Shaheen Touts Energy Efficiency in Portsmouth

U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen learned firsthand Wednesday how High Liner Foods officials in Portsmouth have taken steps to reduce their energy consumption and how legislation she sponsored could help them even more.

Shaheen, D-NH, toured the frozen seafood processing plant with company officials and members of the media to see how two provisions of Senate Bill 1000, the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness Act, that were passed into law could make a difference.

Along the way, she observed the company's assembly lines, where several types of seafood products are processed and packaged before they make their way to supermarkets across the country. Shaheen also had a chance to sample some of the company's cracked peppercorn Tilapia fish and said she enjoyed it.

She also remarked, "My kids used to eat a lot of fish sticks," when she first arrived at the firm that employs 200 people and will soon swell to 330 employees after High Liner Foods closes a processing plant it owns in Danvers, Mass.

Shaheen said one provision that was passed into law that could help companies like High Liner Foods is the energy management and data collection requirement that would make it easier for companies to know how much power they use.

"One of the first things we need to do is to keep track of what we are using, which you have done," Shaheen said.

One provision of the bill she co-sponsored with U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, that did not get passed by Congress that could help High Liner Foods is the electric motor rebate program, she said.

"One of the biggest barriers to getting the energy efficient technology in place is getting the capital," she said.

Bill DiMento, High Liner Foods' corporate director of sustainability, explained that the company has taken several steps to reduce its energy consumption to improve its bottom line and would like to do more things with Congress' help. He said it costs the company $1.3 million a year for the energy it needs for its operations inside the 195,000-square-foot plant, and energy represents its third-highest cost behind raw materials and personnel.

DiMento said the plant has installed LED lighting in its freezers and T8 fluorescent lighting in its offices to reduce electricity costs. Activation lighting has also been installed in dry storage areas, he said. The company has also ordered an energy efficient natural gas boiler, he said.

Down the road, DiMento said High Liner Foods would like to add two wind powered generators to further reduce its use of fossil fuel energy. But the cost to obtain and install them is very high and the return on investment is also lengthy, he said.

Shaheen said wind power may continue to be an option for companies that want to add it because legislation that just passed in the U.S. Senate included the continuation of wind power tax credits.

"If we could add wind power generation, it would be very important to keep this company very competitive for many years to come," DiMento said.

Shaheen concurred, "Energy efficiency is the first fuel."

She added that there are already many energy efficient technologies that are available to companies now, but "the problem is how do we incentivize them and make them available now."