Granite Shore Power applied to renew their air permit for White Lake Station this past August and we requested a public hearing. The NH Department of Environmental Services (DES) will hold the public hearing:
December 11th at 6:00pm
on the Main Floor of Tamworth Town House,
27 Cleveland Hill Road, Tamworth, NH 03886.
In the event of inclement weather, the public hearing will be held at the same time and location on Thursday, December 12, 2024.
This is an opportunity for us to voice our concerns about White Lake Station and its negative impacts on our environment and our health. It will also be an opportunity for us to ask DES questions about the air permit.
Please RSVP so we know you’re joining us at the hearing. Email rebecca@350nh.org or kendra@350nh.org if you need support writing a public comment. DES will accept comments verbally at the hearing, as well as in writing (you may send us your comments and we can deliver them!)
About White Lake Station
White Lake Station is an electric generating station owned by Granite Shore Power White Lake LLC, a subsidiary of Granite Shore Power LLC. It is a peaker plant, meaning it is only turned on during the hottest and coldest days of the year when energy use is at its highest for the region. It burns oil and can only produce about 20 megawatts of energy. (Merrimack Station coal plant can burn up to 356 megawatts of energy with one of their units, for reference.)
Our main concern regarding the air permit for this facility is the impact of burning kerosene (oil) in this neighborhood. While the small nature of the facility means it is within the limits of certain pollutants and does not require as much paperwork as larger facilities, the direct impact on the people living next to this plant when it does turn on is a health concern. It would be valuable to learn how the 116.4 total hours that this plant operated in 2022 were broken out into smaller chunks of time. The emissions and impacts on local residents is different depending on whether it ran many times for short duration or few times for longer duration because of the difference in startup emissions. Here are some other concerns:
NHDES recommended that White Lake explore the Energy Efficiency Incentive Program at www.nhsaves.com regarding end of life replacement of electrical devices. We don’t know if there was follow up.
This plant receives hundreds of thousands of dollars in forward capacity payments from ISO-NE, our regional energy grid operators, but is rarely activated. It looks like it didn’t run in 2023 at all yet they receive all this funding.
This plant does not have any pollution control mechanisms in the smokestack. This is mainly because it is so small is doesn’t reach national standards for pollution controls, but its still emitting harmful substances into a residential neighborhood when it is turned on.
Small facilities like this are often allowed to sit idle for so long - we are concerned about their preparedness to address leaks or other hazardous mishaps. Kerosene, if leaked into the local waters that people drink and swim in, could be horrendous for local health and the nearby Chocorua river.
These processes should be more accessible for the general public.
Permitting Process
Granite Shore Power, owners of White Lake Station, submitted their permit application in September of 2023. The NH Department of Environmental Services reviewed their permit and in August of 2024 released a public notice containing information about how to formally request a public hearing. The application and draft permit are now on file at DES and the public will have an opportunity to hear about the permit and voice their concerns to DES before they finalize the permit. Here are links to the various documents in this case:
