A Plea To President Obama For A New Bridge.

American Society of Civil Engineers

New HAMPSHIRE

BRIDGES

• 362 of the 2,429 bridges in New Hampshire (14.9%) are considered structurally deficient.
•  445 of the 2,429 bridges in New Hampshire (18.3%) are considered functionally obsolete.
• New Hampshire received $21.3 million from the Federal Highway Bridge Fund in FY2011.

Roads

•  Driving on roads in need of repair costs New Hampshire motorists $267 million a year in extra vehicle repairs and operating costs – $259 per motorist.
•  54% of New Hampshire’s roads are in poor or mediocre condition.
• New Hampshire has 16,006 public road miles.
•  New Hampshire’s highway vehicle-miles traveled in 2009 was approximately 9,922 per capita, ranking it 30th in the nation.
•  New Hampshire’s gas tax of 19.6 cents per gallon has not been increased in 21 years.

Hmm, I usually do my protesting in the fall. I might now start back up in the spring...

My routine has gotten much better...I give perfect military salutes, throw kisses at all the pretty women and bless all the overweight tractor trailer truck driver as the all vehicle pass by me...

10,000 vehicle past me by a day...I got the NH DOT to update their data on my first year protesting on the bridge.

Is President Obama answering me...



The bridge underneath looks like this diabetic's rotting legs and bridge's rotting railings and beams...



Originally Published on 9/9/12 on my blog...


Two Vt.-NH bridges may be replaced

By Meghan Foley
Keene Sentinel | March 17,2013

This Route 119 bridge is one of two spans connecting Brattleboro and Hinsdale, N.H., that could be replaced under a priority list on the New Hampshire side of the border.

HINSDALE, N.H. — A longstanding project to replace the two bridges connecting Hinsdale and Brattleboro is getting another push this spring.

The Southwest Region Planning Commission, based in Keene. N.H., is putting the bridges on a priority list it will submit to that state’s Department of Transportation in April.

The department then reviews the lists of regional projects and decides which should go into the state’s 10-year transportation improvement plan. The report gives target dates for when roads and bridges will be fixed, depending on funding.

The most recent proposal calls for a new, multimillion-dollar bridge to be built south of the Anna Hunt Marsh and Charles Dana bridges on Route 119. The old bridges would be kept for use by pedestrians and bicyclists.

The two Pennsylvania truss bridges, which were built in the 1920s, are considered “functionally obsolete,” said Joshua Mack, principal planner for the commission. Besides being outdated and not meeting current design standards, they’re narrow, and have height and weight limitations, he said.

Hinsdale Selectman Michael Darcy said Hinsdale and Brattleboro are a shared community, and not having an up-to-date bridge over the Connecticut River isn’t good for the viability of both towns.

“We share most everything,” he said. “My family is a great example, where my wife works on the other side of the river, and we live over here. That is the way it is for a lot of people in the area.”

While Hinsdale has its own fire department, it contracts with Rescue Inc. of Brattleboro for ambulance service, and the nearest hospital to the town is Brattleboro Memorial Hospital, Darcy said.

In addition, the Hinsdale and Brattleboro fire departments rely on each other for mutual aid, he said.

If the bridges are ever closed, the closest detours, which are miles out of the way, involve going through Chesterfield to the north, or Bernardston, Mass., to the south, Darcy said.

The Anna Hunt Marsh bridge connects Brattleboro to Hinsdale Island, and the Charles Dana bridge connects Hinsdale Island to Hinsdale. Both bridges were rehabilitated in 1988 after Department of Transportation officials reduced the amount of weight trucks were allowed to carry while crossing the bridges, Mack said.

While weight limits were restored after the repairs were made, it didn’t solve all problems, including that the bridges are impassable for trucks carrying loads above the weight limits, or being wider or taller than the bridges, he said.

Donald A. Lyford, project manager for the Department of Transportation, said the 1988 project (the most recent repairs) involved mostly rebuilding the decks of the bridges, and repairing some of the steel underneath. The New Hampshire agency is leaning toward replacing the two bridges with one bridge crossing the southern end of Hinsdale Island, he said.

The project, which has been debated in some form since the early 1970s, had been on the state’s transportation improvement plan since fiscal year 1994, and was first slated to be done in 1998 for $10 million. It was bumped from the state’s recent 2013-22 transportation improvement plan by the Department of Transportation due to lack of funding.

The most recent estimate from the department puts the total cost of bridge construction, preliminary engineering and right-of-way allocations at $36.6 million, according to a September 2012 information packet from the Southwest Region Planning Commission.

Mack said the design of the new bridge would have it go over the railroad tracks on the Vermont side of the river before touching down to form a new intersection with Route 142 south of downtown Brattleboro.

Currently, vehicles have to cross the railroad tracks to come on and off the bridge nearest Brattleboro.

“Vermont and Massachusetts are in the process of upgrading rail to increase passenger train service — and allow for heavier freight loads to pass on that stretch of railroad — making the rail crossing an even greater issue,” Mack said.

New Hampshire won’t be responsible for the whole cost. Vermont will pay for the environmental assessment and the preliminary engineering, right-of-way acquisition and construction costs on its side of the bridge.

Oct 17: Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park

The park is named after Roosevelt's Jan. 6, 1941, State of the Union address, known as the Four Freedoms Speech. Given before America got involved in World War II, Roosevelt said the way to justify the enormous sacrifice of war was to create a world centered on four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech and expression; freedom of worship; freedom from want; and freedom from fear. The words were later incorporated into the charter of the United Nations, which Roosevelt helped create.

I was worried about the  rickety New Hampshire Department ofEnvironmental Services state pollution controlling infrastructure. Today I worry about the quality of the New Hampshire Department of Transportation Infrastructure with the route 119 bridge.

Dear Mr. Roth (Assistant Attorney General Peter Roth)  and Company, 9/06/01 

You see how corrupt this business was. I was the first person who turned
.Patricia Tressler -Vermont Yankee 10 CFR 2.206 Page z around and confronted this lawlessness. I count 2000 workers whose lives are in turmoil now. You see how they organized the financial facts to the benefit of the CEO and the executives- to maintain their compensation- while making the employees work like underfed dogs and live in a blizzard off uncertainly. I wonder how they influenced the state officials. 

