CHAPTER 219

HB 614-FN – FINAL VERSION

12Mar2015… 0452h

05/21/2015 1736s

05/21/2015 1855s

24June2015… 2186CofC

2015 SESSION

15-0674

09/10

HOUSE BILL 614-FN

AN ACT implementing goals of the state 10-year energy strategy, modifying uses of the site evaluation committee fund, establishing fees for energy facility evaluation, and relative to public information sessions on proposed energy siting.

SPONSORS: Rep. Danielson, Hills 7; Rep. Murotake, Hills 32

COMMITTEE: Science, Technology and Energy

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill implements goals of the state 10-year energy strategy prepared by the office of energy and planning. This bill modifies authorized uses of the site evaluation fund and establishes fees for energy facility evaluation.

This bill also modifies requirements for public information sessions on proposed energy facilities.

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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.

Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]

Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.

12Mar2015… 0452h

05/21/2015 1736s

05/21/2015 1855s

24June2015… 2186CofC

15-0674

09/10

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Fifteen

AN ACT implementing goals of the state 10-year energy strategy, modifying uses of the site evaluation committee fund, establishing fees for energy facility evaluation, and relative to public information sessions on proposed energy siting.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

219:1 State 10-Year Energy Strategy; Implementation of Goals. Consistent with the goals outlined in the state 10-year energy strategy prepared by the office of energy and planning in accordance with RSA 4-E:1, the public utilities commission and the office of energy and planning shall implement the following:

I. The public utilities commission shall open a docket on electric grid modernization on or before August 1, 2015.

II. The office of energy and planning, with input from the departments of transportation, environmental services, and resources and economic development shall develop and submit to the speaker of the house of representatives and the senate president a report on the status of and the preferred strategy to prioritize further development of public charging corridors, including Interstate 93, Interstate 89, and Interstate 95. The report shall be submitted on or before December 31, 2015.

III. The public utilities commission shall establish an “electricity peak time reduction goal” on or before July 1, 2016.

219:2 Repeal. RSA 162-H:3, VIII, relative to compensation of public members of the site evaluation committee, is repealed.

219:3 Energy Facility Evaluation, Siting, Construction and Operation; Administrator and Other Committee Support. Amend RSA 162-H:3-a to read as follows:

162-H:3-a Administrator and Other Committee Support. There is hereby established within the site evaluation committee the position of administrator who shall be an unclassified state employee. In the alternative, the position may be filled by an independent contractor. The administrator shall be hired by and under the supervision of the chairperson. The administrator, or chairperson in the absence of an administrator, with committee approval, may engage additional technical, legal, or administrative support to fulfill the functions of the committee as necessary. Any person to be hired by the administrator shall be approved by the chairperson. [All costs incurred under this section shall be paid from the site evaluation committee fund established in RSA 162-H:21.]

219:4 New Paragraph; Definitions. Amend RSA 162-H:2 by inserting after paragraph VII the following new paragraph:

VII-a. “Energy facility proceeding time and expenses” means time spent in hearings, meetings, preparation, and travel related to any application or other proceeding before the committee concerning an energy facility, either existing or proposed, and related reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.

219:5 New Section; Site Evaluation Committee; Compensation and Reimbursement. Amend RSA 162-H by inserting after section 21 the following new section:

162-H:22 Compensation and Reimbursement.

I. The public members of the committee shall be compensated for all time spent on committee business, including compensation and reimbursement for energy facility proceeding time and expenses. Compensation shall be provided on a pro rata basis, based upon the daily salary rate of an unclassified position at the initial step in grade FF under RSA 94:1-a, I(a).

II. State agencies represented on the committee shall be reimbursed for energy facility proceeding time and expenses incurred by their respective members or designees, except that time spent for the first 3 full days of their participation with respect to any application or other proceeding concerning an energy facility shall not be subject to reimbursement. The rate of reimbursement to each respective agency shall be based on a pro rata share of the employee’s salary, benefits, and related costs.

III. The department of justice shall be reimbursed in the same manner as described in paragraph II for energy facility proceeding time and expenses that are incurred by the counsel for the public.

IV. All persons or agencies seeking compensation or reimbursement under this section shall keep detailed time and expense records which shall be submitted to the chairperson or administrator and used to determine the amount of compensation or reimbursement. The chairperson or administrator shall develop a recordkeeping system and accounting and payment procedures.

