Public Entities Gathering for Renewable Electricity Aggregation in Texas/RNN

Texas Energy Aggregation announced the formation of the Texas Power Pool, a new power purchasing option for Texas public entities to utilize aggregated renewable energy. Texas Power Pool services include competitive procurement of utility-scale renewables and on-site solar for state agencies, higher education, cities, independent school districts, water districts, and other public entities across Texas, including cooperative and municipal utility regions. The services are enabled by a Texas Comptroller’s Statewide Procurement Division contract awarded to Texas Energy Aggregation. Interested public entities can learn more from the State Energy Conservation Office (SECO).

Public entities have been slow to take advantage of renewables’ financial value

Corporate energy users in Texas like Dow Chemical, Exxon-Mobil, Shell, and large municipal entities like the City of Houston have been procuring wholesale renewable wind and solar to reduce costs, hedge against energy price volatility, and achieve sustainability goals. According to the Business Renewables Center, 2018 was by far the most prolific year yet for corporate renewable deals. Public entities such as cities, schools and universities certainly have an increasing appetite for renewables, but have been slow to cash in on the green energy boom, often lacking the expertise or economy of scale to achieve a price below traditional grid power.

With projected rates below three cents per kilowatt-hour, competitively procured wholesale renewables are the lowest-cost purchasing option available in more than a decade. In sharp contrast, many retail energy contracts offer a “100% renewable” alternative at a higher cost by simply purchasing Renewable Energy Credits (RECs). “Faced with budget shortfalls, public entities are now aggressively seeking new ways to reduce costs,” says Texas Energy Aggregation President, TJ Ermoian.

Texas Comptroller’s Office supports strategic power procurement

The Texas Comptroller’s Statewide Procurement Division is the central state organization for purchasing and, with the assistance of SECO, issued a request for proposals for electricity sourcing services that included renewable power purchase agreements. Through a competitive bidding process, the Comptroller’s office selected the Waco-based Texas Energy Aggregation to offer electricity procurement services. SECO was later involved with Texas Energy Aggregation in naming these services the Texas Power Pool. Texas Energy Aggregation is an electricity consulting firm working in partnership with the non-profit Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), which seeks to accelerate the global transition to clean energy use and is providing technical and convening assistance.

“Power purchasing in Texas has changed, but not so much for public entities,” explains Ermoian. “Wind and solar are the new disruptors to the energy industry, offering the lowest-priced generation, but it takes specialized experience and aggregated loads to achieve the scale necessary to get below three cents per kilowatt-hour. We are exceptionally fortunate to have the help and support of SECO and RMI.”

“Solar energy offers a compelling value proposition to consumers in Texas, and across the country,” Kevin Brehm, a manager at RMI, states. “Aided by increasingly favorable economics, this clean, reliable, renewable resource can provide compelling monetary, environmental, and grid benefits to a wide range of buyers. We are pleased to partner with Texas Energy Aggregation to expand the market for solar energy and provide these services to a greater number of Texans.”

Business-as-usual has been costing taxpayers millions

When Texas chose a competitive electricity market in 2002, many public entities selected an approved purchasing program to help them navigate their first energy contracts. Many have continued to utilize the same program without shopping other options. Loyal customers are often shocked to learn that some of the most widely-utilized programs do not competitively bid for energy retailers or wholesale energy supply for best pricing. Programs have also failed to offer competitive renewables procurement.

Lack of competition and transparency were two reasons targeted by the legislature (start at 2:02:20) that customers may be overpaying. Some contracts still demand complete confidentiality and prohibit users from divulging fees, contract terms, and rates, and even instruct customers on how to fend off Freedom of Information requests. Ermoian asks, “If they offer such great rates, one would want to crow about their successes, right? Competition is good. These are often multi-year, multi-million-dollar contracts with no transparency. Texas taxpayers deserve to know if they are getting the best deal.”

The Texas Power Pool addresses the shortcomings of widely-utilized energy purchasing programs

Texas Energy Aggregation has represented over 100 municipal customers, been awarded five separate interlocal electricity purchasing agreements, advanced consumer protections, and won two national awards. Ermoian is especially passionate about schools and their budgets, asserting, “Many in my family are educators, and I understand the financial sacrifices they make for their passion and calling. Truly competitive energy purchasing will help keep more dollars in our schools.”