The state officials through these years, up to, and including the governor's office is in the same game of controlling information; just like American Tissue has been for their own benefit. The immoral control of information is how political power is maintained today. How to selectively release the partial truths is the game you play today within the proprietary game of the corporations, the sensitive data that the regulators collect, or the confidentially of the pretrial, during trail, and after trial, which the prosecutors demand. It allows all you people to go behind close doors and make deals for yourselves, your agencies, and your politics- and keeps the public innocent of your corruption. It drags on these corporate corruptions issues for years- until the public become immune to the initially wrong-doing. 

I can hear you saying, mike, we were all so disorganized in the beginning; so confused, so under-funded and understaffed, so much work. That is your premeditated, engineered, and politically designed system that you depend on to make you non accountable to the people you serve. Many of you people were aware that your agencies were non functional, and many of you got promoted because you would play along with this game of dirty politics.  

Who once asked; why did all the good people just sit back and do nothing? In many historical situations of the past we wondered; why was so much of population blinded. The future is asking you that now! 

The truth is many of your state agencies are non-functional because of resource problems. Many vulnerable who have come to you in need, you have
Patricia Tressler -Vermont Yankee 10 CFR 2.206 Page  deceptively turned away from your doors and hidden this data. Hidden this shame! All to get elected or to get your piece of the pie, while your brothers and sisters suffers. Many innocent children you have placed at a life-long disadvantage because you don't have the guts to confront the truth. Lets be very clear, the resource problem, our tax situation, are all straw-dogs issues. You just don't have the courage to make life better for someone outside your class. It's only your self interest that moves and shakes you! 

Remember, I went to the state like a man asking them, just why is this place polluting like this? At best I got a cold shoulder and many times I got the back of their heads. Information is power today, that saying has never been more truer, and you know it. You control it. 

You have placed political power from the average "Joe" so far away, such that you are making government meaningless to the majority of people. Our vulnerable, the poor, the disadvantaged kids, the unstable families, the elderly, the disabled, are being distance from political power. A not being called back by system. They have no ability to better their lives. These are the people who feel this most today. I very much worry about them tomorrow. I worry about your conscience too.
 Mike

Oct 4: Is it going to rain all through Oct? Wish I had weather proof signs.

Island Park...that is the island I have spent so much time on in the last few weeks. The Island Route 119 runs through.

It is the intangible...the immeasurable...that is the foundation of our lives...
View Larger Map

Our New Hampshire House Representative on Sept 25, 2012:

Mike - I think that you are doing fine. It is always helpful to have a concerned citizen actively pointing out a need that must be addressed. There has been some progress recently with the State of Vermont finally completing an environmental study. However, since the Hinsdale/Brattleboro Bridge is currently not even in the State of NH 10 Year Transportation Plan due primarily to the projected cost (I believe the latest estimate is $38 million dollars), it is likely to be at least several years before it is built, even if we are able to obtain federal highway TIGER grant funds to do so. If you have not already done so, at some point you might want to discuss the bridge with Hinsdale Selectman Jay Ebbinghausen, who has been involved in many planning efforts for a new bridge over the years. Jay, our Town Administrator, Jill Collins, & the Southwest Regional Planning Commission are all involved in various ways in support of a new bridge. I just hope & pray that the new bridge gets built before we suffer some type of tragedy with one or both of the existing bridges. With the ongoing involvement of positive activists such as yourself in pushing for the new bridge there is hope. - Bill Butynski

You are "Entering the USA", according to Mike Mulligan, from the third world republic of New Hampshire when heading west across the route 119 Connecticut River bridge entering Vermont (humor)? That river is our International boarder!  The USA begins exactly on the west  river bank high water line mark of the Connecticut River.

The"running in the automobile safety breakdown lane cute gym trunk girl" is more afraid of being clubbed into the woods on the walkway lined with big bushes by a heroin drug crazed maniacs to be raped, than by being swashed like a bug from a cell phone talking semi tractor trailer or cement mixing truck driver. That women went and came back..it was a long jog...I like her style with the hard running and sweating she does.

There is that blue NH state sign on the right hand side of route 119 I mentioned before..."Welcome-Bienvenne to New Hampshire" cute gym trunks girl in the "Live Free or Die" state.

I am taking the suggestion of the Hinsdale cops by making my signs bigger and more prominent. They say they can't read them. I don't know why this picture came out so blurry. The sun is relatively low on the horizon, it blinds the drivers before entering the bridge going to Brat...on my right hand side is the big bad sun. That is what is causing it. You see my back trunk is up...it is a beautiful elevated sign stand. If I had a job I would buy a new camera. It's my "Don Quixote" and big lettered "Google Popperville" plastered all over my brand new big sign stand. Isn't my big old cady a sweat sign hanger?

(I was thinking about my recent pictures being out of focus...my focus dial was set in the wrong position...)

Sept 27: I sent a letter to the Hinsdale NH police chief...gave him the link to this blog and I continually update it.

Sept 26, 2012: So i sent my dirty wheel chair pictures on my blog into the governors office and to all the NH DOT officials I worked with last year. I suspected  police adventures over those dirty picture  and I immediately got a response and visit.

This precipitated the police visit: 

"I explain I caught two women rifling through my backpack looking to steal my cell phone and wallet. I called them on it, called them thieves. They became argumentative....I mouthed off a little... I never said anything disrespectful they didn't deserve, and I never threaten them physically or in any way. I showed the officer were I was standing and where my backpack was.

This is my official write up of it and you get to see my vision of the Hinsdale's future...what i am busting my ass for.

"I knew this police officer. So i say, "you can't tell the addenda of that phone caller". Lots of people don't want me out here. I explain I caught two women rifling through my backpack looking to steal my cell phone and wallet. I called them on it, called them thieves. They became argumentative....I mouthed off a little... I never said anything disrespectful they didn't deserve. I never threaten them physically or in any way. I showed her where I was standing and where my backpack was. Yea the officer said, "I got an unidentified caller who called by cell phone from the roads, those two gals never reported you." The cop asked me "whats up" with the shovel in your hand. I tell her, "I raise the shovel above my head signaling to my buddies out in the road to “begin the construction phase” that replaces these bridges and turns our hearts."

"I am a folk hero to many of these people on the road...these are my friends on this road. I entertain most of them.  I get tons of big wide smiles from the people, I throw kisses from behind the guard rails to women and occasionally to men, military salute to all...I bless and absolved all the big overweight tractor trailer and their drivers of all sins before they enter this rickety unsafe bridge. All the truck drivers get a big kick out of this."

