Granite Shore Power Confirms Shutdown Date, Hints at Transition Plan BOW, NH - After a five-year campaign to close New England’s last coal plant, activists have achieved a “firm closure date for coal-fired operations” at Merrimack Station in Bow, NH. This victory comes on the heels of waves of grassroots organizing, a sustained campaign of direct action, and years of environmental protection litigation. By 2028, the entire New England electric grid will be free of coal-fired power plants.  Granite Shore Power released a statement describing their future plans for Merrimack Station. Inclu ..read more

We want to send a huge thank you to everyone who attended this years’ Auction of Horrible Things! It was so much fun to have everyone there to poke fun at ISO-NE’s ridiculousness. Many thanks to Mark for being our auctioneer.  If you won something at the auction, you can find your certificate in this slideshow. Please display it with pride! If you missed it, you can also find the recording of the auction. Please stay tuned for updates as we prepare to contest the results of ISO-NE’s real-life horrible auction. We are so happy to participate in joyful, silly resistance with all of you ..read more

(Or, Ways we know this coal plant is on its way out) According to an anonymous source with direct knowledge of Granite Shore Power (GSP) operations, Merrimack Station, the last coal-fired power plant in New England, is at risk of imminent closure. The source reports that, “the corporate board is having an emergency meeting very soon to figure out what to do,” adding that GSP “can't get the boiler to work.” The boiler in question is part of GSP Merrimack’s MK1 generating unit, which is credited with 108 megawatts of generating capacity. Though it is unclear exactly how long GSP has been unable ..read more

After a friend at the Sierra Club noticed a very dark plume of smoke coming from Merrimack Station in October, we found out that Merrimack Station is operating out of compliance with the Clean Air Act. The coal plant failed a regularly scheduled “stack test” in February after they were 70% over the federal limit for particulate matter emissions from their smoke stack - and they haven’t been able to run at capacity to pass a test since then. Thanks to the work of NH Bulletin reporter Hadley Barndollar, we also know that they’ve had numerous other violations to their permits - from exceeding nit ..read more

What a year it’s been for No Coal No Gas! There has been a lot of work happening behind the scenes and in front of cameras - here are some of the highlights: Winter: Last December, we blockaded a coal train, delaying the coal’s arrival at Merrimack Station. We subsequently found out the owning company (Granite Shore Power) has been sued by their coal supplier for “nonpayment and breach of contract.”  We formed learning cohorts, and got more of our No Coal No Gas friends trained as nonviolent direct action trainers. Behind the scenes, many of us worked on blog posts, outreach plannin ..read more

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 Pow ..read more

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: marla@climatedisobediencecenter.org, 781-0475-0996 kira@climatedefenseproject.org,  802-417-2173 Date:       September 26, 2023 Prosecutor Drops Loitering Charge After Activist Challenges Statute as Unconstitutional After years of targeting by law enforcement, activists expect state-sanctioned harassment to continue. CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – In the early morning of May 12, 2023, New Hampshire law enforcement officers seized environmental justice activist Jess Mills while he was walking down a public roadway in Bow, New Hampshire. Under the pre ..read more

Transcript: I’m Leif, I’m a Vermont ratepayer. I have some questions about ISO’s scope. So, 400 of us submitted comments to the FERC docket opposing the most recent forward capacity auction results, and in response, we got a statement from ISO that said, “these concerns are about climate change, they’re outside the scope of FERC you should ignore them.” This is frustrating for several reasons. One, that’s not what our comments were about. Our comments were are about the fact that ISO’s market structure and continued funding of fossil fuels through the FCA results prohibit ISO’s ability to per ..read more

Here, No Coal No Gas responds to ISO-NE’s proposal for a hefty budget increase… Hey ratepayer, did you hear about that hefty raise the New England electric grid managers just requested? A new cost ratepayers would pay through our already ballooning electric bills - for top executive salaries we already pay? No? Well, neither did we, because they never asked anyone other than a corporate board and industry insiders behind closed doors!  On a good note, ISO-NE is proposing to add an executive-level environmental justice position.  If approved, this executive will focus on environmenta ..read more

No Coal No Gas and our friends from across New England submitted hundreds of comments opposing ISO New England’s FCA 17 results. ISO-NE (Independent systems operator - New England) and FERC (federal energy regulatory commission) continue to claim our objections to fossil fuel subsidies on the grounds of negative climate impacts are “beyond the scope” of this proceeding - but that doesn’t deter us. We will continue to put pressure on ISO and FERC until we stop burning coal and gas in this region. Below are some of the highlights from No Coal No Gas’s official filings to FERC and letters to the ..read more