Mike Bendewald, Chief Operating Officer with Texas Energy Aggregation, served over 9 years at RMI where he managed a grant to procure community-scale solar for public entities in Texas. He now manages the Texas Power Pool, leading customer engagement and contract structuring. Texas Energy Aggregation’s consultant, Dan Seif, also came to Texas from RMI after co-founding RMI’s Business Renewables Center. More than 90% of the utility-scale renewable power purchase agreements negotiated nationwide over the last few years have been obtained by members of the Business Renewables Center.

“There is a short window of opportunity in the market to capitalize upon federal renewable energy tax credits which begin ramping down in 2020,” affirms Bendewald. Texas Energy has begun the process of collecting letters of interest from the largest state and other public entities, which already includes some of the largest state agencies, cities and schools. These non-binding endorsements of common goals will be used to release a request for proposal by the end of first quarter 2019 to lock in a firm price. “Once we can guarantee a rate under 3 cents per kilowatt-hour, we anticipate additional participation that will further drive down the cost for all participants,” Bendewald explains.

Participants with existing energy contracts as far out as 2028 may qualify for additional rate discounts or upfront cash bonuses. This does not cancel or affect an entity’s existing contract in any way. Bendewald summarizes, “Current market conditions, technology and tax credits are making unheard-of opportunities available to public entities. Any entity seeking long-term budget certainty, lowest price, or sustainability goals should sign a letter of interest as quickly as possible to get these deals booked in 2019.”

Earth May Be 140yrs From Reaching C02 Levels Not Seen in 56 Million Yrs/RjNN

So, we reach CO2 levels that are historic.   Hard to predict, right, the fallout.  Our best approach is to mitigate the growth in carbon and prepare for climate changes that will impact our many assets and quality of life.

Total human carbon dioxide emissions could match those of Earth’s last major greenhouse warming event in fewer than five generations, new research finds.

A new study finds humans are pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere at a rate nine to 10 times higher than the greenhouse gas was emitted during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a global warming event that occurred roughly 56 million years ago.

The results suggest if carbon emissions continue to rise, the total amount of carbon dioxide injected into the atmosphere since humans started burning fossil fuels could equal the amount released during the PETM as soon as 2159.

“You and I won’t be here in 2159, but that’s only about four generations away,” said Philip Gingerich, a paleoclimate researcher at the University of Michigan and author of the new study in the AGU journal Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. “When you start to think about your children and your grandchildren, and your great-grandchildren, you’re about there.”

Scientists often use the PETM as a benchmark against which to compare modern climate change. But the new study shows we’re on track to meet this benchmark much sooner than previously thought, as the pace of today’s warming far outstrips any climate event that has happened since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

“Given a business-as-usual assumption for the future, the rates of carbon release that are happening today are really unprecedented, even in the context of an event like the PETM,” said Gabriel Bowen, a geophysicist at the University of Utah who was not connected to the new study. “We don’t have much in the way of geologic examples to draw from in understanding how the world responds to that kind of perturbation.”

The exact environmental consequences of PETM-like carbon levels are unclear, but the increased temperatures will likely drive many species to extinction with the lucky ones being able to adapt or migrate, according to Larisa DeSantis, a paleontologist at Vanderbilt University who was not connected to the new study. In addition, it will take thousands of years for the climate system cool down, she said.

“It’s not just about 100 years from now; it’s going to take significant periods of time for that carbon dioxide to make its way back into the Earth’s crust,” DeSantis said. “It’s not a short-term event. We’re really committing ourselves to many thousands of years of a warmer world if we don’t take action quickly.”

Studying past climate change

The PETM was a global warming event that occurred roughly 56 million years ago. Scientists are unsure what caused it, but during the event massive quantities of carbon dioxide were released into Earth’s atmosphere, rapidly spiking global temperatures by 5 to 8 degrees Celsius (9 to 14 degrees Fahrenheit). Average global temperatures during the PETM peaked at about 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit), about 7 degrees Celsius (13 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than today’s average.

Scientists think that during this time and the warm period that followed, the poles were ice-free and the Arctic was home to palm trees and crocodiles. It’s not the hottest Earth has ever been, but the PETM was the warmest period since the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.

Scientists can’t pin down exactly how much carbon was injected into the atmosphere during the PETM or exactly how long the event lasted. But their best estimates say between 3,000 and 7,000 gigatons of carbon accumulated over a period of 3,000 to 20,000 years, based on ocean sediment cores that show changes to carbonate minerals laid down during this time.

The massive carbon release and temperature spike drastically altered Earth’s climate, causing a major extinction of organisms in the deep ocean that are a key link in the marine food web. Land animals got smaller and migrated north to cooler climates. Some groups of modern mammals, including primates, appeared for the first time soon after the PETM, but scientists are unsure whether this happened as a direct result of the rapid environmental change.

Comparing past with the present

Climate scientists use the PETM as a case study for understanding what environmental changes might happen under current human-caused climate change and when those changes might take effect. But they can only average carbon emissions during the PETM over the whole duration of the event — thousands of years. They don’t know what those emissions rates were like on a yearly basis, so it’s difficult to compare them to the pace of carbon emissions today.

In the new study, Gingerich found a way to mathematically compare modern carbon emissions to PETM emissions on the same time scale. The results showed current carbon emission rates are nine to 10 times higher than those during the PETM.

“To me, it really brought home how rapidly and how great the consequences are of the carbon we’re producing as a people,” Gingerich said.

Projecting current emissions into the future, Gingerich found that if emissions continue to rise, we could be facing another PETM-like event in fewer than five generations. The total carbon accumulated in the atmosphere could hit the lowest estimate of carbon accumulated during the PETM — 3,000 gigatons — in the year 2159. It would hit the maximum estimated emissions — 7,126 gigatons — in 2278, based on Gingerich’s calculations. Humans have emitted roughly 1,500 gigatons of carbon as of 2016.

“The fact that we could reach warming equivalent to the PETM very quickly, within the next few hundred years, is terrifying,” DeSantis said.

The findings suggest scientists may not be able to predict the environmental or biological changes that will happen in the coming years based on what happened during the PETM because today’s warming is occurring so much faster, according to DeSantis. What makes predictions harder is that today’s climate starts from a cooler baseline than the PETM and the species that inhabit Earth are different than those of 56 million years ago.

“It’s hard to compare biotic effects because the world during the PETM was quite different,” DeSantis said. “We live in a very different world today, with different groups of animals, with humans being the dominant species… but we know there are many negative consequences of dramatic warming on vast numbers of species, including our own.”

The Four Seasons: Change Marks the Passing of a Year

By Nola Taylor Redd                

The passing of a year can bring a marked change in the weather and the surrounding environment. The four seasons — winter, spring, summer, autumn — can vary significantly in characteristics, and can prompt changes in the world around them. Let's take an overview of these four separate periods.

The annual cycle

Attributes of the seasons may vary by location, but there are still broad definitions that cross most of the boundaries.

In the spring, seeds take root and vegetation begins to grow. The weather is warmer, and often wetter. Animals wake or return from warmer climates, often with newborns. Melting snow from the previous season, along with increased rainfall, can cause flooding along waterways, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

In the summer, temperatures may increase to their hottest of the year. If they spike too high, heat waves or droughts may cause trouble for people, animals, and plants. For example, in the summer of 2003, the high temperatures claimed more than 30,000 lives, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. Rainfall may increase in some areas, as well. Others may receive less water, and forest fires may become more frequent.

In the autumn, or fall, temperatures cool again. Plants may begin to grow dormant. Animals might prepare themselves for the upcoming cold weather, storing food or traveling to warmer regions. Various cultures have celebrated bountiful harvests with annual festivals. Thanksgiving is a good example. "Thanksgiving in the United States is a historical commemoration but it has a spiritual dimension strongly associated with homecoming and giving praise for what has been bestowed upon us," Cristina De Rossi, an anthropologist at Barnet and Southgate College in London, told Live Science.

Winter often brings a chill. Some areas may experience snow or ice, while others see only cold rain. Animals find ways to warm themselves, and may have changed their appearance to adapt. "In a similar way to the Autumnal theme, Winter festivals celebrate the return of the light during a time of deepest physical darkness," said De Rossi. The Indian festival of Diwali, for example, which takes place between October and November, celebrates the triumph of righteousness, and of light over darkness.     

