters in a manner that would ensure the desired outcome.

Being a past budget committee member and one of the selectmen’s so-called “villains” of the budget committee, I was vehemently offended with the contemptuous underhanded lies the selectmen spilled out of the town hall in their attempt to abolish the budget committee for their own interest, not the voters.

In the past, the selectmen wanted a free hand to set the budget without any cuts, to be what they, the selectmen, determined it should be, without the oversight of the budget committee. Several years ago, the selectmen intentionally delayed the budget committee process, delaying members from getting the department budgets on time. It was a know fact the selectmen deliberately dragged their feet in preparing the budget, causing us, the budget committee to be delayed in getting started.

The final budget was submitted as required by law, but selectmen objected to our budget cuts. Then the selectmen threw a fit by taking the budget committee to court to have the selectmen’s higher budget restored. I have the budget committee minutes proving it was the selectmen that were delaying the budgets and not giving us the true facts, which caused bickering over the budgets.

I will predict the low voter turnout at the polls, with the confusing language on the Warrant Article 15, stating, “To see if the town will vote to continue honoring the provisions of RSA 32 adopted by the town at regular town meeting in 1935,” led to the passage.

Who knows what NH RSA 32 is about in 1935? J believe abolishing the budget committee will be detrimental to the town’s tax rate and the checks and balances. By allowing a few to decide how to spend your tax dollars for the majority is totally insane. Can anyone remember how our town manager was caught with corruption charges and the selectmen supported him all the way and tried not to fire him? If you think you’re the fourth-highest taxes in the state, just wait. If you think you can trust our selectmen to do the right thing, think again. Please voice your opinion and have the vote on Article 15 invalidated.

by Robert Davis

Winchester voters officially abolish budget committee

You people were warned to pay attention and get out and vote .. You have now handed the keys to the vault over to the BOS to do whatever they want with no checks and balances. Of course the warrant was changed to confuse everyone from the original wording; but don't count on Barton Mayer to come clean, he works to put money in his pockets.

I  foresee another trip to District Court in the making..

By Meghan Foley Sentinel Staff

 

WINCHESTER — It’s official: The Winchester Budget Committee is no more.
Selectmen Chairwoman Roberta A. Fraser said Wednesday that officials heard back from the town’s attorney, who confirmed that residents abolished the budget committee at town meeting on Tuesday.

By a vote of 299-248, residents decided against keeping the committee, which was established at town meeting in 1935.

However, the wording of the warrant article wasn’t straightforward, and that prompted local officials to seek advice from the town’s attorney first thing Wednesday morning. Until his confirmation, town officials were not ready to announce that the budget committee was officially gone.

The budget committee’s job has been to set the proposed town operating budget that comes before voters each year.

The task now falls to the selectmen.

The budget committee warrant article was amended at the town’s deliberative session last month. It originally asked voters whether they wanted to abolish the committee, rather than whether they wanted to keep it. That wording was reversed by voters at the session.

At the February meeting, some residents argued the committee is needed as part of the checks-and-balances oversight of town government. Selectmen, on the other hand, said the committee wasn’t doing its job and some members weren’t making decisions in the best interest of the town.

Fraser said this morning that the new board of selectmen will be in place by next Wednesday’s meeting; at that point she expects members will discuss how they want to proceed.

Voters elected Jack Marsh Jr. and Ken Berthiaume to the five-member board Tuesday, ousting incumbents Sherman Tedford and Bill McGrath.

Fraser said her recommendation is for the selectmen to appoint a finance advisory committee.
Yeah right, Roberta, We're going to trust the group that wanted to do away with "elected people" who disagreed with you to appoint unbiased folks to fill their positions .. sure thing.

“We do have to have the checks and balances,” she said.
Really, so why submit a warrant to abolish the group that provided those checks and balances?

While the selectmen had recommended the original warrant article to abolish the budget committee, Fraser said she is surprised the amended version that appeared before voters Tuesday passed.

“It has been on the warrant before, and it didn’t pass.”

Based on that history, selectmen hadn’t thought much about what would happen if the warrant article was successful, she said.

Meghan Foley can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1436, or mfoley@keenesentinel.com. Follow her on Twitter @MFoleyKS.

Get Out and VOTE !!

Voting is Tuesday 

March 10, 2015 

at Town Hall from 

8:00 am – 7:00 pm 

 A sample ballot can be seen here: http://www.winchester-nh.gov/pages/WinchesterNH_WebDocs/Sample%20Ballot%202015.pdf

ARTICLE:  15   To see if the town will vote to continue honoring the provisions of RSA 32 as adopted by the town of Winchester in 1935 at the regular town meeting ..

Sneaky wording by the BOS to trick you into voting to get rid of the Budget Committee and put the 5 foxes in complete control of the Towns purse strings to appropriate whatever they want with no checks and balances by the people.

CHAPTER 32
MUNICIPAL BUDGET LAW

Section 32:1

    32:1 Statement of Purpose. – The purpose of this chapter is to clarify the law as it existed under former RSA 32. A town or district may establish a municipal budget committee to assist its voters in the prudent appropriation of public funds. The budget committee, in those municipalities which establish one, is intended to have budgetary authority analogous to that of a legislative appropriations committee. It is the legislature's further purpose to establish uniformity in the manner of appropriating and spending public funds in all municipal subdivisions to which this chapter applies, including those towns, school districts and village districts which do not operate with budget committees, and have not before had much statutory guidance. 

