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Committee backs Korman bill to clarify renewable statute so methane‑to‑power counts
Summary
The House Science, Technology and Energy Committee voted unanimously to recommend HB 15‑35, a rewrite of three subparagraphs in the renewable portfolio standard that sponsors say will make clear methane from landfill gas can count for electricity as well as thermal credits. The Department of Energy remained neutral and offered drafting suggestions.
Representative Tom Korman (Grafton 15) introduced HB 15‑35 on Feb. 9, saying a punctuation inconsistency in RSA 362‑F(4) has left landfill methane projects in Lebanon and elsewhere unable to receive renewable energy credits for electricity generation. "The problem is that the wording is not clear," Korman told the committee, urging a rewrite of items b, e and g to state explicitly when a unit qualifies for electric or useful thermal energy credits.
The bill rewrites the three subparagraphs so each reads, for example, "methane gas, but for useful thermal energy the unit must begin operation after 01/01/2013," removing reliance on punctuation alone to determine eligibility. Korman said a constituent and local official, Clifton Bedeau of the Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire, brought the issue to his attention and that the change would protect projects that began operation before later statutory edits.
Meg Stone, legislative liaison for the New Hampshire Department of Energy, told the committee the department is neutral on the measure and confirmed the department currently interprets the methane line as qualifying methane only for thermal RECs. Stone said DOE's general counsel suggested an alternative amendment that would separate the lines (new subparagraphs) to make the intent explicit; the department said the clarification to allow methane for electric RECs is a policy choice for the legislature.
Clifton Bedeau, testifying for the Community Power Coalition, reviewed legislative history and said there was no evidence the original drafters intended to disqualify methane‑derived electricity. He urged the committee to adopt language that would let projects that produce electricity be credited appropriately under class‑1 rules.
The committee moved HB 15‑35 to executive session later the same day. In the executive session the committee adopted the motion of "ought to pass" as presented; the clerk recorded a roll call vote and the measure passed by a vote of 17 to 0. Representative Korman was assigned to write the calendar report.
What happens next: HB 15‑35 will be reported out of committee with an "ought to pass" recommendation and placed on the calendar report for the House with the committee's unanimous recommendation. If enacted, the statutory rewrite would aim to remove ambiguity about whether certain geothermal, methane and solar thermal sources may qualify for electric RECs as well as thermal ones when the statute's date conditions are met.