Location, location, location

The timing and characteristics of the seasons depends upon the location on Earth. Regions near the equator experience fairly constant temperatures throughout the year, with balmy winters barely discernible from warm summers. This is because it gets fairly constant light from the sun, due to its position on the outer curve of the Earth, according to the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) program.

For areas to the north and south, the seasons can change more significantly. People closer to the poles might experience icier, more frigid winters, while those closer to the equator might suffer hotter summers. Other factors can also affect the weather and temperature over the seasons; some areas experience dry summers as temperatures spike, while others might call summer their "wet season." A wet season is when the average precipitation of an area is 2.4 inches (60 millimeters) or more, according to the British Broadcasting Company (BBC). Mountainous regions might experience more snowfall than plains within the same latitude, while oceanfront property could see an increase in violent tropical storms as the weather shifts.

The time of year a region experiences a season depends on whether it is in the northern or southern hemisphere. The Southern Hemisphere experiences winter while its northern neighbors chart summer; the north sees the slow blossom of spring while the south brings in the autumn harvest.

The cycle of seasons is caused by Earth's tilt toward the sun. The planet rotates around an (invisible) axis. At different times during the year, the northern or southern axis is closer to the sun. During these times, the hemisphere tipped toward the star experiences summer, while the hemisphere tilted away from the sun experiences winter, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

At other locations in Earth's annual journey, the axis is not tilted toward or away from the sun. During these times of the year, the hemispheres experience spring and autumn.
The astronomical definition of the seasons relates to specific points in Earth's trip around the sun. The summer and winter solstice, the longest and shortest day of the year, occur when Earth's axis is either closest or farthest from the sun. The summer solstice in the Northern Hemisphere occurs around June 21, the same day as the winter solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, according to NOAA. The south's summer solstice occurs around December 21, the winter solstice for the north. In both hemispheres, the summer solstice marks the first day of astronomical summer, while the winter solstice is considered the first day of astronomical winter.

Equinoxes are another significant day during Earth's journey around the Sun. On these days, the planet's axis is pointed parallel to the Sun, rather than toward or away from it. Day and night during the equinoxes are supposed to be close to equal. The spring, or vernal, equinox for the northern hemisphere takes place around March 20, the same day as the south's autumnal equinox. The vernal equinox in the southern hemisphere occurs around September 20, when people in the north celebrate the autumnal equinox.

 The vernal equinox marks the first day of astronomical spring for a hemisphere, while the autumnal equinox ushers in the first day of fall. [Infographic: Earth's Solstices & Equinoxes Explained]

But changes in the weather often precede these significant points. The meteorological seasons focus on these changes, fitting the seasons to the three months that best usher them in. December to February marks meteorological winter in the Northern Hemisphere and meteorological summer in the southern. March, April, and May are lauded as spring or autumn, depending on the location, while June through August are the months of summer for the north and winter for the south. September, October, and November conclude the cycle, ushering in fall in northern regions and spring in southern, according to NOAA.

The seasons can bring a wide variety to the year for those locations that experience them in full. The weather in each one may allow people to engage in activities that they cannot perform in others — skiing in the winter, swimming in the summer. Each season brings with it its own potential dangers, but also its own particular brand of beauty.

Can offshore wind and commercial fishing coexist?/Christian Science Monitor

Very good question:

WHY WE WROTE THIS


New industries have a way of edging out old ones. As a fledgling offshore wind industry surges to life off New England's coast, fishermen and developers are searching for ways to share the sea.



The Virginia Marise slides away from the dock into the pitch-black night. At 4 a.m., the only light comes from a flood light illuminating the deck of the boat and a handful of streetlights on land that disappear into the darkness as Captain Rodman Sykes maneuvers his boat out of the harbor, the black sky indistinguishable from the black sea.

This is a familiar scene to fishermen like Mr. Sykes. Commercial fishermen have headed out on these New England waters for some 400 years, casting their lines and nets overboard just as the sun peeks over the horizon. But at daybreak on this August morning, there’s a new sight. As the inky-black night gradually fades into the dim gray pre-dawn light, five red flashing lights appear all in a row on the horizon.

Those lights come from the five turbines making up the United States’ first offshore wind farm – the 30 megawatt Block Island Wind Farm. As the Virginia Marise draws closer, and the sky begins to blush pink, the turbines stand out on the horizon. The blades turn slowly in the slight breeze, generating electricity that flows through a cable buried in the seabed to Rhode Island’s Block Island.