The officer goes on, she passed this spot in the morning..."you have too many signs out here and nobody can understand a thing about what you are trying to do." The cop notices an idiot slowing down to a crawl...she says curtly, "that car over there crawling to a stop to read your signs, that is called you obstructing traffic." I tell her, 'I wouldn't drive like that, what can i say"? I tell her I am not going to get in a argument about how observant you are...but most of these people know exactly why I am out here for. Obviously, I am not going to point out the big illegal “Build New Bridge” sign she passed taped on the entry and exit I-beam of each bridge. She certainly would see it on the way out of the bridge area. The cop sputters irked, "you need a sign permit". Well I say, this is political and I am according to our constitution. I tell her you have no idea how experience with things like this. I say, Hinsdale better be careful playing these sign regulation games, next month with all the political signs and the political worker with their big voter signs outside the Hinsdale Community Center?  Do those need permits. I am not a business or collecting money.

Lets play this out I tell her, go tell your chiefy....if I get arrested, the courts are all backed up because NH doesn't have any money...the judge would think you and the Hinsdale police chief are absolutely ridicules with going to court over this on constitution grounds and the courts being so starved for money. You be wasting Hinsdale town money trying to prosecute this. I am saying Hinsdale needs to check me out very carefully, need to see my blog, its going wild now as we speak...Hinsdale has the potential to become terribly embarrassed. I am not going to get in an argument with a police officer out on the road...I respect your hard job you do. But I will welcome an arrested...I would love the attention of arrest, and i tell you what, i won't allow anyone to bail me out. Remember, all you got to do is say turn around mike, I will immediately comply with your request to be handcuffed and arrested.

I knew if the Hinsdale police thought I was assaulting a woman with a shovel, they would have many more police cars than one.

“Ok” she says,“so what are you trying to do and your plans." "I thought there was a committee or something working on this”, she mutters. "Well, it is a multi state committee", I perk up. For many years they have been running into a brick wall with the I hate government teabag Republicans Concord politicians straggling all the funding for government. You remember the newspaper article about this bridge a few weeks ago, well, we are in cahoots. This a highly sophisticated political operation designed to raise the level of awareness to the public. You know, it is the political season and we are all going to vote for a president in a month. She says," I thought they had NH DOT engineers over at the old Walmart looking into going across there”. I say everything is still really fuzzy where the bridge is going...we are in a “feeling out and testing process" where the bridge is going. The latest rendition is to put a bridge 100 feet south of the current one. We don't want one there. We want that one over at the old Walmart entrance.

I want this area where we are standing right now as a park. Maybe both bridges closed down to car traffic...just a pedestrian and bike area around here. Rip out all of the vegetation along both sides of the Island roads, cut down 90% of the trees...can you ever imagine how beautiful the scenery would be if we had a clear vision with a panoramic 360 degrees view. This road on both sides was once clear of vegetation and trees, we just got lazy over the years.  That mountain right there, that would be a breathtaking sight if all the trees were made gone on Island Park. I want all the sides of the roads to be reengineered, nice sloping and flat lawns on the sides of the road where possible, all the flood debris over years to be cleaned out...a beautiful park right here. I want children to openly play in this beautiful area. I want all the tons of rubbish and garbage from the unofficial homeless encampment  for decades to be cleaned out. Read my lips, job, jobs, jobs....

On the flat areas, lawned and picnic tables and grills...unobstructed beautiful view to the far banks, on both banks of the river. I want all this jungle cleared out...clear and unobstructed sight to the water line. It is for our safety. I don't want anyone not from around here with encyclopedia size court records...drug addicts, pedophiles and homeless alcoholic, them all having records for as long as your arm ever camping out here again. There has been four such people who are camping out here this summer. I don’t want anyone jumping out the jungle to rob or stab people between the bridge (Days later I snapped a picture of the "gym trucks girl" afraid of what the brushes may hide and out jogging  in our vehicle breakdown lane ON Sept 27).  Everyone is terrified to make the walk between the bridges at night. I want everyone to be able to safely walk in the dark with a clear view to the river bank.

See that new restaurant across the river, I want people from all over NE to come eat and spend money there. I want it the talk of NE they can have a nice meal anywhere in Brattleboro, decent coffee at the downtown shops, revitalized Brattleboro, then take the most extraordinary beautiful "unseen anywhere in New England" walk in our new spacious beautiful river Island Park picnic area and nature walk.

I know if we put the bridge near the old WalMart entrance...the traffic flow would be smoother and hold more and safer. The Hinsdale police say there are tons of car and truck accidents on these dilapidated bridges and roads. There would be increased business opportunities for both Hinsdale and Brattleboro. Property values throughout our town would go up. We are pushing this small two lane road to the limits...pre Walmart it was 5,000 cars per days and today it in excess of 10,000 cars per day. I made them count it last year. The duty on the roads have massively increased and it is only going to get worst.

I even got a better vision for Hinsdale I said to the officer, but you got to promise me you won't handcuff me and drag me to the retreat. I want a four lane interstate spur off I-91 coming in south of the first Route 119 bridge. I want it to go through to Winchester, maybe even eat up some of the state land, then snake it up to Route 101 in Keene.

See Hinsdale and Winchester are some of the poorest areas in the state...baby I want interstate economic development into Hinsdale. I want new good and big business moving in, more population, rising property values, yep ever rising taxes for the police, town offices and especially the schools, I want rising incomes for the poor and especially the middle class.

I want to begin building a virtuous 50 year income and economic rising cycle for the middle class and the poor unlike anything ever seen in Hinsdale..."

....Sept 24, 2012: These bridges have an increasing diabetic rotting wasting disease...the table legs are getting ready to rot right off the leg. The bridge is going to be shutdown or collapse before Robert's foot rots off.

Have you ever seen such a heartless and cold hearted Republican tea bagger state as New Hampshire? Or is it the good people of NH who are cold hearted? There can't be any states worst.  New Hampshire is Republican tea-bagger hate on steroids state to the vulnerable and the poor. But where are the good people of New Hampshire...where have we all gone?

They is another guy with a similar wheel chair who uses this side walk to go to the convenience store...another guy with cerebral palsy who can barely walk. There is a lot disabled low income housing in downtown Brattleboro and many walk to this convenience store and to Walmart. There is a lot of grass over growth onto the middle of the sidewalk that rubs onto his wheelchair and face. Robert worries a piece of metal will get pulled out into the walk way and then he not sees it. It cuts his leg and then he can't control the infection, or the cut won't heal. Then they have to cut off the leg. A fallen down branch could be hidden in the  overgrown grass onto the sidewalk...again he is at extreme risk with losing a limb if it cuts or bruises him.

It was completely Robert's idea for me to take a picture of his leg and rot on the bridge...he especially wanted me to take a picture of these issues together...

