PRESS RELEASE - 10/29/23
Pembroke, New Hampshire - Over 50 No Coal No Gas activists gathered along the Merrimack River to call for Granite Shore Power to transition the coal-fired Merrimack Station to solar energy. Paddlers took to the water with banners and signs, while others gathered in Memorial Park.
Shortly after launching, several kayaks and canoes were approached by Bow Police and Marine Patrol. Despite the fact that paddling on the Merrimack River is a lawful and legally protected activity, the officers falsely claimed that some boaters were trespassing on Granite Shore Power Property. In total, police extracted eight activists from their boats in the middle of the river, placed them under arrest, and transported them to Merrimack County Correctional Facility, where each was charged with Class B Misdemeanor Trespass. Police also blocked off River Road, preventing plans for a lawful assembly on public property in front of the coal plant. This police response to nonviolent and lawful activity represents a severe violation of activists’ right to free speech and assembly. It shows that the State of New Hampshire is more concerned with protecting polluting companies from uncomfortable attention and scrutiny than supporting the needs of the local community.
"Every minute the Merrimack Station operates it devastates life, from the land beneath the coal piles, to the Merrimack River, to communities suffering from effects of pollution, to local workers’ dwindling job opportunities, to the human communities around the world who suffer the most from the climate crisis," said Lucy, a No Coal No Gas organizer from Massachusetts. "We are here today to call for a just transition of Merrimack Station for land and people, so that this place can support life instead of destroy it. A different future is possible and through our action today we hope to show what that might look like."
As the paddlers were arrested, activists at Memorial Park performed a land-healing ceremony to call attention to the devastation caused by the coal plant. The community around Bow faces negative health impacts from the continued use of coal: from hot water runoff into the Merrimack River that causes loss of some species of wildlife to increased asthma rates and cancer from toxic emissions. Three deaths, six heart attacks, and forty-seven asthma attacks a year can be attributed to the pollution from Merrimack Station. Activists showed up at Merrimack Station this weekend to reject this state of affairs and begin the plant’s transition to a cleaner, thriving future.
No Coal No Gas has been pushing for the closure of Merrimack Station since 2019. Activists frequently engage in nonviolent direct action at the coal plant, directly removing coal from the site, blockading coal delivery trains, organizing ISO New England public meetings, and organizing hundreds of comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Earlier this year, the campaign celebrated success when, for the first time, Merrimack Station failed to receive funding through regional grid operator ISO-NE’s Forward Capacity Auction 17. These ratepayer-funded subsidies have been a crucial lifeline for the power plant for over a decade averaging $24.89 million a year from June 2010 through May 2023. When currently awarded payments end in 2026, it will become increasingly difficult for Granite Shore Power to operate the plant. In June, activists celebrated this news by hosting a Retirement Party outside the gates of the coal plant. This weekend, they returned with an eye to the site’s future.
“We are at a critical time in the history of the Merrimack Generating station," said Eleanor, a No Coal No Gas Organizer from New Hampshire. "All the stakeholders are thinking about this plant's future. No Coal No Gas is committed to winning an evolution for the plant that preserves the local union jobs and the connection to the electric grid in a way that keeps the plant's value in the community rather than making money for an out-of-state private equity firm.”
Now that the end is near for this polluting monstrosity, No Coal No Gas activists are ready to transition the coal plant to a cleaner, more reliable source of energy. Environmental Justice is the most crucial concern in this transition. As it currently stands, Merrimack Station is not a reliable source for local jobs. Yet stakeholders have an opportunity to choose a path forward for this plant that puts good union jobs back into the community- by converting the site to solar and battery storage and using soil remediation to clean up the damage that has been done on that land since 1960. If done properly, a just and sustainable transition is the healthiest option for the Bow community.
"Building a fossil-fuel-free future gives us a beautiful chance to create economic and environmental justice," said Isaac Petersen, a No Coal No Gas organizer from Somerville, MA. "Yet right now, the green tech lithium industry often follows in the fossil fuel industry's footsteps, destroying Indigenous communities' access to their water and land. As fossil fuel plants convert to renewables, we must stand in solidarity with these communities and push for solutions that reduce rare metals extraction and overall energy demand--for example, iron-air batteries, conservation and efficiency improvements, and demand response."
So far, Granite Shore Power has ignored pleas from community members to work together to create a plan for the future of the coal plant and has responded to past protests by paying police thousands of dollars to bring riot cops, helicopters, and boat patrols to protests. By taking direct action at the coal plant, activists are determined to show Granite Shore Power that if they are not willing to transition the plant into a cleaner future, the people of New England are ready to do so themselves- bucket by bucket, and solar panel by solar panel.
"Being here in action is our way of saying it doesn’t have to be like this," said Nastasia Lawton-Sticklor with the Climate Disobedience Center. "We can move beyond a past in which corporations and private equity firms destroy communities for profit and into a future where we use our collective power as residents, union members, and activists to envision and build energy that prioritizes the growth, health, and safety of the people and land. We know that the Merrimack Generating Station benefits its owners more than it will ever benefit the surrounding community or the New England energy grid. It’s time to change that, and transition this plant into a sustainable source of energy for the community."
No Coal No Gas is a grassroots campaign to shut down Merrimack Station in Bow, NH. We are working to build a community to fight the fossil fuel industry, show that a better world is possible, and end the burning of coal in New England. Go to nocoalnogas.org for more information.
