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Natural Resource Inventories

Where did they come from? Natural Resource Inventories are being conducted, updated and revised all over the state of New Hampshire by municipalities, but what are they and where did they come from? In 2000 the US Congress created the State and Tribal Wildlife Grants Program.  This program provides federal funds to state Departments of … Read more

Joyce Craig

Good Job By Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig For This Defunding Decision

The Union Leader has a report on Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig’s budget proposal, and it lists a number of funded items and the number of tax dollars allocated to them. Pretty much standard fare. However! I saw something I never thought I’d see from an Illiberal Democrat Mayor – a DEFUNDING.

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Now That SB11 Has Passed…

SB 11 was widely embraced by the New Hampshire House, which means there will be plenty of blame to go around.  While we wait, let us reminisce about an effort back in 2010 to do one of the things we suggested that SB11’s broad language might empowers new intermunicipal water districts to do. From CNHT.org … Read more

EMail Doodlings – SB11

SB11 – the bill ostensibly written to allow Exeter and Stratham to cooperate on a water system.  However, as we have written here on the ‘Grok, we have seen a lot of problems with the bill as it is too broadly written.  With the Feds and the NH regional planning commissions pushing the Federal “Sustainable Communities Initiative”, we see that as one of the possible on-ramps for totally losing that which makes NH special without any of us having much of a say so in favor of Planners’ solution to any future ill – a move from local control in towns and cities to ‘regional approaches’ (overseen, of course, by the NH Regional Planning Commissions).  Thus, I wrote to a couple of NH Senators a bit ago:

<redacted>, thanks for writing and letting us know.

To say that when Steve posted the news up on GraniteGrok about SB-11, it took my breath away – I had no idea it was even in the works. It looks just like legislation I would have expected to see coming from the Water Sustainability Comission. Why? They made it quite clear that during their “listening session” (how I HATE that phrase, as having been to some, there is no “listening” going on; only Cass Suntein style “nudging” to a determined outcome) that one of their stated aims was to remove water from being private property (“I BUILT that well”) to a publicly owned “common resource” with a handful of votes and the signature of a pen.

I crossed swords with them earlier this year – and look at the verbiage in the bill:

  • Therefore, the general court declares and determines that the waters of New Hampshire constitute a limited and precious public resource to be protected, conserved, and managed in the interest of present and future generations.
  • This requires careful stewardship and management of water and wastewater within the state
  • To maximize health and safety, ecological and aesthetic values, and the overall well-being of the people, the state of New Hampshire must enable municipalities to protect water supplies
  • In order to foster regional approaches
  • and authorize the establishment of charges to owners and users of property

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EMail Doodlings – SB11 Part 2

During an email conversation, I was emailed the NH Association of Regional Planning Commissions broad legislative support document – what the local RPCs want the towns and NH Legislature to do.  Again, I looked at what SB11 was supposed to do, compared that to what SB11 will allow planners to do, and looked at the agenda of how the RPCs with to “Fundamentally Transform” NH’s lifestyle simple because they know a more “efficient” way to “guide us” – as though New Hampshire hasn’t figured out how to do this over the last 400 years by ourselves.

But, we aren’t trained Planners, are we?  When I read over the bill again, I decided to compare what it was put up to be (to make it easier to allow Exeter and Stratham to do a water system together) with how expansive it seemed on the first read through it.  And then I read the NHARPC legislative document. So, I just casually put down every disparate area down.  Once again, I was floored:

On 5/7/2013 9:20 AM, Skip wrote:
Gee:

  • Lakes
  • recycling
  • water
  • energy
  • agriculture

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