Burrillville Power Plant Battle: Who Will Win?
Monday, June 13, 2016
The proposal for a new natural-gas fired powered power plant in Burrillville faces a critical showdown, as legislation to allow for local input was approved the Rhode Island House of Representatives last week - but a companion measure did not make out of a Senate committee.
Rhode Island State Representative Cale Keable introduced a measure to give local control to the residents of Burrillville to ultimately decide the proposed energy plant’s fate that was approved by the full House 64-7, but a companion measure introduced by Senator Paul Fogarty stalled in Committee, being held for further study.
The proposal for Invenergy was first introduced in 2015 with the support of Governor Gina Raimondo; the environmental website EcoRI stated this week it believes Raimondo would veto any local-control measures that makes it way through the General Assembly.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST“I think it's important to remember that Democrats in Rhode Island aren't like Democrats in other states. People like Raimondo often oppose the national Party's core priorities,” said Sam Bell, State Chair for the Progressive Democrats of America. “So it is unsurprising to see [Raimondo] supporting the fossil fuel industry.”
Parsing the Proposal
URI Distinguished Professor of Business Edward Mazze cautioned of the precedent of allowing local control over a negotiation already in process.
“The location of a $700 million power plant in any location is as much a political as an economic/environmental issue to local residents and their local government and state representatives,” said Mazze. “For Rhode Island this is an opportunity for Invenergy with operating projects in six other states to build a clean natural gas facility using efficient technology that will reduce electricity costs in the future. The project would create over 300 construction jobs and about 20 full-time jobs when the facility goes on-line in 2019.”
“For local residents and their elected officials, this project presents a number of concerns which have to be answered, among other questions: (1) does the project impact the value of their homes, (2) are there potential health effects, (3) would the natural resources in the area be in jeopardy, (4) will the construction and operations of the facility cause traffic or congestion problems, (5) will "climate change" affect the importance of this facility in the years ahead and (6) does this this facility increase the state's reliance on natural gas for power generation at too high a rate when other energy alternatives may be better,” continued Mazze. “Keable and Fogarty are representing their constituents - this is important. Many of these questions may have been answered when the facility was announced and those in favor and those against are not budging from their positions."
"But a decision has to be made that would be beneficial to all Rhode Islanders. Allowing local residents, when there are many sides to an issue, to prevent a business from locating in a properly zoned geographic area would hamper the state's ability to retain and attract businesses and create jobs - an indication that Rhode Island may not be open for business. This would be a bad precedent. The 39 cities and towns would then be able to stop an economic development project," said Mazze. "This minimizes the importance (or the need) of the House and Senate and any energy or economic development initiative advanced by the Governor."
The opposition to the power plant has been strong, and includes Facebook pages “No New Burrillville Power Plant” with 730 members, "Keep Burrillville Beautiful" (2,895 likes), and "Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion" (828), to name a few.
While the Burrillville Town Council recently opposed the Keable and Fogarty legislation, the Burrillville Democratic Town Committee came out against the power plant proposal itself. Democratic Party Chairman Joseph McNamara supported the residents’ right to vote on the issue, per the town Democrats’ decision.
“The Burrillville Democratic Town Committee has long stood for protecting the basic rights of homeowners and working families, always advocating for protection of the safety and welfare of residents, a clean environment and the proud rural community in which they live,” said McNamara, sharing the following:
Citing the major disruptions the Invenergy’s $700 million Clean River Energy project would create upon that community and its families in its multi-phase project, consisting of “two single shaft “H” Class combined cycle units with output up to 1000 Megawatts, air cooled condensers and duel fuel capability (natural gas and oil back up)..scheduled for a June 2019 commercial operation date for Unit 1 and 2020 for Unit 2, the Democratic Town Committee resoundingly opposed its construction and went on record to encourage the Energy Facility Siting Board to deny Invenergy’s request to locate in Burrillville, Rhode Island
GOP v. Speaker, Senate President Not on Record
The head of the the Rhode Island Republican Party said that they oppose allowing for local control.
"I don't see the proposed power plant as a partisan issue and as such the RI GOP has no formal position on this project,” said RI GOP chair Brandon Bell. “Clearly we have a need for more generation sources in order to help lower consumer and business rates but each project must be evaluated on its own merits. It would be premature to conclude whether the project's pros outweigh its cons."
“The RI GOP is however very concerned about Rep. Keable’s legislation that is "designed" to block the project. This is bad legislation that interferes with the siting process for power plants. Legislation like this will send a terrible message to businesses who may wish to come to Rhode Island,” said Bell. “It demonstrates that what matters most is not how it impacts the State but how it will impact the political self interest of members of Speaker Mattiello's democratic leadership team such as Keable. Particularly troubling is that Cale Keable's proposed legislation is obviously a pure political ploy to allow himself to play the hero to his constituents when he knows full well the bill will never become law. If he truly wanted to stop the power plant project he has the influence to do it but he surely knows his own legislation sets a terrible precedent. I think it is deceptive and irresponsible for Rep. Keable to play on the emotions of his constituents and to get their hopes up for his own electoral gain by pretending to push for legislation that he knows cannot and will not pass."
Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello voted for Keable’s measure; Senate President Terersa Paiva Weed has not taken a position, despite the controversy.
“I can't speculate about the potential for the legislation moving forward. There was lengthy testimony at a hearing last week and the bill was held for further study,” said Greg Pare, spokesperson for Paiva Weed. “The Senate President has not taken a position on the legislation at this point.”
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