Energy + Environment

Was that chicken cutlet grown in a lab? These states want you to know.

BY: - September 1, 2023

Select U.S. restaurants have begun serving laboratory-grown chicken, spurring long wait times for reservations by diners curious to taste it. In June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave final approval for a few California-based companies to begin selling lab-produced chicken across the country. While it may be years before lab-grown meat is available at grocery […]

Cannabis growing

NH Cannabis Association surveying farmers on future growing opportunities 

BY: - August 30, 2023

As a legislative commission probes the potential for a state-run cannabis sales model, an industry organization is surveying farmers and agricultural professionals to gauge interest in future cultivation opportunities.  New Hampshire has not yet legalized marijuana, but this past legislative session saw more movement than years past. For the first time, Gov. Chris Sununu said […]

Black gum tree

The ‘addictive’ quest to find New Hampshire’s biggest trees

BY: - August 30, 2023

In this competition, those sparring for the title are judged by their circumference. Some are scaly, furrowed, warty. Others are smooth and papery.  One of John Wallace’s favorite prizewinners resides deep in Epping conservation land: the state champion black tupelo, or black gum. With a circumference of 137 inches and a height of 83 feet, […]

Fish and Game website

NH Fish and Game debuts new user-friendly website

BY: - August 29, 2023

The state’s Fish and Game Department has debuted a new user-friendly website, because “for many folks, the journey outdoors starts online.” The new website launched Tuesday, expected to “significantly improve user experience, accessibility for all visitors, and ease of use on all mobile devices and desktop environments,” the department said. Fish and Game uses its […]

Brown algae bloom

Big, brown, and baffling researchers: Unusual algae bloom in the Gulf of Maine

BY: - August 28, 2023

What is coffee-colored, more than 100 miles wide, and not something you’d likely want to swim in? An unusually large bloom of brown algae in the Gulf of Maine has caught the attention of scientists from across New England. So much so, an informal monitoring effort of more than two dozen partners has since formed […]

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics will leave New Hampshire, close Merrimack facility

BY: - August 23, 2023

Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics, the French multinational corporation at the center of New Hampshire’s PFAS controversy, has announced it will close its facility in Merrimack. The abrupt announcement comes less than a week after the state’s Department of Environmental Services approved Saint-Gobain for a new five-year operating permit, a decision that followed major pushback from area […]

Bellamy River

NH gets piece of first-ever federal fish culvert grants

BY: - August 22, 2023

Part of a $196 million federal package to improve fish passage in waterways by fixing or removing culvert barriers is heading to a project in New Hampshire. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law’s new culvert grant program will send $421,600 to the city of Dover for the Bellamy River Fish Passage Restoration Project to advance design and […]

Maidstone Bends

North Country preserve expands by 870 acres, protecting drinking water and floodplains

BY: - August 21, 2023

The Nature Conservancy has added another 870 acres to its Maidstone Bends Preserve on the Upper Connecticut River, and more than half of the land is located in a drinking water protection area.  A mix of farmland, woods, wetlands, and expansive floodplains, the recent purchase expands the preserve in Northumberland and Groveton to 1,250 total […]

Looking up at the sun in a partly cloudy sky with a thermometer to the left.

Are EMS calls the newest tool in fighting heat waves?

BY: - August 16, 2023

There’s a new way to measure the impact of increasing heat waves: EMS calls for heat-related medical emergencies. A pair of federal agencies, one focused on the health effects of climate change and the other on highway traffic safety, are behind a new EMS HeatTracker. Launched this month, the dashboard allows users to see how […]

Shelburne Valley Forest

What is compensatory mitigation? Evening the scales of environmental impact in NH

BY: - August 14, 2023

Where Route 16 winds north along the Androscoggin River, passing through the towns of Dummer and Errol, forests of northern spruce and fir trees surround the remote, rural roadway. There are large swaths of palustrine wetlands, like bogs, swamps, and marshes, that are heavily vegetated with winterberry, nannyberry, goldthread, and bunchberry. One of two major […]

Nebraska AG joins fight against legal doctrine regarding federal regulatory authority

BY: - August 8, 2023

LINCOLN — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers recently joined counterparts in 26 other states, including New Hampshire, in urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn or clarify a legal precedent that could have major implications for federal regulatory authority. Nebraska was one of 27 states that joined a July 24 filing to the Supreme Court […]

Tech breakthrough could boost states’ use of geothermal power

BY: - August 7, 2023

Lawmakers in some states have been laying the groundwork to add geothermal power to the electrical grid and pump underground heat into buildings. Now, a technological breakthrough could dramatically expand those ambitions – and perhaps unleash a new wave of policies to tap into geothermal sources. Last month, a company announced the successful demonstration in […]