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Strategies & Market Trends : Mafia Stock Mobsta's Social Club (Bulls Board) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jmhollen who wrote (6651)	6/29/2011 6:47:04 PM
From: jmhollen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 6687

LLEG: GOOD NEWS Mayor predicts agreement imminent in biomass stalemate By Barbara Tetreault -- Jun 29, 2011 12:00 am BERLIN — Mayor Paul Grenier said he believes a deal between Public Service of N.H. and the wood-fired Independent Power Producers will be reached soon. Such a deal would allow construction of the Laidlaw/Berlin biomass plant to get underway by late July or early August. “I’m hopeful a deal is imminent,” he said yesterday. Last week, the Public Utilities Commission denied the IPPs motion for a rehearing of its decision to approve a 20-year power purchase agreement between PSNH and Berlin Station. The IPPs have 30 days to decide whether to file a threatened appeal to the state Supreme Court. Gov. John Lynch has played a direct role in attempting to broker an agreement between PSNH and the IPPs and a meeting between the parties was scheduled to take place yesterday. Four of the IPPS are pushing for short-term deals with PSNH to replace their expiring agreements. They are also concerned about competing for wood. Richard Cyr of Cate Street Capital, which owns the pulp mill property, said he feels the IPPs are wrong to hold up his project to advance their own cause. “This has nothing to do with us,” he noted. Rather, Cyr said, the smaller biomass plants are trying to force PSNH to deal with them by putting the project between PSNH and Berlin Station at risk. “It’s blackmail plain and simple,” Cyr said. “It’s like pushing someone else in front of a train so you don’t get hit.” Cyr noted the IPPs at one time had 20-year agreements with PSNH. He said they reaped the money but choose not to reinvest in their plants to make them more environmentally competitive. Both Cyr and Grenier said construction of the 75-megawatt biomass plant on the former pulp mill site will be a major economic boom for Berlin. “It’s going to be a real good shot in the arm,” said Cyr. It will take over two years to construct the plant at a cost of $228 million, exclusive of financing charges. Grenier said at the peak of construction 380 people will be employed on the project. Once the plant is up and running, it will employ 40 people directly and is expected to generate as many as 200 indirect jobs in the forest industry. The city and Berlin Station are negotiating a payment in lieu of taxes that is expected to make the biomass plant the city’s largest taxpayer. Over the past two months, Cate Street Capital has been preparing the site and doing some demolition to get ready for the start of construction. “We have shown nothing but commitment to that project,” said Cyr. But Cyr said the longer the biomass plant gets delayed the harder it is to finance. “Hold out long enough and you can kill our project,” he said. .