Remember Christmas Eve? There had been some crazy weather coming through, as temperatures dropped from balmy to bitter cold and falling rain turned to ice. The storm affected grid infrastructure all across the country and power distribution lines were failing all over New England. Heroic utility linemen were sacrificing their holidays to make sure the rest of us had light.

That day also saw some wildness in New England's energy market. I know I wasn't the only nerd reloading ISO New England's real time maps and charts that day just watching in morbid fascination as electricity prices went through the roof. Check out this graph from ISO New England.

Electricity prices on Christmas Eve were already extremely high - averaging over $484 per megawatt hour (MWh) over the course of the day. But in the late afternoon they hit escape velocity, with regional prices peaking at $2,816/MWh around 5 PM. By contrast, I just checked the cost of a megawatt hour right now and it is $45.72.

ISO New England did not call for controlled power outages on Christmas Eve, but did declare a capacity deficiency, meaning the region’s supply of electricity was insufficient to meet required operating reserves in addition to satisfying consumer demand, at 4:30 p.m. This action was taken after approximately 2,150 megawatts (MW) of resources scheduled to contribute power during the evening peak became unavailable.

The way energy markets work, energy companies commit to being able to sell electricity to the grid when it is called for, and they are compensated for this commitment. Many fossil fuel-powered plants are kept around for the purpose of collecting these capacity payments, which are supposed to ensure when a demand spike in energy occurs, there will be generation capacity to fill it.

While blackouts on one of the chilliest days of the year were narrowly avoided, one can't ignore that, on Christmas Eve, several of our region's power generation companies failed to deliver the power they had been paid to commit to provide. Our regions dirtier, expensive, oil-powered plants were fired up to cover the shortfall that day, to fill in for natural gas plants knocked offline during the cold.

I don't have any grand lessons to draw here, except to say that its important to examine how the systems that support our lives perform when they are under stress.

I do have a couple other thoughts. First, keep this story in mind the next time Republicans try to undermine energy efficiency programs like NH Saves, claiming they just want the best deal for ratepayers. There are real capacity constraints in our electricity system, and the one of the best ways to live with them is to ensure that we aren't wasting the power we do have.

Second, I think there is a case for moving our peak capacity generation systems away from fossil fuels, and toward solutions like biomass, biofuels, hydrogen, and battery storage. The capacity payment system is a subsidy for power generation systems that are too expensive for every day use but can be counted on to help out in a pinch. If we are going to have this subsidy around anyway, why not use it to finance something a little greener?

An angry mob of far-right protesters has stormed the seat of government in order to reverse a democratic election and restore a disgraced and defeated president to power.  This time, the country is Brazil and the would-be strong man is Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro was a one-term, right-wing president who was defeated fair and square in October 2022 by now-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Bolsonaro is currently exiled in Florida. Back in November, it was reported that his son was playing a role as a go-between with Trump, visiting Mar-a-lago and coordinating by phone with Steve Bannon. Bannon at the time was out in Arizona trying to undermine confidence in the electoral process there on behalf of failed Gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake.

In all three elections - Trump, Bolsonaro, and Lake - reactionary candidates who had been defeated at the polls sought to instill among their more gullible followers the idea that such a loss could only have come as a result of a stolen election. They attack public confidence in voting as a means of attacking the institutional strength of democracy itself.

By now, the establishment of stolen election mythology has become a well-established strategy in the playbook for aspiring fascists. We can also now recognize it as a potential precursor to mob violence against governing institutions.

Meanwhile, not long ago, the GOP nominated General Don Bolduc as a candidate for US Senate. This is a guy who for months and months was undermining public confidence in our democratic process by saying things like “I think there was a tremendous amount of fraud across this country and in every state... I do know in the state of New Hampshire we have big problems with election integrity.” Of course, he never provided any evidence of this.

Don Bolduc was spewing the same kind of voter-confidence-undermining election denialism that got far-right extremists rioting in Brasilia and in Washington. What does it say about the rest of New Hampshire's Republicans that they were willing to go along with it?

Chris Sununu was recently inaugurated for his fourth term as Governor of New Hampshire. Will this term, perhaps, be the one in which he seriously takes into consideration the concerns of citizens and gun violence prevention groups? 

At the beginning of his first full term beginning in 2017, one of the first bills he signed into law allowed people to bring guns into schools, made concealed carry licenses voluntary, and removed ‘suitable person’ criteria for licensing. The NH Chiefs of Police Association strongly opposed that by testifying to the necessity of keeping concealed weapons away from persons with a record of violence. To no avail.