You see my "Build New Bridge" sign to the right of Robert's head that is taped to the right side I-beam. The sign is too flashy for my camera to pick up what is written with the sun angle. Notice how narrow the bridge is without a safety break down lane? There are tons of bicyclist who also hazards this bridge without safety breakdown lanes. Can you imagine a situation with Robert needing to drive his wheel chair in the road across this extremely dangerous bridge?

The little spin in his wheel chair is one of the few freedoms Robert has. Robert was on a beautiful afternoon stroll to the closest convenience store...

This goddamn sun angle...now what is that blue state sign on the other side (right side) of the road. My god, it is a warming blue happy "Welcome to New Hampshire state sign. Robert, NH is welcoming you to my state. All Robert needs is a diabetic fog and then he is a slow dying dead man. I have entered into such a fog unintentionally myself. There should be guard rails on his left on this tar walkway. He has had his family fixing the ruts in this tar. Just a few feet to the left of the grass mound is a 20 to 30 feet steep embankment down to the bottom of life. Can you imagine him driving off this death cliff and rolling down crashing into the rocks and trees? Can you imagine his slow death all by himself? You hear his feeble cries for help and laboring weak breathing. I can...

Welcome Robert to the great state of New Hampshire...

Here is Robert right to your face. You notice the decaying bridge wood walkway planking under his wheelchair...many loose and warped big time.

This is how I first seen Robert. I was coming down the hill on the far side of the this bridge on my mountain bike. I watched him wheel down the the breakdown lane...watched him stop traffic as he crossed the bridge in the middle of the road between the guard rails. He uses the the road when they don't plow the sidewalks in the winter or there is a loose decayed wooden sidewalk plank...

I was terrified watching the non response of the truck approaching Robert...he slowed down very little and he didn't even move over for the guy in the wheelchair.

Robert is staring down that barreling of the truck approaching him...

Here is again in your face Robert in the breakdown lane heading towards the sidewalk entrance and heading to Brattleboro Vermont. Seems to be a lot of careless two way car drivers in a rush to get home and too busy to even give this guy a break. I don't like his headphones on when he is in the road.


















Think about it, would the Disneyland East and Happyland corporatized  profit driven touristy newspapers and media ever even think about publicizing such a painful and conscience confronting story...there is nothing pretty in this story to make people feel good. Enjoy your fall foliage season pretty pictures in our local papers!

But the media is only gives you what you want...they got scientific studies and circulation driven profits to prove it.



































Note to self: my hand sign printing skills SUCK...I got aberrant capitals and small letters inappropriately all over the place.)

Well, you know where I stand...am I clear and unambitious?

With all of my criticism of the USA, you know I feel I have the privileged to live is the best country on face of the planet. Even with my job plight and hard knocks of life....I still understand how great the USA is. It is not as I don't understand all our sorrows and see it! I understand more than ever how "the ideal of the USA" is so important to the planet. I will never give up in the faith and goodness I have in the United States of America. I look up from the "loser end of life" and I am still astonish I live in such a great and hopeful nation.

Sept 23: The shiny unreadable rectangular box half way up the rusty I-beam is my "Build New Bridge" sign. It is always extremely florescent  prominent and readable by car. It is a bad sun angle for my camera. I got all four ends of the two bridge covered with my signs. I am leaving them up when I am away 24hours a day. I bet you it looks like I am escalating my behavior...I wonder how much they will let me get away with. If somebody pulls it down I have committed myself to replace it till election.

Hmm, for a month (30days) it would be 10,000 cars per day with two people in each car...for a total of 600,000 people seeing my Build New Bridge sign...

I wish I could spell?

My QE3 program...a $25 trillion dollar public works program...massive raising incomes to the bottom half. A WW II magnitude stimulus program. The 2008-2009 financial debacle cost 60 trillion dollars. Just like WW II but without the heroic battlefield deaths, the massive scientific, technological, the advancement in organizations, educational and economic growth/developmental will massively overwealm incurred debts. Click on the picture for an enlargement (twice)...

We need a national and generational challenge as big as ourselves...a multi decades program...

The planet needs us to be the far sighted leader we once were and economic engine of the world.

The symbols representing my QE3 program...the shovel and hammer construction tools.

Call me with a job when my QE3 passes.

Took me until 59 years old and being on station next to my bridge to memorized FDR's Four Freedoms...

Here they are...Speech, Worship, Want and Need...

My fifth FDR's freedom...the enabler of all freedoms...transparency and openness. Wish I knew how to spell?

I save her, then she saves me...isn't that how it works...

There is my depression era 1930's childhood book...

Sept 20:

Just to be absolutely clear, this is a political game dressed up as quasi bridge engineering game.

If the NH DOT was serious with this and honest...they would severely restrict the weight limit of the bridge and talk in a manner the bridge is grossly not safe with deck and structurally...speak in terms the bridge's life is only a matter of few years.

There is no doubt the bridge structure inspectors and the NH DOT is severely politicalized...the NH DOT funding problems has jacked up on steroids the politicization of all decision in the NH DOT.  

Sept 19, 2012:
The biggest hurtle ahead is getting it passed the Teabagger "I hate the government" NH Senate and House Republican budgets...

The powerful Republican eastern NH high population area...the gold coast of NH...is in competition with little southwestern NH.