The turbines and all the hardware that accompanies them spun to life in December 2016. So far, this is the only offshore wind power in the nation, and with just five turbines, it’s a small installation. But that’s soon to change. Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut have already selected larger projects which are set to be installed not far from the Block Island Wind Farm. And more are in the development pipeline in New York, New Jersey, and Maryland.


This flurry of activity has sparked agitation among the fishermen who have long been a fixture on the Eastern seaboard. Could fields of turbines disrupt their operations and the resource on which their livelihoods depend? Meetings with developers and permitting officials have been tense and, at times, explosive. A group of fishermen have even sued the federal government for leasing a tract of seafloor south of Long Island to an offshore wind developer.

But despite the hostility, some fishermen have expressed the desire to find a way to share the seas. And that will to find common ground may be the first step toward coexistence.


“We’ve got two renewable resources. One in seafood, and one in wind,” says Eric Hansen, a Massachusetts scallop fisherman. “They shouldn’t have to compete.”



Winds of change

The offshore wind industry may be just getting started in the United States, but in Europe, it’s been around for a few decades. And it isn’t small. As of 2017, 4,149 turbines were connected to the grid across the continent. So some American fishermen have looked to Europe for clues about what might happen as offshore power picks up on this side of the pond.

Mr. Hansen is one of those American fishermen. He traveled to Britain with the Fisheries Survival Fund in June to see the wind farms for himself and to speak with fishermen.

The relationship between Europe’s offshore wind farms and local fishermen varies from country to country, but in some, like Belgium, fishermen are not allowed to enter wind farms. And even in places like Britain where fishermen can still fish among the turbines, Hansen learned that many choose not to, largely for fear of the damage that could result from tangling with the mechanical giants. Other fishermen have had to navigate around large swaths of turbine-filled ocean en route to fishing grounds, adding valuable time to their trips.

But a deeper concern that arose out of Hansen’s trip abroad was that offshore wind development might proceed without input from fishermen, as that is one gripe cited by European fishermen.

In the US, rapid-fire political activity promoting offshore wind power in recent years fuels that fear. In August 2016, Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill requiring electricity distribution companies to buy long-term contracts for at least 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind power by 2027. This year, three other states – New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut – passed further legislation to promote and mandate offshore wind power. There’s also federal support for offshore wind, from an endorsement by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to funding for research and development.

https://www.csmonitor.com/Environment/2018/0904/Can-offshore-wind-and-commercial-fishing-coexist

N.E. power supply auction closes with lower prices and a power surplus/PBN

This is good news. Through efficiency and local production of renewables, N.E> power supplies show stability, even a lowering of costs, and a surplus of suppliers.  Managing our use and availability of energy is a very key component, in our view, of building a more sustainable future.

PROVIDENCE – New England’s annual power supply auction ended this week, with preliminary results showing the lowest clearing price in six years and a power supply surplus for the 2022-2023 season.

Holyoke, Mass.-based ISO New England Inc. is a federally regulated nonprofit that runs the electricity grid for the six New England states.

It holds the auction each year to ensure the region has enough electricity to meet consumer demand in three years. The auction also determines how much power generators will get paid for supplying the grid.

The closely-watched event, in which energy and utility companies bid to supply New England’s grid, can move stock prices and provide a look into the long-term direction of the energy market.

“This year’s auctions procured the resources needed for a reliable power system at a competitive price, while implementing new procedures to accommodate state-sponsored renewable resources,” said Robert Ethier, vice president of market operations for ISO-New England.

“It’s our responsibility to run these auctions and our wholesale markets under the rules approved by the Federal Energy Resources Commission, and we fulfilled that responsibility again this year,” he said.

It was the 13th “forward capacity market” primary auction and closed at a preliminary clearing price of $3.80 per kilowatt month across New England, compared with $4.63 per kilowatt month in last year’s auction.

The primary auction ended with commitments of 34,839 megawatts to be available for the period from June 2022 through May 2023, with 1,089 megawatts of surplus supply, ISO New England said.

It was the first auction run under new rules which include a secondary substitution auction in which power generators interested in retiring a source can trade their capacity supply obligation to new state-sponsored power generators that didn’t clear in the primary auction.