V. Funding for all compensation and reimbursement under this section shall be as provided in RSA 162-H:21.

219:6 New Paragraph; Energy Facility Evaluation; Enforcement. Amend RSA 162-H:12 by inserting after paragraph IV the following new paragraph:

V. The full amount of costs and expenses incurred by the committee in connection with any enforcement action against a person holding a certificate, including any action under this section and any action under RSA 162-H:19, in which the person is determined to have violated any provision of this chapter, any rule adopted by the committee, or any of the terms and conditions of the issued certificate, shall be assessed to the person and shall be paid by the person to the committee. Any amounts paid by a person to the committee pursuant to this paragraph shall be deposited in the site evaluation committee fund established in RSA 162-H:21.

219:7 Fund Established; Funding Plan. RSA 162-H:21 is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:

162-H:21 Fund Established; Funding Plan.

I. There is hereby established in the office of the state treasurer a nonlapsing, special fund to be known as the site evaluation committee fund. All application fees and other filing fees received by the committee under 162-H:8-a shall be deposited in the fund. All moneys in the fund shall be continually appropriated to the site evaluation committee and shall only be used, except as provided in paragraph III, to pay for compensation and reimbursements made under RSA 162-H:22 for energy facility proceeding time and expenses.

II. All other operating costs of the committee, including, but not limited to, administrator and other committee support costs under RSA 162-H:3-a and public member compensation and reimbursements that are not paid from the site evaluation committee fund pursuant to paragraph I, except those costs paid by applicants under RSA 162-H:10, shall be funded through appropriations from the general fund.

III. In the fiscal biennium ending June 30, 2019, if the funds available to the committee to pay the operating costs specified in paragraph I or II are insufficient to permit the committee to pay all such operating costs, then upon request of the committee and approval of the fiscal committee of the general court, the shortfall shall be funded through a transfer from the renewable energy fund established in RSA 362-F:10 to the site evaluation committee fund in an amount not to exceed $480,000. Any amount transferred but not expended for such shortfall during the 2018-2019 biennium shall lapse back to the renewable energy fund at the end of the biennium.

219:8 New Section; Application and Filing Fees. Amend RSA 162-H by inserting after section 8 the following new section:

162-H:8-a Application and Filing Fees.

I. Except as provided in paragraph IV, a person filing with the committee an application for a certificate for an energy facility, a petition for jurisdiction, a request for exemption, or any other petition or request for the committee to take action, shall pay to the committee at the time of filing a fee determined in accordance with the fee schedule described in paragraph II. If an application for a certificate for an energy facility is deemed incomplete pursuant to RSA 162-H:7, VI, and a new application is submitted thereunder, the unearned portion of the initial application fee shall be refunded to the applicant or credited to the filing of the new application. The committee may in its discretion provide for a credit or refund in other circumstances that are unforeseen by the applicant.

II. The fees under paragraph I shall be determined in accordance with a fee schedule posted by the committee on its website, which shall include the following amounts, subject to subsequent modification under paragraph III:

(a) Application fee for electric generation facilities: $50,000 base charge, plus:

(1) $1,000 per megawatt for the first 40 megawatts, and $1,500 per megawatt for each megawatt in excess of 40 megawatts, for any wind energy system.

(2) $100 per megawatt, for any natural gas or biomass fueled facility.

(3) $150 per megawatt, for any coal or oil fueled facility.

(4) $200 per megawatt, for any nuclear generation facility.

(b) Application fee for transmission facilities: $50,000 base charge, plus:

(1) $3,000 per mile, for any electric transmission facility.

(2) $1,500 per mile, for any natural gas pipeline.

(c) Application fee for other energy facilities: $50,000 fee.

(d) Filing fees for administrative proceedings:

(1) Petition for committee jurisdiction: $10,500.

(2) Petition for declaratory ruling: $10,500, or $3,000 if heard by a 3-member subcommittee.

(3) Certificate transfer of ownership: $10,500, or $3,000 if heard by a 3-member subcommittee.

(4) Request for exemption: $10,500, or $3,000 if heard by a 3-member subcommittee.

(5) Request to modify a certificate: $10,500, or $3,000 if heard by a 3-member subcommittee.

III. The committee shall review and evaluate the application fees and filing fees in the fee schedule in paragraph II at least once each year. The committee may increase or decrease any amount in the fee schedule by up to 20 percent with prior approval of the fiscal committee of the general court, provided that any such increase or decrease shall occur not more frequently than once during any 12-month period. Modifications to the fee schedule shall be posted on the committee website, with a link prominently displayed on the home page.