Eager to get started

Officials discuss new Hinsdale-Brattleboro bridge

By DOMENIC POLI / Reformer Staffreformer.com
September 18, 2012 11:50 AM GMTUpdated: 09/18/2012 07:50:10 AM EDT
HINSDALE, N.H. -- A dozen individuals involved with planning a new bridge to connect the town to Brattleboro, Vt., met on Monday to discuss how the project is coming along.
Town officials from Hinsdale and Brattleboro, state legislators, planners and the project managers from the states' departments of transportation gathered in the parking lot of George's Field, where Walmart used to be. The meeting took the attendees across the parking lot, where people spoke of where the bridge is expected to be built, before they all got into their vehicles to visit Hinsdale Island and a spot in Brattleboro along the Connecticut River.
Present at the meeting were Southwest Region Planning Commission Executive Director Tim Murphy and Principal Planner JB Mack; Danny Landry, project manager at VTrans; Donald Lyford, project manager for the NHDOT; Brattleboro Selectboard member Dora Bouboulis; and State Reps. William Butynski, D, and Edwin "Smokey" Smith, R, among others.
According to Mack, Vermont and New Hampshire have been pushing for a proposed Route 119 bridge that would begin near the stop light at the former Walmart location, span the Connecticut River, the southern portion of Hinsdale Island and the Merrill Gas Company tank farm on Vernon Road and then touch down near Brattleboro's "malfunction junction." The Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge and the Charles Dana Bridge currently link the two states.
As Merrill is a private company on Depot Street, right-of-way negotiations will need to be held, according to Landry. He said the existing bridges, owned by New Hampshire and built in 1920, will likely be used for pedestrians. According to people at the meeting, an average of 9,700 people cross the bridges every day.
The thought is that a new bridge would improve traffic flow in Brattleboro.
Landry previously told the Reformer that VTrans hired two consulting firms to conduct an assessment in the area of the tank farm, which is required to go to the FHWA before the federal government obligates money to the project. Landry said the assessments consisted of field work to determine how various aspects, such as water quality, wetlands, recreational resources and historical resources, will be affected by the project.
If the FHWA approves the assessment, it will send the agency a Finding Of No Significant Impact, or FONSI, Landry said. The National Environmental Policy Act requires an environmental document for any project, no matter its size or scale, he said.
"We haven't heard anything but last week I heard that the environmental officer for Federal Highway, Rob Sikora, is reviewing another project in the Burlington area and he expects to be on it for about two more weeks," Landry told people at Monday's meeting. "And then from there he's going to move right on to this environmental assessment.
"And he believes there aren't any changes that have to be made," he continued. "So that should mean that we should get our FONSI pretty soon."
He said securing the FONSI will complete what he considers the most difficult part of the whole project. The next step, he explained, is to sign a bi-state agreement.
Though the federal government can obligate money for the project at any time, preliminary engineering cannot begin until a bi-state agreement is reached between New Hampshire -- the lead on this project -- and Vermont. Dandry previously said a bi-state agreement is just a plan of what will be done, what work will be required of each party and what it will cost each side.
When someone asked how long a bi-state agreement takes to complete, Landry chuckled and said it varies.
"It depends on if you're doing it in New Hampshire or you're doing it in New York," he said with a laugh. "If you do it with New York, which I did with Lake Champlain, it takes about three years. If you're dealing with New Hampshire, it takes less than six months."
Mack said both town are anxious to develop a new bridge and though it has always been a priority with the SWRPC, the project did not make it onto New Hampshire's 10-year plan in 2011. Lyford said the 10-year plan is updated every two years.
Bouboulis asked Murphy if there is support in New Hampshire for the project and he assured her there is.
Everyone eventually got into their vehicles and drove out of the parking lot to Hinsdale Island, which connects the two bridges. Mack described where the ends of the new bridge would be and where it would bend a little and those at the meeting looked out at the landscape. Lyford said the structure would be about 2,500 feet in length.
The meeting then continued across the river to an area near the tank farm, where it was described how the road will have to be raised to accommodate the project, and Bouboulis said the surrounding neighborhood has been very patient in waiting for the project to get under way. Lyford said it all comes down to finishing the plans and getting the proper funding.
After the meeting, Smith said people on both sides of the river have been eager to see the bridge started.
"I think this is a great first step to reinvigorate the life of this. I've been very patient over the years and hopefully this is the beginning of the completion," he said.
Mack said he thought the meeting went well.
"Our objective today was to educate people about the project," he said. "We have to get the project back on New Hampshire's 10-year plan. It had been on for years. ... That process will be starting for our regional planning commission this fall. We have to advocate for the project, put forth the arguments of why it's important."

Sept 11, 2012:
"This is what I did for the anniversary of 9/11 on Sept 11, 2012. I was standing next to my 9/11 sign and I military saluted everyone who went past me today. It was a very solemn day. I didn't expect the magnitude of the response...almost everyone had a solemn face on. I got so many salutes backs and tons of nods. It is utterly amazing how deep the sorrows and sadness is over our 9/11 and the Iraq/Afghanistan wars. It was sad and very teary for me for a few hours to see how the local people have been so deeply touched by these events."

10,000 cars a day goes past point...I made the NH recount it last year. The bridge was built in 1920. I spent 3 months last year doing 40 to 60 hours a week with protesting and I expect I will do the same this year until everyone gives up and gives me what I want.

iBrat

"Hey give him a break. It was just a couple years ago that he was taking pictures and had his sandwich sign of doom of the I-91 bridge over Williams st. and look! It's being replaced as we speak. 

I think this guys got the power."

Sep 13 2011 YouTube: Mike Mulligan and the Hinsdale Route 119 bridge 

Ibrat: Mike Mulligan and the Route 119 Bridge to Hinsdale

My diary of last year adventures: Brattleboro/ Hinsdale Bridge Unsafe

My hopes: 2012: Brattleboro/ Hinsdale Bridge Unsafe 

My Route 119 Hinsdale/Brattleboro Bridge

I buy you a cup of coffee if you know why that green bag is in the middle of the road?

In the below picture, them darker circles in the brown rust were once rivet heads...when was the last a bridge was put together by rivets? I think it was the USS Titanic. The green-yellow color in the background is the angry waters of the Hurricane Irene flooding Connecticut River.

Believe me I understand this is a state bridge...but I want to use president Obama's stature to elevate the discussion of this problem in NH and help us explain how delirious this Republican austerity philosophy is to our future.

The next picture is a debris field from under the "table leg" I-beam holding up the bridge. The brown, black and green gravel like material on the wooden walkway is huge flakes of rust that was shaken off the rusted I-beam by the vehicle vibrations for god knows how long...

Sept 11, 2012:

This is a huge nut holding up that first huge I-beam on the right...the I beam is holding up the bridge like four legs on a table. As the I-beam goes underground, we will pick it on my picture.

The grammar and high school kids in my town have extensively talked about the crazy man with a sign trying to build a new Hinsdal bridge. Most don't get it, they think I panhandling for booze. My daughter first saw a never seen before man standing on the side of the bridge.. she thought I was a panhandler she was going to ignore. She was shocked and embarrassed when she saw it was her dad. My poor 11 grade boy at his school has had his friends extensively talk about why his dad is protesting at the bride...he has overheard the negative talk from his peers. Please help my poor son see that I am not crazy and useless like they say I am...

There is a disgusting homeless encampment 25 yards from where I hold up my signs at the foot of the bridge. Two people all summer have been living heare. At times I think I am one sneeze away from tenting out there. Certainly this encampment has been always in the front of my mind and I always talk about this in discussing the plight of the bridge.

