With the New Hampshire Democrat-lead Legislature’s war on plastic well-underway, (straws here, bags here) the People Republic of Portsmouth is warming up their war on convenience. Plastic bag bans are a frequent flyer in Portsmouth but these were illegal efforts. With new permissions looming from State Democrats, Portsmouth is getting ready to ban plastic bags, straws, and foam containers.
Denton has worked with a group of residents for five years to try to ban single-use plastic bags in the city because of the damage they do in the environment. But he has never gotten enough council support to pass an ordinance because City Attorney Robert Sullivan believes there must be enabling legislation for Portsmouth to implement a ban, and there is none.
Out-of-State Money
The “group” he means are ‘locals’ doing the work of a well-funded national organization called Surfrider. The same group behind the legislative push at the state level. It’s all funded by out-of-state money. Try not to act surprised.
The Statewide legislation is a result of Portsmouth’s years-long burning desire to make pointless environmental gestures that force citizens to make decisions that are worse for the environment. If passed they would create a single-use plastics czar at the cost of nearly 100,000.00 dollars a year. And add cost burdens to business owners, consumers, communities, and local law enforcement – including the “straw-nazi hotline” to rat-out your local job creators if you see them ‘breaking the single-use plastics law.’
Produce bags, shopping bags, trash bags, grocery bags, you name it. They’ll come after them all. And in Portsmouth, you can say goodbye to plastic straws and any “single-use” cup of convenience as well. How about medical waste bags, or the other thousands of single-use plastics about which we never even think? What do we replace all of these things with that works as well, is as affordable, and yes – that have smaller carbon footprints than the replacements.
They don’t care.
And yes, they’ll be coming after paper next. They must. It has a higher carbon footprint.
And if HB102 and HB560 find their way into law (call Gov. Sununu and ask him to veto these) you’ll get the inconvenience and costs these laws create and the risk that your town can play at virtue-signaling like Portsmouth. To the detriment of your convenience and the environment.
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