IV. Notwithstanding paragraph I, a petition for committee jurisdiction filed by a petitioner as defined in RSA 162-H:2, XI(a), (b), or (c) for a certificate for an energy facility shall not be subject to a filing fee. If the committee determines that it has jurisdiction over a proposed energy facility subject to any such petition, then the owner of the proposed energy facility shall be required to pay to the committee the petition for jurisdiction fee, in addition to the application fee determined in accordance with paragraph II for the type and size of the proposed energy facility.

219:9 Subcommittees. Amend RSA 162-H:4-a, I to read as follows:

I. The chairperson may establish subcommittees to consider and make decisions on applications, including the issuance of certificates, or to exercise any other authority or perform any other duty of the committee under this chapter, except that no subcommittee may approve the budgetary requirements of the committee, [or] approve any support staff positions [paid for through the site evaluation committee fund, propose the funding plan under RSA 162-H:21], or adopt initial or final rulemaking proposals. For purposes of statutory interpretation and executing the regulatory functions of this chapter, the subcommittee shall assume the role of and be considered the committee, with all of its associated powers and duties in order to execute the charge given it by the chairperson.

219:10 Funding; Transfers. The remainder of the $500,000 referred to in RSA 162-H:21, II, as enacted by 2014, 217:23, and prior to amendment by section 7 of this act, that was not transferred from the renewable energy fund to the site evaluation committee fund during fiscal year 2015 is hereby transferred. This newly transferred money plus the money that was transferred during fiscal year 2015 but not expended by the site evaluation committee may be budgeted and expended by the committee for any operating cost of the committee, notwithstanding the allowed uses of the fund in RSA 162-H:21, I.

219:11 Energy Facility Siting; Public Hearings. Amend RSA 162-H:10, I through II to read as follows:

I. At least 30 days prior to filing an application for a certificate, an applicant shall hold at least one public information session in each county where the proposed facility is to be located and shall, at a minimum, publish a public notice not less than 14 days before such session in one or more newspapers having a regular circulation in the county in which the session is to be held, describing the nature and location of the proposed facility. At such session, the applicant shall present information regarding the project and [receive] provide an opportunity for comments and questions from the public to be addressed by the applicant. Not less than 10 days before such session, the applicant shall provide a copy of the public notice to the chairperson of the committee. The applicant shall arrange for a transcript of such session to be prepared and shall include the transcript in its application for a certificate.

I-a. Within 45 days after acceptance of an application for a certificate, pursuant to RSA 162-H:7, the applicant shall hold at least one public information session as described in paragraph I in each county in which the proposed facility is to be located and shall, at a minimum, publish a public notice not less than 14 days before said session in one or more newspapers having a regular circulation in the county in which the session is to be held, describing the nature and location of the proposed facility. Not less than 10 days before such session, the applicant shall provide a copy of the public notice to the presiding officer of the committee. The administrator, or a designee of the presiding officer of the committee, shall act as presiding officer of the information session. The session shall be for public information on the proposed facility with the applicant presenting the information to the public. The presiding officer shall also explain to the public the process the committee will use to review the application for the proposed facility.

I-b. Upon request of the governing body of a municipality or unincorporated place in which the proposed facility is to be located, or on the committee's own motion, the committee may order the applicant to provide such additional public information sessions as described in paragraph I as are reasonable to inform the public of the proposed project.

I-c. Within 90 days after acceptance of an application for a certificate, pursuant to RSA 162-H:7, the site evaluation committee shall hold at least one public hearing in each county in which the proposed facility is to be located and shall publish a public notice not less than 14 days before such session in one or more newspapers having a regular circulation in the county in which the hearing is to be held, describing the nature and location of the proposed facilities. The public hearings shall be joint hearings, with representatives of the agencies that have permitting or other regulatory authority over the subject matter and shall be deemed to satisfy all initial requirements for public hearings under statutes requiring permits relative to environmental impact. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the hearing shall be a joint hearing with the other state agencies and shall be in lieu of all hearings otherwise required by any of the other state agencies; provided, however, if any of such other state agencies does not otherwise have authority to conduct hearings, it may not join in the hearing under this chapter; provided further, however, the ability or inability of any of the other state agencies to join shall not affect the composition of the committee under RSA 162-H:3 nor the ability of any member of the committee to act in accordance with this chapter.

II. Subsequent public hearings shall be in the nature of adjudicative proceedings under RSA 541-A and [may] shall be held in the county or one of the counties in which the proposed facility is to be located or in Concord, New Hampshire, as determined by the site evaluation committee. The committee shall give adequate public notice of the time and place of each subsequent hearing.

219:12 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.

Approved: July 8, 2015

Effective Date: July 8, 2015