NHH Goes Solar; Receives Largest Solar Hot Water System in the State

Concord, NH – The New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services

(DHHS) announces the largest solar hot water system in the State has been

installed at New Hampshire Hospital (NHH). Fifty-nine collectors are in

place on the hospital’s roof. The entire system, which also includes

three 800 gallon tanks and an energy monitoring system, was funded through

a grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) State Energy

Program.



“It’s expected this will provide half of NHH’s hot water load over the

course of a year and on peak solar days it will generate more than half of

the hospital’s hot water,” stated NHH Director of Maintenance, Engineering,

and Transportation Don Ficken. “This is New Hampshire Hospital’s latest

effort to be more environmentally friendly and save taxpayer dollars. It is

a positive initiative all the way around.”



This was one of several energy improvement projects in NH funded under the

ARRA grant. “Each project proposed was evaluated based on a number of

criteria, including cost-benefit, visibility, replicability, and energy

offset,” stated Mary Downes of the NH Office of Energy and Planning. “This

solar hot water project was the most cost-effective solar project

proposed.”



The hot water system will produce over 450,000 kBTU of energy annually

which amounts to about 3,400 gallons of oil saved (that is enough hot water

to supply 30 homes in Concord). The CO2 savings each year of over 75,000

pounds is equivalent to: not driving an average car 120,000 miles; heating

6 homes all winter in Concord; and planting 188 trees in a year.



Meridian Construction managed the energy improvements and ReKnew Energy

Systems of White River Junction, Vermont installed the solar hot water

system.

US Rep Bass Bill to Protect Taxpayers Passes House

Legislation will return unused or reclaimed stimulus broadband funds to U.S. Treasury

WASHINGTON – Legislation introduced by Congressman Charles F. Bass (NH-02) to protect taxpayer money and return unused or reclaimed stimulus funds passed the House of Representatives unanimously this afternoon.

Bass’ legislation, H.R. 1343, would terminate and rescind American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding for broadband projects that have been found to be wasteful, fraudulent, or insufficient.  The rescinded funds would be returned to the U.S. Treasury.  The inspectors general for the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the Rural Utilities Service (RUS) have said that ARRA language does not make clear whether and when the agencies must deobligate funds for troubled projects.  Bass’ bill removes that ambiguity.

Bass said:

“Broadband is the gateway to the Internet’s engine of growth, and expanded access to this technology yields both economic investments and job creation.  But as is the case with federal spending on any initiative like increasing broadband access, strong oversight is necessary to ensure taxpayer dollars are spent wisely. 

“It only makes sense that Congress requires an accounting of how stimulus funds are being spent and what the American taxpayer is getting for them.  My legislation will make sure there is a clear mechanism for taxpayers to get their hard-earned dollars back from broadband projects funded with stimulus dollars that are deemed fraudulent or duplicative.” 

Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) recently introduced companion legislation to H.R. 1343 in the U.S. Senate, where the measure awaits further action.

Bass continued, “This is a taxpayer protection measure, plain and simple, and I want to thank Senator Ayotte for working with me on this issue and ensuring the legislation receives the attention it merits in the Senate.”

ARRA appropriated $7.2 billion to be distributed in grants through NTIA and the RUS in a very short time.  Nearly $7 billion was awarded to 553 recipients ranging from non-profits and local county governments to for-profit businesses.  So far, 29 awards for grants and loans worth $199 million have been returned to the Treasury.  Many recipients have returned the awards because they recognized they will not be successful.  Bass’ legislation will ensure that the law is definitive and quick to reclaim funds if there is reason to terminate an award for reasons of waste, fraud or insufficient performance.

Click here for video of Bass’ speech on the House floor in support of his legislation.

http://bass.house.gov

JOHNSON ON JOBS REPORT: WASHINGTON HAS STIMULATED US TO DEATH

September 2, 2011, Santa Fe, NM -- Responding to today's report that no net jobs were created in August, former New Mexico governor and presidential candidate Gary Johnson released the following statement:

"With today's jobs report, the worst in a year, one has to wonder what it will take to make the President and Congress admit that they are doing all the wrong things.  Government does not create jobs, it kills jobs.  Yet, the White House says the answer is to pass a highway bill so they can 'stimulate' construction jobs.  Washington has stimulated us to death, and it has to stop.  Provide certainty for employers, stop the insane spending, and reform the tax code.  Do those things, and the private sector will do the job creation.  We have let the myth of government jobs programs go too far, and America is suffering as a result.  We don't need more prime time speeches -- we need government to just get out of the way."

For more information visit www.garyjohnson2012.com.

 
# # # #

About Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson: Gary Johnson, a Republican and two-term Governor of New Mexico from 1994-2002, has been a consistent and outspoken advocate for limited, efficient government and personal liberty.

NHDP - NH Share of Stimulus Money has Created Thousands of Jobs

NH on track to create 16,000 jobs, as originally predicted, with ARRA funds

Concord - Flying in the face of Republican candidates' talking points is a new report, highlighted in today's Union Leader, that shows New Hampshire is on track to create 16,000 jobs with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. This is the same number of jobs President Obama's administration predicted would be created in New Hampshire at the start of the program.

So far, slightly more than half of the ARRA funding given to New Hampshire has been spent, resulting in the creation of more than 8,300 jobs.  That total is according to the state's very conservative estimate for job creation.  It only takes into account jobs that are directly created with ARRA funds, and not jobs that are created or saved by collateral spending at restaurants, retail stores, and other local small businesses.