A few days ago I got a so called Obama campaign worker call...he wanted me to go around as a volunteer to knock on doors. He implied I put my name on some list so that was why he is calling me.  I did not put my name on any list. We talked for a little while, and I said what the heck.

He asked me to meet him Sunday in Winchester. I thought we were going in a group of people...it ended up being only him and me. I got another call from him an hour later...this time he invited me for a drive around in Chesterfield tomorrow, Saturday.

This 24 year old campaign worker grew up in Orange County California... near San Diego. I am so fucking old compared him. I don't feel that old...except when I was near him. He is a political science major just graduating from Northern University just outside Chicogo Ill. Duh! When I first got into his new car he had on his style music blaring when he started it up. He quickly switched it to the 1970's crap I away listen to. I really wanted to listen to his young music and feel hip 24 years old for a little while. He was a very nice Jewish young man and i am sure his parents are proud as hell over what they did to him. He worked recently in a few high tech firms...the last job in Manhattan. He seemed to be disillusioned with chasing the bucks. He wants to live a life with meaning and doing good.

We went to about 10 houses in Chesterfield...a high income area. Maybe 70% of the stops had empty homes. I don't know, maybe we talked to two or three homes that had people in them. All die hard republicans ...one really nice business owner of sorts with a nurse as wife and another poorer angry couple who was mean as snake. My campaign worker buddy seemed to be in state of shock coping and adapting to our rural ways...seemed he lived always in a high population area. It seems he was new to the area and was in a little dazed state. It brought me back to my dazed state when I was new in the area and had just left a submarine that was always underwater.

We went to about 10 houses in Chesterfield...a high income area. Maybe 70% of the stops had empty homes. I don't know, maybe we talked to two or three homes that had people in them. My buddy seemed to be in state of shock coping and adapting to our rural ways...seemed he lived always in a high population area. It seems he was new to the area and was in a little dazed state. It brought me back to my dazed state when I was new in the area.

I find out he really wasn't working on the Obama campaign staff...he was a subcontractor working for the Democrat Committee. He talks about needing 9 points of contacts to get a vote. He's got some kind of formula for choosing the houses we visit...I am checking off the houses on a computer generated numbered page on a clip board. He is sporting two lap tops, one his own and another his company owns. I wonder how many cell phones and other PDA devices he's got on him? He is using a nice GPS device on his dashboard to get us to the right house. He's got New York plates on his new smelling car.

He says our job is to explain how Obama has helped each one of us. He knows I have been hopelessly unemployed for many years and I tell him I will probably never make another dime on a job in my life. I tell him you are going to have to help me find a way to explain how Obama has help me...I propose it is how Obama has given me hope for the younger generation. We talk about my diabetes, seems he once worked for a firm who was studying diabetes drug related public opinion research.

Oh man, if I could only be 24 years old again with his bright world ahead of him...

This is the bridge just days post hurricane Irene...

I knew we were going to do that computer drive around. My dream of political action would be like this. Go around to the especially poor and middle class section...tell them I am from the Obama's staff...offer to help them in any way possible. Like take you to see a doctor, go shopping, is there something in your house we can fix, or any like help. Just gives us a call and we will be there to pick you up. Be a presence of good in my community's life. I think if you do them this kind of favors to people they will vote for you...word of mouth to their friend. I think if you do one favor for a vulnerable person you get ten votes, but I don't get a special computer model to prove this.

I would like them to get their staff into my bridge issue... young, college and school people of an assortment to feel what it is like to put protest and stand up for what you believe. I want you to feel what it is like with a woman throwing you a kiss from her driving car. To get an assortment of people to throw a salute at you. How about getting a big burly tractor trailer driver to crack up as you throw him the trinity "The Father, Son and Holy Ghost absolution for all his truck driving sins and just before he takes a huge chance before entering a 10,000 car a day 1920 rickety unsafe bridge with a overloaded double logging tractor trailer trailer. If 10,000 cars a day past this bridge, it must be a lot more passengers.

I think it is an invaluable experience to see and feel the significant hostility of a very anger population...sticking up their middle fingers and the screaming epithets at you. There is a lot of this there...but many many more nice Americans.  I think that this negative experiance is the best experience you can get out on my bridge...to control your emotion under this and to be bigger than this type of anger.

I ain't that bad looking for a old man...

My antics include:

1) Throw kisses at pretty women driving cars from the sidewalk...you get a lot of fast women anticipating this and throwing kisses back at you before you can even put your finger up to your lips. You have to be prepared for the unexpected males in cars throwing kisses back at you.

2) Learn a proper military salute with a straight unbashful ramrod spine...to give Americans a salute for the hard work they do being Americans.

3) Throw a hand trinity priest blessing of "the father, the son and the holy ghost" at the truck drivers just before entering the bridge...be prepared to run!

4) Get creative and invent your own route 119 bridge positive hand salute...(no middle finger ever)

5) This is not my bridge, its our bridge and actions...

A wish list of things I need, but I am never disappointed by getting no responses or no help:
1) Some large light all weather Obama campaign signs. Purchase some large hand held "dangerous bridge" all weather signs for me...some campaign signs with your phrases and words...some signs with other words and phrases such as "hope" and "think"...some phrases about current events... remember big enough to be seen while driving a car around a corner. It is best if the signs has three to six words...as people only got a few seconds to read the sign while driving. Somebody needs to get artsy with me.

2) Some help from your intelligent staff on messaging

3) Bodies at the bridge so people will think this is important.

4) Get as many of the instate and out of state politicians to make a media visit with me during the hot swing voter state political season such as NH. Get me media attention and exposure. How about a presidential or VP visit in a swing by...you never know? Elevate the bridge issue by any means possible...I don't even care if it is negative as long as i gain attention.

5) Let me borrow a lap top, cell phone and movie camera...help me with developing a good looking blog and getting me to broadcast and web caming whenever I am there in real time.

6)  Right, you could scheduled anyone to visit me anytime, I am minutes away by car and certainly my favorite mode of transportation is my new mountain bike...I would be there without question for a discussion.

7) I like to talk to anyone when I am just hanging around at the bridge with the my sign...it looks really good with the passengers wondering who i am talking to.

8) Remember, they just built a new large Walmart a few miles down the road in my town and this forces a lot of vehicles by me.

9) Help me set up donations by the internet and help me form a group or association...

10) Help me go political...