The substitution auction closed with Vineyard Wind, an offshore wind project in development off the coast of southeastern Massachusetts, assuming an obligation of 54 megawatts, ISO New England said.

Vineyard Wind unsuccessfully sought to delay the auction so it would have more time to seek a federal waiver that would have allowed it to participate in the auction as a “renewable technology resource.”

The designation would have exempted the company from the auction’s minimum offer price rule.

Vineyard was one of three companies that bid about $135 million each in December to lease federal waters off the southeastern Massachusetts coast for development of offshore wind energy turbine farms.

ISO New England said offshore wind projects proposed for federal waters will be eligible for the next annual auction in February 2020.

Opponents of a proposed natural gas power plant in Burrillville by Chicago-based Invenergy said the low price and surplus from this week’s auction shows there is no need for the project.

“This low clearing price shows that there is plenty of supply relative to demand – more evidence that Invenergy is not needed,” said Jerry Elmer, senior attorney for the Conservation Law Foundation in Providence.

Invenergy has argued the opposite, saying the New England grid faces a potential 10,000-megawatt shortfall in coming years as old energy sources retire, and so-called renewable energy such as solar and wind won’t be enough to fill the gap.

Rhode Island gets nearly all electricity production from natural gas sources.

“It’s taken decades to build our wind, solar and hydro resources, yet they only meet 15 percent of our needs,” Invenergy said on the project’s website. “Our demand for energy requires a diverse portfolio of renewable sources and natural gas.”

Scott Blake is a PBN staff writer. Email him at Blake@PBN.com.

Lawmakers propose road usage fee on fuel-efficient vehicles/WMUR

This is one more sign of governments desperate to tax on any source of revenue.  Instead of recognizing that cars with lower emissions deliver real benefits to a state, including cleaner air--less money to clean it--they impose what is, in essence, a penalty on efficiency?  Really?

Governments, in fact, should look to cut spending versus desperately clinging to old sources of revenue.  Moreover, they need to adjust their expectations, use some creativity, in managing budgets as the world changes around them.

Some say fee needed to replace declining tax revenues

CONCORD, N.H. —
Fuel-efficient vehicles have put such a big dent in gas tax revenues over the past few years that some state lawmakers say it's time for what they call a road usage fee.

The fee, which would essentially be a vehicle registration surcharge, would be aimed at vehicles with gas mileage over 20 mpg.

"If I have a pickup truck that gets 15 mpg, I'm paying a lot more for use on the highways than if I own a hybrid, which is getting 40-50 miles to the gallon," said Rep. John Graham, R-Bedford.

The tax would top out at just over $100 annually for vehicles that get more than 50 mpg.

"It saves us from, if tomorrow, everybody purchased an electric vehicle,” said Gary Abbott, executive vice president of Associated General Contractors. “The highway fund would be done, outside of registration fees."

Some said the road usage fee would be a backward policy.

"We need to get away from miles per gallon and the internal combustion engine, which is on its way out," said Rep. Lee Oxenham, D-Plainfield.

"Whether I have a vehicle with a rating of 25 mpg or one with 40 mpg, that does not tell anyone whether that vehicle traveled 5,000 miles or 25,000 miles," said Rep. Peter Somssich, D-Portsmouth.

Lawmakers agree that the state's crumbling infrastructure is in need of repair, but there has been gridlock in Concord over how to pay for it.

"We do still have 252 municipal bridges that are on the red-list bridge list, and I believe there is a significant waiting list for bridge aid," said Barbara Reid of the New Hampshire Municipal Association.

While the new Democratic majorities are likely to be more open to tax or fee increases to fund infrastructure improvements, they may be more likely to heed the warnings of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, which believes a road usage fee is too burdensome on people who are already doing their part to consume less.

"And this is on top of their registration fee forever," said Catherine Corkery of the New Hampshire Sierra Club.

Hybrid and electric car owners in Hooksett were unenthusiastic about the proposed fee.

"It would make more sense to first increase the gas tax to get more people driving hybrid cars, and once that becomes a problem and we have so many people driving hybrid cars, then sure, then we can talk,” said Scott May, of Lyme.

"I bought this car, for one, to save money on gas and also to be better for the environment,” said Kristen Hill, of Manchester. “(It feels like) a punishment on trying to do something right."

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