"For months, we have heard false rhetoric from the New Hampshire Republican Party about the Recovery Act," said Harrell Kirstein, press secretary for the New Hampshire Democratic Party.  "Now that it is clear that the Recovery Act is creating thousands of jobs like predicted, will the Republican candidates 'refudiate' their false statements?"

In the first Congressional District, former Mayor Frank Guinta has repeatedly said he opposed the stimulus. (Redstate.com)  And one of his Republican Primary opponents, career politician Sean Mahoney, has said, "the stimulus failed to create new jobs or reduce unemployment....[its] a job killing policies(s)." (Facebook.com)

In the second Congressional District, Charlie Bass has a repeated similar rhetoric.  At his candidacy filing, he called the Recovery Act a "jobless stimulus bill." (votebass.com)

And in the U.S. Senate race, Kelly Ayotte has called for "ending" the job creating Recovery Act. (Concord Monitor, 8/16/2010)  And claimed that it has not worked. (Laconia Citizen, 1/13/2010)

"The hyper-partisan talking points being repeated by Republican candidates clearly have no basis in reality," continued Kirstein. "The Recovery Act has created thousands of new jobs for Granite Staters, and provided the largest tax cut in United State history, aimed mostly at the middle class and small businesses."

"If New Hampshire Republican candidates are serious about creating jobs, and helping Democrats drive the economy out of the ditch caused by eight years of their failed economic policies, they will acknowledge the positive impact the Recovery Act is having in the Granite State," added Kirstein.

The full text of an article in today's Union Leader highlighting the impact ARRA has had in New Hampshire is below.

Union Leader: NH share of stimulus money nearly $1 billion so far

http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=NH+share+of+stimulus+money+nearly+%241+billion+so+far&articleId=a06bcc23-ad3d-4de3-a5fa-7f8871393928

Tom Fahey

8/18/2010

CONCORD - New Hampshire has received nearly $1 billion in federal stimulus money since February 2009, according to a new state report.

In a quarterly update to the Executive Council and the Legislature, the Office of Economic Stimulus reported that through June 30, state spending of stimulus funds saved or created 8,303 jobs. Of those, 2,374 came in the last three months, the report said, a 75 percent increase over the previous quarter. An additional 361 jobs were saved or created through direct grants to colleges, health centers and other agencies that state does not control.

Since stimulus money started flowing from Washington, the state has seen a total of $926 million, and more is on the way. State government accepted $613 million in awards, and another $313 million came as direct contracts, grants and loans. Colleges and universities alone collected $89 million.

Last week, Congress designated another $41 million in education aid for the state, and an uncertain amount of extra Medicaid reimbursement funds for low-income health care.

OES executive director Christopher Clement said the state has spent 58 percent, or $356 million, of the funding it has received since February 2009.

At the start of the $787 billion stimulus program, the Obama administration predicted it would save or create 16,000 jobs in New Hampshire. Through June, the state was more than halfway to that total, based on the OES report.

The bulk of state government spending has been on highway construction and other infrastructure work, Clement said. New Hampshire was recognized last year for the efficiency with which it put stimulus funds to work. It was able to act quickly because its 10-year highway plan provided it with a large number of "shovel-ready" projects.

The number of jobs funded quarterly by the stimulus program, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, is calculated by using the total hours worked on stimulus programs. That figure is divided by the number of hours a full-time employee would have worked in a fiscal quarter, usually 520.

The job figures from Clement's office do not include the effect of the $313 million that went straight from Washington to agencies, roughly one-third of the state's total.

They also differ from the reports by the President's Council of Economic Advisors, which uses a different formula to calculate the funding impact, and counts past immediate jobs to spin-offs those workers support at retail outlets and the like, Clement said.

State job figures, he said, "are very conservative. It's an exact number based on what our program managers report to us."

In the past three months alone, OES reported that the number of stimulus funded jobs on highway projects jumped to 258 in June from 50 in March, a 400 percent increase. A total of 712 transportation jobs have been funded by stimulus funds in the last 18 months, the report said.

Education jobs were at 344 in June, up from 233 in March. Jobs related to weatherization of low-income residences were at 120 in June, up from 111 in March.

"That's going to start jumping even more," Clement said.

The state has seen $70 million in grants to the Office of Energy and Planning, which administers most weatherization work, he said.

Among the largest federal awards made directly to colleges and other agencies were $5.8 million for wastewater treatment system in Farmington, $3 million in a research grant to Dartmouth College, and $7.4 million for border-crossing upgrades in Pittsburg.

Clement said he has a team of three auditors whose job is to double-check with agencies that are using stimulus funding, to make sure their figures will pass inspection by federal auditors.

To make the entire stimulus program more transparent, Clement's office is preparing to put a website online by Labor Day that will show details of how the funding is being spent.

The site will feature a map of the state that breaks down spending by county, town and Executive Council district. Every project and the amount of funding that went into it will be detailed, Clement said.



Shea-Porter Announces $335,000 in Recovery Act Funds for Electronic Health Record Program

Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter today announced that the State of New Hampshire will receive $335,000 from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to implement the electronic health record incentive program established by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.  The Recovery Act provided a 90 percent federal match for states to administer these payments to Medicaid providers.