Cannon Lease Bill Now in House Committee

The Cannon lease bill, SB217, is now in the House Resources, Recreation and Development Committee. Although no hearing date has been set yet, you can still contact committee members to let them know that you oppose the privatization of Cannon Mountain.

The committee's email address is HouseResourcesRecreationandDevelopment@leg.state.nh.us

Please consider sending along a copy of your email to Department of Resources and Economic Development Commissioner George Bald and State Parks Director Phil Bryce: george.bald@dred.state.nh.us
phil.bryce@dred.state.nh.us

For more information on the committee, you can check out its web page by clicking here.

If you prefer mail to email, committee member addresses are available here.

Senate Passes Cannon Lease Bill, Sends Measure to House

By voice vote, the Senate today passed the Cannon lease bill, SB217. The bill now goes to the House.


As soon as we confirm which committee will handle the bill in the House, we'll provide email contact information.


We expected the bill to pass the Senate. It likely will face tougher sledding in the House.

Sen. Gallus to NPR: Lease Bill Isn't Strong Enough

Longtime Cannon lease advocate Sen. John Gallus told New Hampshire Public Radio that he will oppose the Cannon lease bill, SB217, because of amendments that weakened the measure. He was the lone senator on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee to vote against the bill earlier this month.

To read the NPR story, click here.

Veterans Group Leader Opposes Lease Bill

Veterans service officer Howie Howe, Patriot Guard Riders of NH RC Coordinator, NH Help On The Homefront Veterans Advocate and Wounded Warrior Project, has sent an email indicating his opposition to the Cannon lease bill. It appears below.

Last year we fought off attempts to lease Cannon Mountain Ski area, which is
part of the Franconia Notch State Park, because the Ski area Base Lodge
contains a Veterans Memorial room. Reportedly Franconia Notch State Park
(FNSP) is the only profitable State Park in the State, and happened to turn
in a $1.24M surplus last year to the state to help the other parks. People
will remember that a few years back a deal was made to lease Sunapee
Mountain to a private company, and take that money to improve Cannon
Mountain. That was done and the end result is that combined Franconia Notch
State Park and Cannon Mountain, under new joint management, is profitable,
but the proponents of leasing or privatizing everything that belongs to the
people continues without reason.

Now, if you remember, Franconia Notch State Park was dedicated as a Veterans
Memorial back in the 1920's, and the lodge at the base of the mountain
contains a memorial room full of memorabilia about the History of NH, which
of course is based on the efforts of our Veterans. We shared pictures of
those items last year, and I still have them if anybody needs them, or wants
to see them again.

For some reason, Jeb Bradley, the Senate President, is hellbound on leasing
the Ski area to a private company, which would remove the current capable
management that runs both sides of the operation. That would just be wrong.
In his efforts to try and buy our votes, he keeps trying to tie Veterans to
his proposal by such gimmicks as renaming the park "Franconia Notch Veterans
Memorial State Park" and erecting a Veterans memorial in the State Park,
ignoring the Ski Lodge connection, in the hopes we will look the other way
when they do this. We can not let this happen.

Senate to Vote Next Week on Cannon Lease Bill

The full Senate is likely to vote on the Cannon lease bill next week, possibly as early as Wednesday, March 21. We won't know the exact date until the Senate calendar is published late Thursday or early Friday.

If you want to make your voice heard, you'll need to email all 24 senators as soon as possible. For email contact information, click here.

We're told that the full Senate will vote the bill up or down next week. The bill, SB217, may wind up going to the Senate Finance Committee for review before heading to the House of Representatives.

We'll post more updates as information becomes available. To keep up to date with the latest developments, sign up to follow the blog by email. Just enter your email address into the "follow by email" box to the right of this post. Your email address remains private and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Thanks for your support!

Full Senate to Consider Cannon Lease Bill

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on Thursday voted 4-1 to send the amended Cannon lease bill to the full Senate for consideration.

To voice your opposition to this bill, SB217, contact all 24 state senators. (For a quick rundown of the bill, click here.) As a reminder, please keep your email polite and stick to the issues.

To email all senators, simply copy the address list below and paste it into your email program's "to" window:

john.gallus@leg.state.nh.us
jeanie.forrester@leg.state.nh.us
jeb.bradley@leg.state.nh.us
james.forsythe@leg.state.nh.us
matthew.houde@leg.state.nh.us
fenton.groen@leg.state.nh.us
andy.sanborn@leg.state.nh.us
bob.odell@leg.state.nh.us
raymond.white@leg.state.nh.us
molly.kelly@leg.state.nh.us
peter.bragdon@leg.state.nh.us
jim.luther@leg.state.nh.us
gary.lambert@leg.state.nh.us
sharon.carson@leg.state.nh.us
sylvia.larsen@leg.state.nh.us
dboutin1465@comcast.net
jack.barnes@leg.state.nh.us
tom.deblois@leg.state.nh.us
james.rausch@leg.state.nh.us
dalas@leg.state.nh.us
amanda.merrill@leg.state.nh.us
chuck.morse@leg.state.nh.us
represcott@represcott.com
nancy.stiles@leg.state.nh.us

If you would like to call senators, you can find their telephone numbers by clicking here.

Cannon Lease Bill Amended

The Cannon lease bill, SB217, was amended on March 5. To read the new version of the bill, click here.

Specifically, the amended bill:

• Calls on the Department of Resources and Economic Development (DRED) to develop a master plan for Cannon Mountain and Franconia Notch State Park, including an analysis of whether it is in the public interest to lease the ski area to a private operator.
• The master plan would be submitted to the State Park System Advisory Council (which opposes leasing) before being submitted to the governor and Executive Council by July 1, 2013.
• Calls on DRED to develop a plan to ensure that ski operations of Cannon Mountain will become self-funded and self-sufficient. This plan must be completed by Nov. 1, 2012.

The bill also would establish a veterans memorial and create hiking trails over Mittersill and on to the summit of Cannon.