He has repeatedly opposed allowing schools to establish and enforce “gun free zones,” stating his support of state law, which prohibits  schools and towns from doing so.

He campaigned on closing the background check loopholes then changed his mind after getting elected. He has also refused to help pass a ban on bump stocks.

The first weekend in August, 2019, saw back to back mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio, leaving the nation to mourn the senseless loss of life again. A few days later, the Governor vetoed three bills having to do with gun safety; background check requirement for commercial weapons sales and requiring a waiting period from the time of purchase to delivery of a weapon. The third bill was to restrict possession of weapons on school property with the exception being police officers.

He stated that New Hampshire gun laws are “well-crafted and fit our culture of responsible gun ownership and individual freedom." He went on to say we are one of the safest states, having a long, proud tradition of "responsible firearm stewardship."

Until we don’t. 

New Hampshire shouldn’t wait for that day to happen.

Rep Nicholas Germana has shared the following information on two upcoming bills he is working on.

HB 65 is sponsored by Rep. Eric Gallager (D-Concord) and cosponsored by Nick as well as other Keene local favorite Reps. Amanda Toll and Jodi Newell.  It honors the first labor strike by women in the United States and will have a hearing on Wednesday morning, January 11, in the Executive Departments and Administration Committee at 10:45.  Here is the text of the bill:

The Dover Mill Girls Recognition Day.  The governor shall annually issue a proclamation calling for a proper observance of December 30 in recognition of the first all-women labor strike in the state of New Hampshire, which took place over 3 days in Dover, starting December 26, 1828.  This was a seminal event in United States history for both labor and women's rights movements.  Schools and libraries are encouraged to commemorate the day with appropriate ceremonies and activities as close to the date as possible.  

Another, very important bill that Nick is cosponsoring, HB 61, would repeal the "divisive concepts" law. It will receive a hearing before the Education Committee next Thursday, January 12, at 9:30. 

If you have strong feelings about the importance of repealing the divisive concepts law, and you should, the best way to make your voice head is by emailing your written comments to all committee members through the email address HouseEducationCommittee@leg.state.nh.us.

The report of Keene's Committee on Housing Stability will be presented before the City Council's Planning, Licenses, and Development Committee on Wednesday, January 18 at 6:00 PM at City Hall. 

Here is a copy of the report. I'm sure I'll have more comment later, but there is a lot of good stuff in there. Many of us have worked hard to push for better homelessness strategies in Keene, and this is an important milestone in that process. 

Come be a member of the audience to let City Councilors know that our community stands behind efforts to bring the recommendations of this report to fruition.

It's 84 days until baseball's Opening Day, so we have to settle for Convening Day of the New Hampshire State Legislature. This is their second meeting as a group, after Organization Day last month when they were all sworn in.

That's a picture of Cheshire-15's own Rep. Renée Monteil, taken by Cheshire-4's Rep. Jodi Newell. Also, it was 62 degrees out, which seems a little warm for Concord, New Hampshire the 4th of friggin' January.

I always find the best way to find out what happened in the session is by checking Rep. Eric Gallager's live tweet-stream over at Elon Musk's Nefarious Website of Purgatory.

According to that, here are some dumb and terrible things the Republicans did today:

• Voted to allow guns on the House floor, because that's really mature
• Voted against proxy voting because covid safety doesn't matter anymore
• Voted against remote/hybrid hearings, which were really one of the greatest, most democracy-enriching and participatory practices to come out of the pandemic. It's a real loss.
• Made a power grab that involved giving committee chairs the ability to break ties on recommendations. This one didn't quite fly. 

Some of this looks to be part of a broader Republican strategy to maintain their narrow balance of power in the ledge. They all know that many Republicans would be likely to come into session if they were contagious with covid in cases where Democrats would do the responsible thing and stay home. It's an alliance with a biological pathogen, and its dirty pool.

Rumor has it that ultra-Conservative Oklahoma-based chintzy craft goods retailer Hobby Lobby will be opening its new store in Keene on Friday. Not that people around here haven't tried to stop them. 

Last year, Jodi Newell and I went down to speak in front of the Planning Board in opposition to Hobby Lobby's request for a building permit.  Jodi made some good points about how the company's ethos is inconsistent with the values of inclusion, as expressed by a recent proclamation of the City Council. For my part, I explained that Hobby Lobby is a crummy company with a reputation for breaking the law, and that City should be particularly careful when it comes to accepting the representations of such a historically bad actor. 