     

Senator Markey: Massive Electricity Market Corruption

10 CFR 2.206 Petition Review Board RE Peach Bottom Units 2 and 3

Feb 13, 2013

　
CFR 50.73(a) (2) (v) (D), "In the event a condition that could have prevented the fulfillment of the safety functions of structures or systems that needed to mitigate the consequence of an accident." I still can't get over that. Exelon is cutting their dividend and they're cutting their capital budgets, and they're not upgrading any of their nuclear plants to the tune of $2.3 million, billion dollars, excuse
me, got to get my Bs right.

I mean, I just -- the pressures that are going on here in all these big plants, all these big companies, biggest utilities in the United States are tremendous, and a lot of people are worrying, and I worry NRC's asleep. Things are changing, and the -- like I said with budgets, inside a plant, you know, I mean, the first thing you realize is that how blind you are when you're going into the budget problems.
And the second thing that anybody has gotten burnt by these budget problems and cause institutional problem is you've got to ramp up your honesty 100 times and stuff like that. I mean, that's -- you've got to communicate more honestly and more completely. That's the only way -- if you have a budget crisis or lack of budgets, or limitations, priorities and stuff like that. You've got to communicate more between people and within the organizations and stuff like that. You just can't just sit there and say the easy way out is we're going to cut 5 percent and that'll be easy. You really have to do a lot of extra stuff.

You know, really it's -- what has the agency done? You know, what has the agency done to ramp up this honesty and kind of confront this? Why is-- that seems to be a lot of problems with plants now.

What is the root cause, what are the factors that cause this, what are the deeper factors that cause this and all that sort of stuff? Instead of just sticking there and, you know, looking at a threaded seal as an isolated part and not worrying and wringing your hands, and pulling out your hair wondering what's the big picture? I've got to know the big picture behind what's causing these little problems. And if you have a little problem here that's similar to another little problem here, you know, why ain't you pulling out more of your hair and stuff like that? Where's the worry? I don't see that. I see these -- I see the agency running around basically feeling comfortable that they're following the rules that the politicians wrote for them and stuff like that. I see a lot of agency people not having a conscience because they're probably going to get punished or pay a price if they look at the bigger picture, and challenge their conscience, and challenge their status and things, and try to make the agency be prepared for this falling off the cliff of most of our major utilities with natural gas.
This is a Hurricane Katrina. This is a Hurricane Sandy. This is a Blizzard Nemo that's coming down on you guys, and you can't operate like the way you've done in the past. And you should be banging on these politicians to help you out as far as rules and regulations, and to be able to see more, and to be able to use a sledgehammer to get people's attention at times, especially these executives and stuff like that.

We're really going to do damage to our nation if we don't get a handle on what's going on here. This is a climate change. This is a huge economic climate change that's going on in the industry as far as this natural gas business. We don't know how long this thing is going to last, but as it is now it's affecting so many people and stuff like that. You know, the politicians are supposed to be in there helping the agency to do the people's business.

You know, we can't have this independent agency out here disconnected from the politicians and stuff like that. We have to have the politicians helping us to manage our electric system, and especially this invaluable 20 percent component of our electric system. We really need a lot of people. You know, they're all mixed up in Washington, too busy doing this and being overwhelmed by that. They sit there and too many problems, and too many limitations, and too lack of vision. And it's -- I fear for the future if we don't wake up.

I'm Mike Mulligan, and thank you for this opportunity. I'm done.
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　
　

 

Basically we got nothing but rate increases as the historically low national gas price was hitting the NE ISO...I say the majority of the utilities got that reduced 7 billion dollar cost driven by the decreasing cost of the natural gas. I'll bet you the utilities and private market, general the large power users who went off the utility split the difference. Going off system gets you rate reduction and staying in a utility as a captured consumers means you are in a death spiral with less of the big guys supporting the trouble electric system.

Right, this is the Republican ideology, empowering the elite class and those with money interest, while making the middle class, the poor and weak pay more and be totally under the power of their thumbs...

Right, this hard right Republican conservative and elite political gestalt...the extreme free market not under the control of "we the people"...this created the boomers epoch of massive price spikes and shortage of all our necessities including all energy and most of our foods. We should be ashamed of ourselves jacking up the price of foods for the poor in the name diverting foods and lands into producing energy worldwide.       

Grid chief warns of future NE power problems

By JAY LINDSAY

Associated Press / March 19, 2013

BOSTON (AP) — The chief executive of New England’s power grid manager warned Tuesday that a growing regional dependence on natural gas, combined with supply constraints, is threatening its ability to guarantee electricity whenever and wherever it’s needed.

Gordon van Welie of ISO New England testified in Washington, D.C., before a House subcommittee that ‘‘the status quo is unsustainable.’’

Van Welie said the region now gets just over half its power from natural gas and nearly a third from nuclear power. That’s a shift during the last decade from more reliance on oil and coal sources, which have been squeezed out by cheaper gas and tight environmental rules.

A switch to lower-cost, lower-emission natural gas — which also is widely used regionally for heat — has major economic and environmental benefits, he said. But it’s straining the existing pipeline infrastructure, which isn’t sufficient to allow New England full access to abundant gas supplies from the west and south.

The effect of the bottleneck was seen this winter in a price increase. Van Welie noted that in late January, New England was paying more than eight times what other regions were paying for natural gas, even though temperatures weren’t especially low and power demand wasn’t high.

‘‘Wholesale electricity prices rose significantly during this period because of physical constraints moving the lowest-priced natural gas into New England,’’ he said, according to prepared remarks.

A massive storm in February, which was accompanied by widespread power outages, also highlighted problems, he said.

Van Welie said at one point, 6,000 megawatts of electricity — about a fifth of the region’s total capacity — wasn’t available, in part because gas generators couldn’t find fuel.

That showed a clear need for more flexibility in the gas supply system, since the gas market operates only on weekdays, and it was a weekend storm, van Welie said.

But he also emphasized the need to beef up fuel inventory, such as by building more storage facilities, making contracts with liquid natural gas suppliers and investing in pipelines.

‘‘It is clear that the gas system is inadequate to meet the demands of electric generators during peak periods,’’ van Welie said.

Van Welie suggested some of the roughly $7 billion in wholesale power costs that New England saved with increased natural gas use in the last five years could be used to expand infrastructure.

Other solutions the ISO is pursuing include changing market rules so natural gas-fired generators have more time to get the fuel they need on a given day. Other rule changes could aim to increase private investment in the needed infrastructure.

Also, the ISO said installing ‘‘pay-for-performance’’ incentives could increase financial rewards for those that provide energy reserves when the system is under the most pressure. 

Feb 20, 2013: 

Honestly, the DEO/FERC multi state implementation of the New England Independent System operator is nothing but a private horse racing tract without effective federal and state oversight and regulations.

