Ongoing battle: Although Public Service of New Hampshire's Merrimack Station scrubber project has been out of the spotlight lately, a battle is brewing before state regulators over how much money electricity customers will have to pay for it.

A little less than a year ago, PSNH declared the Bow plant's scrubber was working and customers could be charged for its costs.

After some back and forth, the Public Utilities Commission granted the company a temporary rate hike to help recover its investment in the controversial project, but also opened an investigation into how much of the project's $422 million costs were “prudent” and could be charged to the company's customers.

PSNH has long argued the scrubber was ordered by the Legislature as part of the state's mercury-reduction law passed a half-dozen years ago, but environmentalists, other power producers and consumer groups claim the state law did not give the company carte blanche to collect the entire cost of the project.

TransCanada and others are seeking PSNH data and information leading up to the decision to build the scrubber project. If the data are flawed, then the opponents could argue the scrubber should never have been built and ratepayers should not be on the hook.

Environmentalists want to see the coal-fired power plant shut down permanently. Competing power companies want to drive up Merrimack Station's operating costs.

The irony is the scrubber was intended to allow the plant to continue operating under tougher air emissions standards, but the marketplace has changed that scenario.

Earlier this year, PSNH announced Merrimack Station would no longer be operating full time because falling natural gas prices make it cheaper for the company to buy electricity on the open market than to have Merrimack Station produce it.

Until this year, the plant has been a “base load” facility, which means it was one of the power generators used full time to meet New England's electricity needs. Now the plant is only used during peak energy demand periods, such as hot summer days or cold winter nights. All that could change with a sudden jump in natural gas costs, but no one is predicting that is going to happen in the next few years.

This fight doesn't have the fervor of the old battles over Seabrook Station, but it is still a bitter contest that will have long-lasting effects on what New Hampshire consumers pay for electricity over the next decade.

- - - - - - -

On the ballot in November: Manchester Board of School Committee member and retired firefighter Arthur Beaudry will be on the general election ballot as an independent candidate for the state Senate District 18 seat.

Beaudry filed with the secretary of state last month 931 nomination papers signed by voters in the Senate district.

Beaudry said he gathered the needed nomination papers in 21 days through a real grassroots effort by family and friends. “I walked every ward in the city going door to door and in Litchfield,” he said.

In order to be placed on the ballot, Beaudry needed 750 nomination papers from voters in Manchester Wards 5 through 9 and Litchfield. The papers had to be certified by the city or town clerk or supervisor of the checklist before being filed with the secretary of state.

He said he decided to run as an independent because he is tired of party bickering and people blaming each other when they should be working together to solve the problems.

By law Beaudry had until Sept. 5 to submit the papers to the secretary of state.

The District 18 seat is open because incumbent Tom DeBlois, R-Manchester, announced he would seek the Republican nomination to the District 4 Executive Council seat.

The lone Democrat running is current Manchester Board of School Committee member Donna Soucy, and the only Republican seeking the nomination is current Manchester Rep. J. Gail Barry.

With Beaudry's entry, there will be a three-way race in November, which should make the campaign very interesting.

Beaudry is the first candidate who filed a declaration of intent to run for office who has filed the required nomination papers.

- - - - - - -

Dealing with concussions: With little fanfare this year, lawmakers approved Senate Bill 402, which requires all school boards in the state to develop guidelines to deal with incidents where concussions are suffered by students participating in athletics.

The bill, which had the support of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association and others, would require school districts to distribute information on the risk and nature of concussions to coaches, students and athletes and their parents. It attempts to deal with the increasing number of head injuries in youth sports at a time when there is greater awareness of the deliberating effects of concussions.

Several professional athletes who had suffered concussions testified in support of the bill when it was before the House and Senate.

Under the bill, a student athlete who shows symptoms of a concussion or who a coach, trainer or some other authority suspects has suffered a concussion must be removed from a game or a practice. The student could resume the activity only with the permission of a heath care provider.

School districts are encouraged to provide their policies to groups that use their fields and facilities, but it is not required.

On Monday, Gov. John Lynch will sign SB 402 in a ceremony in the Executive Council Chambers at the State House. He will be joined by the bill's prime sponsor, Sen. Matthew Houde, D-Plainfield, along with other supporters who worked to pass the legislation.

The signing ceremony will begin at 10 a.m.

- - - - - - -

More to win: The Republican National Congressional Committee and its chairman, Texas Congressman Pete Sessions, have a new way to raise money — sell a chance to win tickets to attend the party's presidential convention.

An email explaining the contest begins: “Friend, have you ever been to a Republican National Convention? Well, today is your chance.”

Sessions offers a fully paid trip for two to the 2012 Republican Convention in Tampa, Fla., for a $25 donation that automatically enters the donor into the contest.

The grand prize includes two round-trip tickets to Tampa, a two-night stay at a hotel next to the convention center, and two VIP passes to watch Mitt Romney and his vice presidential candidate accept the convention's nominations.

“This is truly a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You will get to see Governor Romneyaccept the nomination to defeat Obama,” Sessions writes.

Now that's an opportunity no die-hard Republican could pass up.

Well, at least that's what Sessions and the Republican National Congressional Committee hope anyway.

- - - - - - -

Garry Rayno writes State House Dome weekly for New Hampshire Sunday News. Email him at grayno@unionleader.com