I also borrowed heavily from the NIMBY playbook. For example, I explained how lighting changes to the building's facade could potentially have an effect on migrating birds, dark skies, and the local bat population. Also, I expressed concerns about maintaining the neighborhood character of that particular strip mall.

The Planning Board didn't buy that argument - and maybe that's for the best, legally speaking. But I represent a lot of people who feel targeted by the culture war that Hobby Lobby has been a leader in and that's why it's important to put up a fight about these things. 

More recently, some of us have been having protests in front of their store location on a regular basis. The purpose is to educate shoppers about Hobby Lobby and its work to undermine the secular institutions that make up the basis for our pluralistic society. We aim to encourage people to shop local instead. 

There is nothing we can do to stop Hobby Lobby from coming to Keene, but we can help them be less profitable.

Read my full statement to the Planning Board here.

It's the second day of the blog and already I've put my re-election in jeopardy by posting on the Facebook in support of controversial, if much-needed updates to Keene's downtown infrastructure. A group of local building owners have put together a "Save the Square" movement, that has convinced people that our city's beloved Central Square is somehow being put at risk. (Spoiler: It's not.) But it's pretty clear to me that the actual concern that's driving this movement is that building owners will no longer having access to as many public parking spots, in their immediate vicinity, as they used to. 

There is, of course, abundant parking available in Keene, although many people will tell you different. I have lived in cities with scarce parking: Keene is not one of them.  Keene is famous for its parking. It's reputed to have the widest Main Street east of the Mississippi, and most of that space has been turned over for parking. The sidewalks aren't especially wide, and the only bike lanes we have are useless painted "sharrows," but parking we have in abundance. If you can't find parking on Main Street (and, except for a few peak times over the summer, you can) there is way more parking just around the corner on Gilbo Avenue.  And this is before people get talking about ideas for a new parking garage.

The new plan - which is proposed as part of a needed project to dig up and replace all the ancient water and sewer pipes underneath the area - calls for closing off the north side of Central Square to traffic and turning it into an open pedestrian plaza. That space could feature things like expanded space for outdoor dining or a small play area for children. You know, the kinds of things that bring people into urban centers these days. You can see a map of the proposed downtown changes in the graphic at the top of this post, which I screenshotted from this project document. 

Here is Google Streetview's picture of the 15 parking spots and three lanes of asphalt that are being considered for conversion into prime public gathering and recreational space at the very center of our city.

Lots of people have been very angry about this proposal, which seems unreasonable to me. This is a huge improvement to public space and traffic safety, and it means that people speaking or playing music at events held at the gazebo won't be drowned out by the sound of oversized pickup trucks slamming on the gas behind them. 

At any rate, I'm sharing this in the hope that putting some out actual information, not rumors, about the proposed changes will help people understand that this is a project with huge potential benefits to the community. Despite reports to the contrary, this is not some dastardly plan to destroy the square that people need to freak out over. Even for those who don't share my nuanced views concerning the proliferation of automobile-dominated infrastructure in urban environments, it would be nice if we could at least fight about this issue based on facts. 

My name is Bobby Williams and I am a small-time politician here on the East Side of beautiful Keene, New Hampshire. I’m proud to serve my ward in our City Council, and I’m going into the last year of a four-year term.

I think I’ve done good work while in office, using my role on the Council to push the City to act for housing, for disability access, for public health, and to fix the sidewalks. Serving my community in this role has been an amazing experience and I’m likely to run again.

In my day job I have my own software development shop with a few employees that I have trained, and some clients that I appreciate. I might call myself a tech entrepreneur if that term were not so disreputable. If you are in the market for full-stack web application development and have an institutional budget to work with, maybe hit me up. 

2022 was quite a year for me. Among other endeavors, I ran for an open seat in the New Hampshire State Senate. While I didn’t win the Democratic primary, many other good things came out of the experience. I suppose the real victory was the friends I made along the way. 

2023 brings a fresh start, and with it, this new blog. I’m hoping some of these friends I’ve made in the world of New Hampshire politics and activism will join me in turning this new venture into a progressive space where ideas are discussed, voices are heard, and actions are organized. A community.

I will have much more to say in coming posts, but for today – New Year’s Day – it’s enough for me to get this blog up and running. 

Welcome!