 

A YES vote will ensure we continue to have a Budget Committee, a NO gives the BOS the power to do whatever it wants.

 

 

ARTICLE 16:  Shall the Town vote to adopt a Housing Standard Ordinance in accordance with RSA 48.

The State has already set minimum standards by which every landlord who rents must follow by law, whether a municipality has an ordnance or not. We don't need to establish another paying full time position to have someone enforce what is already on the books.

 

We don't need another unnecessary full time paying position , nor do we need our underqualified, untrained code enforcement officer poking her nose where it don't belong.

 

 

As pipeline project moves forward, residents opposing it continue to mobilize

By Ella Nilsen Sentinel Staff

JAFFREY — The main room in the Jaffrey VFW was silent at the start of Saturday’s community meeting on the proposed Kinder Morgan natural gas pipeline.
More than 100 area residents sat in rows of chairs and watched a photo slideshow of area lakes, meadows and mountains with somber piano music in the background.

It felt like being at a memorial service for the natural environment that opponents of the pipeline plan fear could be altered if the 36-inch wide pipeline cut through the local towns of Fitzwilliam, Richmond, Rindge, Troy and Winchester .

Though the mood in the room was somber, it wasn’t one of defeat.

“Our water, our land, our way of life,” the last slide read. “Stop N.E.D.”

The acronym refers to the Northeast Energy Direct project, another name for the pipeline. If approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the pipeline will traverse approximately 70 miles of southern New Hampshire.

If the project continues on schedule, the Houston-based pipeline company will file its formal application with federal regulators at the end of this year.

Since the first announcement that Kinder Morgan moved its preferred route from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, concerned residents have jumped into action, forming groups against the project, including Rindge Pipeline Awareness.

On Saturday, that group’s main message to local residents was: Say no, and say it often.

Rindge resident and group member Maryanne Harper said she hopes everyone in the room would write to their legislators, town officials and FERC commissioners protesting the route through New Hampshire, no matter if their land is affected or not.

“No one can be silent on this,” Harper said. “The more of us that work together, the more effective we can be.”

Harper also had the numbers of properties affected by the project, which she got from Jim Hartman of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, a Kinder Morgan subsidiary.

Rindge has the highest number of potentially affected properties, with 73. Fitzwilliam has 40; Winchester, 32; Richmond, 21, and Troy, 15.

Rindge property owner Joseph Desruisseaux is one of those property owners. Although his house isn’t right on the pipeline route, he estimates it’s about 1,000 feet away. He hasn’t had Tennessee Gas Pipeline surveyors knocking on his door, but his neighbors have.

Still, Desruisseaux is afraid of what being so close to the pipeline could do to his property value.

When asked if he’s thought of trying to sell his house and move away, he said, “The thought has crossed our minds, but what are we going to get for our properties? It’s a serious impact.”

Besides property values, Harper also discussed the safety record of Kinder Morgan pipelines as well as the question of whether the project would bring jobs to the region.

“This is all union work,” Harper said, adding that she had spoken about this with a Laborers’ International Union of North America representative at a recent Kinder Morgan open house in Winchester.

“Many of these jobs are not just out of town, but out of state,” she said.

Other presenters talked about natural gas being exported to foreign countries and questioned whether the new natural gas pipeline is needed to supply energy to New England residents.

Presenter Stephen Wicks of Plainfield, Mass., showed a short video he made about natural gas compressor stations. Wicks traveled to a compressor station in Nassau, N.Y. He said the noisy compressor station runs 24 hours per day and sits on 40 acres.

The meeting was attended by local state representatives, including Susan Emerson, R-Rindge, Jim W. McConnell, R-Swanzey, Carol R. Roberts, D-Wilton, and Christopher R. Adams, R-Brookline.

Emerson and Roberts said they were heartened by N.H. House Majority Leader Jack Flanagan’s recent letter asking federal regulators to deny the Kinder Morgan pipeline.

Flanagan, who represents two towns on the route, wrote a letter to FERC in which he favored another pipeline project in Massachusetts by Spectra Energy, which seeks to expand an existing line.

Roberts said she hopes Flanagan’s comments will also change the mind of Gov. Maggie Hassan, who has not explicitly come out for or against the pipeline.

In her 2014 state of the state address though, Hassan mentioned the New England governors’ energy infrastructure collaboration “that prioritizes natural gas capacity.”

“This effort has already made progress, and the regional grid operator, along with our utilities and pipeline owners, are working on how to put additional natural gas in our region as quickly as possible,” Hassan said in that speech.

After Kinder Morgan announced its plans, Hassan’s spokesman William Hinkle said she will “continue to urge the company to listen to communities, take steps to reduce impacts, and ensure local benefits.”

The local residents and representatives who will be affected said they hope Hassan and New Hampshire’s delegation in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives will take more of a stand against the project.

“If they really listen to (the residents), then we have a chance,” Roberts said.

Ella Nilsen can be reached at enilsen@keenesentinel.com or 352-1234, extension 1409. Follow her on Twitter @ENilsenKS.