We broadly privatized the oversight of the regional wholesale electric market and the operation of the grid. Privatized means a almost total lack of the release of information and near zero interaction with the public.

If it was a governmental market or grid operator, then the public would have a opportunity to gain information based on our Constitutional guarantees.

I make the case with the hard right wing Republican gestalt and the extremism of the hard right wing republicans utilities...now the intense political pressure of mega sized and merged utilities...a unregulated private market without government oversight...that never has a fundamental requirement for government like transparency. The super sized utilities on steroids is a private political force our local, state and federal agencies has never dealt with before. We drastic changed the forms and concentration of power with the merged utilities...nary a change occurred with the government...local, state and federal oversight over decades.

It has a fundamental requirement of the NE ISO to protect propriety, competitive and corporate interest...but not disclose information that would create grid stability and minimize consumer prices...

These are the political themes that got us to the severe NE grid crisis today...a extremely right wing from of government electric deregulation and mostly no government responsibility and accountability of our electric system.

And the Democrats went right along with this as long as the powerful utilities bankrolled their campaigns and provide direct support to the politicians independent of ideology...

SHORT SUMMARY OF TESTIMONY

GORDON VAN WELIE, PRESIDENT & CEO, ISO NEW ENGLAND BEFORE THE HOUSE ENERGY & COMMERCE COMMITTEE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY & POWER

“AMERICAN ENERGY SECURITY AND INNOVATION: THE ROLE OF REGULATORS AND GRID OPERATORS IN MEETING NATURAL GAS AND ELECTRIC COORDINATION CHALLENGES.”

TUESDAY, MARCH 19, 2013

 ISO New England is the independent system operator for the New England power grid with three major areas of responsibility: operate the bulk electric system on a 24x7 basis, administer the region’s wholesale electricity markets, and conduct long-term planning of the transmission system. 

 In a little more than a decade, New England has seen a transformation in its generation mix, moving from a mix of oil, coal, nuclear, and natural gas generators, to a system with more than half of the electricity production coming from natural gas generation (52%). In addition, the region is seeing the retirement of coal and oil generators, and the introduction of a diverse set of renewable and demand resources. 

 Wholesale prices are driven by natural gas generation, but the wholesale electricity markets do not provide adequate incentives for generators to provide electrical energy when called upon by the ISO during stressed system conditions, and in particular for gas generators that have not made adequate and reliable arrangements for fuel supply. 

 The region’s reliance on generation with “just in time” interruptible fuel-delivery arrangements has created operational challenges that are escalating rapidly. The region experienced significant operational challenges in January and February when a significant number of generators were unavailable due to uncertain fuel supplies or storm-related outages. We are seeing this more frequently and it is unsustainable. 

 The market-based solution to this problem is to strengthen the economic incentives in the wholesale markets to cause generators to make adequate and reliable fuel arrangements, so that they are ready to respond to the ISO when needed.  New England is urgently working toward solutions that include market changes that provide the incentives necessary to provide greater fuel certainty. 

3/19/2013: I am neither pro or anti natural gas or nuclear....I am pro telling the truth. I am a transparency freak!  I want an electric System wholly dependent on telling the public the truth. 

Senator Markey,

How come NE has some of the most expensive electricity in the nation and the green electricity is just making our competitiveness worst. I am for a green energy that make our lives better...not shaking the poor and weak with expensive electricity they can't afford... destroying their livelihoods and jobs...

So why not congressional hearings on the price of electricity this winter in NE....corruption of electric prices in NE. We need a FERC or DOE special investigation over the intersection of natural gas and electricity prices.

I  got tell you are hard truth, natural gas sourced electricity has been the linchpin source of massive corruption with the Northeast electric prices for decades...

Remember in the 2005 of so timeframe with shortages we had, the Natural Gas electric Peakers at over 100 to 250 bucks a megawatt hour. Right, the highest price sources sets the price on our ISO...so it is everyone's advantage to gin up excuses to bring in limited capacity sources to make it a payday for everyone else onto our grid.

So the limited source and ginned up by the peakers, a speculation source that collapsed in NE and many bankruptcies...they were the market price setters who damaged our economy and many good people in NE with expensive electricity and shortages in the lead up to the great recession. I can't begin to tell you the enormous and historic utility stock price speculative bubble stock price market this had created. Many great utilities are not even close to recovering their stock price highs from this 2007-2009 collapse.

So here we are in another speculation bubble based on the market setter source of electricity and insufficient natural gas pipeline capacity. Most of all our energy sources are about a market set up by the players, sabotaging each other to leverage the spiking cost of our energy to the good people of the USA. They are created to leverage expensive energy in the advance of a few...not to serve our greater national needs.

You have to see how our corrupt and expensive electricity has damaged the economy of the Northeast and hurt a tremendous amount of good people in NE...

Yea, I know it, these guys got a tremendous amount of power. I know the electric utilities and their associates play a prominent role in all the politicians' staffs. It is not popular, but cleaning out this rats nest could affect all the lives of the people in the northeast in a positive over many decades...than many other of the big political issues.

I can understand an electricity speculative stock spike and obscene manufactured electric and natural gas shortages in a economy on steroids with historic electricity high loads...but how do they do this in a near depression, the historic drop with electric grid loads and a new miracle of natural gas fracting creating a century worth of the new gas reservoirs and massive drop in natural gas prices.

In New England, a Natural Gas Trap

March 17. 2013 1:01AM

Reliance on natural gas fuels risk to grid

By DAVE SOLOMON
New Hampshire Union Leader
New Englanders braced for the coldest weather of the winter the week of Jan. 21, knowing temperatures were going to dip below zero. What they didn't know was that controllers of the New England power grid came dangerously close to imposing roving blackouts due to constraints on the supply of natural gas that fuels most of the region's power plants.

Then on Feb. 8, as the region braced for Winter Storm Nemo, it happened again.

"If we had lost one more big generator or a transmission line, we would have had to resort to our emergency procedures," said Vamsi Chadalavada, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the Independent System Operator of the New England power grid (ISO-NE), based in Holyoke, Mass. "Those procedures are to call on help from neighboring areas, then to call for voluntary conservation, and if that's not sufficient, to institute controlled power outages ... We came quite close."

Chadalavada described those tense moments in the control room at ISO-NE as the most stressful in recent memory. "And the period between them was equally stressful," he said, "because the uncertainty persisted. Although those were the peak periods of uncertainty, it did not disappear due to the continuation of the same conditions."