This is a guest post from New Hampshire House Speaker, Representative Terie Norelli:
As mothers, we all want to ensure that our children experience the greatest beauty the world has to offer, and to protect them from anything and everything that may harm them. Sometimes those two objectives conflict, and we recognize that our children need to be allowed to break beyond the protection of their parents to truly experience the beauty of life.
When it comes to the environment, New Hampshire has endless, magnificent beauty. From mountains to lakes to flaming foliage to the crisp clean air, I’ve enjoyed sharing those experiences with my children. As a legislator, I feel a responsibility to help preserve that experience for other parents and their children across the state, as well as for future generations.
It is easy to recognize that the state’s natural beauty is also one of our greatest economic assets. Our state has a strong brand that travels beyond our borders, spread by young summer campers, skiers, and summer vacationers. It is incumbent upon us to protect that brand by preserving and respecting our state’s natural beauty.
At times the stark and lasting impact of an environmental disaster is obvious, as it was in the Gulf Coast oil spill. In addition to the damage to the environment, there was clearly tremendous economic harm to residents of the area. We can’t eliminate the possibility of such disasters, but as legislators we can make smart decisions to put appropriate, effective and efficient regulation in place and dramatically reduce the risk of such events.
As speaker, I’ve had the honor of presiding over the passage of New Hampshire’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), as well as a number of renewable energy and clean air bills. In 2002, along with Jeb Bradley, then chair of the House Science Technology & Energy Committee, I co-sponsored HB 284. That bill reduced caps for emissions from existing fossil fuel burning power plants, the first such four-pollutant bill in the country. Since joining the legislature in 1997, I have sponsored or co-sponsored more than a dozen measures to protect our environment or reduce our energy consumption.
Our children experience this world with wide eyes, awed by the sights and sounds of their experience. It is our responsibility to make sure the beauty we see around us today is preserved for future generations to see. We owe them that opportunity to be inspired.
Rep. Norelli is the Speaker of the House and in her ninth term as a representative from Portsmouth. She previously served two terms as the Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives. In the past, Rep. Norelli served as the chair of the Portsmouth legislative delegation and on the House Science, Technology and Energy Committee, where she was the chair of the Clean Air Subcommittee. She is featured in two books about women in politics: “Pearls, Politics and Power: How Women Can Win and Lead” by Vermont Gov. Madeleine Kunin, and “Women at the Table: 40 Intimate Profiles of Political Women in the Northeast” by Michaeline della Fera. Read more about Speaker Norelli on Facebook or send her a note at terie.norelli@leg.state.nh.us
TELL EPA YOU SUPPORT NEW LIMITS ON CARBON POLLUTION FROM POWER PLANTS